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SportsTranscript
00:00Man, I have missed this guy's voice on this show because I've been gone.
00:07Vern, how you doing, brother?
00:09Not as good as you, man. I'm watching the live stream.
00:12Okay.
00:12You're looking good, bro.
00:13Thank you. I appreciate it.
00:15Looking real good.
00:15For the first time in my life, I was the tannest person on Memorial Day weekend.
00:18It felt great.
00:20Yeah. Boy, I don't know what that feels like.
00:23Neither do I.
00:23These legs are basically translucent.
00:26Yeah, well, analytics will tell you to get in the sun for 10 minutes.
00:28Vern, I want to ask you, because I feel like you ask the text line this a lot when you
00:32do your shows.
00:32I think you do a wonderful job of trying to maintain emotions.
00:36What would you change as of May 26 at 22 and 33, nine games back, the division, four games in
00:42the wild card?
00:46Yeah, I mean, nothing really jumps out at me as something that's going to make any real difference.
00:54Now, you know, I certainly can't sit here and defend whatever changes fans want or you guys want.
01:02Yeah, when you're 10 below and on pace to lose 96 games, there are no bad ideas.
01:09So, yeah, throw them out there.
01:11But, yeah, personally, you know, a lineup change doesn't do anything for me.
01:16Firing an assistant coach doesn't really do anything for me.
01:21I mean, honestly, you know, you look towards the trade deadline, but, shoot, man, that's still more than two months
01:30away.
01:31So, bringing in, you know, the type of difference maker, I don't see that as a possibility.
01:37Not just difference maker as far as production, but, you know, difference maker as far as leadership inside that clubhouse.
01:47I wish it was an easy fix.
01:48I wish I had an idea, but, yeah, I don't.
01:51I'm sorry.
01:52Yeah.
01:52Where are you with Cole Reagans?
01:54Will we see him again this year?
01:56Yeah.
01:57Yeah.
01:58I mean, hopefully.
01:59Hopefully you'll see him again.
02:02But, you know, what does it mean?
02:05I don't know all that much.
02:07What I'll say about Cole Reagans is, I think, and I've mentioned this a few times in the past,
02:13maybe we need to start viewing him like we did Danny Duffy, to where the dude's really good when he's
02:19right,
02:20but you certainly cannot rely on him to be what you thought you were going to rely on him to
02:25be,
02:25which is your number one, your opening day guy, everybody falls in line after him.
02:30And Duffy was a stud, but just couldn't be relied upon after that 2016 season.
02:36Cole Reagans is a stud, but hasn't been able to be relied upon since that 2024 season.
02:43He's too darn talented to act as if you don't need him.
02:46When you're that good and you throw with that hand, you'll find a spot for Cole Reagans.
02:50But as you look ahead to 2027, in no way will I bank on him taking the ball more than
03:0020 times next season or the year after that.
03:03Does that mean he's a bullpen arm down the line?
03:08No, I don't necessarily see that.
03:11But if I'm J.J. Piccolo and I start putting together my team for 2027, yes, Cole Reagans is a
03:18part of it,
03:19but I'm not viewing him as one of my top three pitchers moving forward.
03:23You just can't do it.
03:24What about with Daniel Lloyd, Vern, pitching?
03:29He's been a stud.
03:31At least his cousin, Daniel Lynch, has been a stud.
03:34Yeah, that was a nice moment last night of the postgame show.
03:37No people screaming that Daniel Lynch didn't get a second inning, but forgetting that his last name is Lynch, not
03:45Lloyd.
03:46Yeah, yesterday's game was one of, if not the most painful L of the season
03:51because you're staring down the barrel now of Cam Schlittler and Garrett Cole.
03:55You had the pitching advantage yesterday.
03:57That was the game you had to win.
03:59It would have been a third straight win, which is commonly referred to as a winning streak.
04:05But your closer couldn't close the game.
04:07To me, I think you have to be able to rely on your closer to get three outs in a
04:12big game against an upper echelon ball club.
04:14Lucas Ursek unable to get the job done last night.
04:17And to me, it's perfectly fair to lay the loss at his feet.
04:20Yeah, he made mistakes, but also we can talk about the manager as well.
04:24The way that things played out in the end of the eighth, ninth inning yesterday, it doesn't bode well.
04:30And I know a lot of it is hindsight being 20-20 and all that.
04:33But for me, where the hindsight isn't 20-20, it's foresight and it's current sight, it's right in front of
04:38me,
04:39is still with Jack Caglione and not letting him hit in the eighth inning yesterday.
04:43You had an opportunity just to give the guy a chance.
04:46You had a lead in that game.
04:48You know the Yankees were still going to come up in the ninth inning.
04:51You didn't let him hit a lefty again.
04:53DeMasso Marte promptly rolls one over to shortstop.
04:56And then you get exposed in the ninth inning in the outfield.
04:59What's the harm in letting Cags hit in that situation?
05:04I think you're trying, you know, you can ask Q tomorrow, but Q believes that Marte,
05:11the righty against the submarine lefty in Tim Hill, gives him a better chance of finding some outfield grass
05:18and getting Tyler Tolbert home.
05:20You saw what Tim Hill did to the previous batter, Carter Jensen.
05:24It was good morning, good afternoon, good night, punch out, go sit down.
05:29Maybe it turns out different.
05:30Certainly Cags is strong enough to accidentally hit one to the outfield grass,
05:34so I can't push back all that much.
05:37But just watching the first 54 games, I have a feeling like he would have punched out.
05:42But, yeah, that's just my opinion.
05:45Sure.
05:46Yeah.
05:48Yeah, Marte in right field could have been better than Caglione, certainly there in the ninth inning.
05:54But, again, I'd like Erceg to be able to put Volpe away with two strikes.
06:00I need a punch out in a big spot for my closer.
06:04He was unable to deliver it.
06:06You know, Caglione's been in there pretty consistently.
06:09You know, I mentioned leadership earlier.
06:11You know, we've just seen way too much this season from inside that clubhouse of, you know,
06:21you're just at times amazed at, you know, how much I want Adam Frazier back in that clubhouse.
06:29You know, I had someone call up and say,
06:31Boyle looks like they need a Raul Abanez speech.
06:34I don't know if they need the speech because I don't know if Abanez could honestly say that people are
06:38afraid of you right now like he did to the boys back in 2014.
06:41But they need that person in that clubhouse because Bobby and Salve are tremendous ballplayers and lead-by-example guys.
06:51But they're not the vocal leader.
06:54Carlos Estevez was a vocal leader last year, but no one's checking for him right now because he's done nothing.
06:59Vinny's a vocal leader, but nobody's checking for him because he hasn't done anything all season.
07:06It's a lot of what we dealt with last season where it's a bunch of ballplayers struggling and no one,
07:13it appears to me, is really there to help guide them through it.
07:17Your boy Marte right now is that veteran in the clubhouse and I don't, it's just not good right now.
07:27Just not good inside that clubhouse in my opinion.
07:30When you look at what the slogan was at the beginning of the year for you, which was the standard,
07:35and the standard in this lineup was Vinny and Sal hitting three and four.
07:39When does that standard change?
07:42Yeah, I don't know.
07:45I know it's the whole thing, if not them, then who.
07:47But if you're 11 games below 500 and you got some youth on the roster, maybe it's time to, I
07:52don't know, again, I'm maybe a homer.
07:54Who's the youth, Carter and Kags?
07:55Yeah, I mean, maybe I'm a homer to say that.
07:57So we'll move him up two spots?
07:58I guess, but I mean, like, the way I look at it is, like, Vinny just rolls everything over, it
08:02seems, right now.
08:03Everything just kind of seems to go to the ground and whatnot.
08:06I know he's got, what, like four hits in his last five games, it seems, and Sal's maybe starting to
08:11hit the ball a little bit better.
08:12But after 55 games, the same result is happening.
08:15And at what point does maybe that sort of shake up changing thing?
08:19If not, I mean, again, maybe I'm being a homer about it.
08:22No, I think you're being a Royals fan about it.
08:25I'm sick of watching the team lose.
08:27Let's see something different.
08:28I get it.
08:30But the message from the team is we can't win without Vinny.
08:34We can't win without Salvi producing, being run producers in the middle of our lineup.
08:42Now, does that necessarily mean three and four?
08:44No.
08:46But, you know, the back-to-back lefty of, you know, Vinny and Carter, or Vinny, Carter, Kags, you know,
08:51that could lead to problems later on in the game facing a lefty coming out of the bullpen.
08:59Yeah, listen, you want to switch up the lineup, go for it.
09:04You know, Carter's hitting a buck 50 over the course of this homestand.
09:07Jack Kaglione's the worst hitter on the team when it comes to hitting with runners in scoring position.
09:13Yeah, mix it up however you want.
09:14But once you mix it up, if you're Matt Quattrero, you have to stick with it for a while.
09:21Or else, you're Ned Yost at the end of his tenure in Milwaukee.
09:25And, you know, I was there.
09:27You're picking names out of a hat.
09:29Yeah.
09:29No one knows who's hitting where when they show up to the ballpark.
09:33And everyone starts calling him Nervous Ned because they can sense that he is panicking about this offense.
09:39So, yeah, switch it up.
09:41But get ready to stick with it for quite a while.
09:44And good luck sitting down and telling Salve, hey, here's five or six guys that we're going to give more
09:50at-bats than you.
09:52Now, not that Salve's a bad teammate.
09:54Right.
09:54But I can't imagine him digesting six hitters, all of them except for Bobby, are underperforming.
10:03Right?
10:03Mike Kell's been an underperforming hitter.
10:05Yep.
10:05But Vinny, Salve, I got nothing bad to say about Carter and Kags.
10:11But those three, Vinny, Salve, and Mike Kell have all underperformed this season.
10:15So, how can you bring some of these underperforming bats to the dish before a guy like Salvador Perez?
10:24But, again, like you mentioned, Dusty, 10 games below .500.
10:28And you have Bailey Falter on the bump going opposite Cam Schlittler tonight.
10:32Hey, man, whatever you want to do, let's try it.
10:35Well, it sounds like almost, though, Vern, as we're having this conversation,
10:39it sounds like the front office dropped the bag then and didn't get enough good players in here for Matt
10:43Quotrero to utilize and get him out there.
10:46Like, I don't know.
10:47But who are we talking about real quick, Bob?
10:49I'm sorry, but we're talking about Mike Kell, Vinny, and Salve.
10:52Right.
10:52It's not even like they're just – Vinny and Salve have been very bad.
10:57Very bad.
10:58And I don't know anybody coming into the season that said this team is deep enough to win with a
11:05bad Vinny, a bad Salve, and a below-average Mike Kell.
11:08Right.
11:09Not many teams, especially small market teams, can overcome something like that.
11:12No, you're right about that.
11:13But, I mean, I also –
11:14So, how do you bank on that?
11:15How do you come into the season saying, hey, my – three of my four best hitters are likely going
11:20to be bad this year?
11:21Right.
11:21But I'm going to go a different route and go, you don't have a legitimate everyday outfielder based on your
11:27actions,
11:27based on the way that you've utilized the lineup, not by my perception, based on what I've seen.
11:32You don't have a legitimate everyday outfielder on your roster that you're allowing to go out there and play every
11:37day.
11:38But Caglio.
11:39But they don't let him play every day, Vern.
11:41Vern, I'd like to think he's an everyday, but God forbid a lefty shows up to work that day and
11:45Caggs is on the bench.
11:46Okay, so maybe you have –
11:47He started the last two against a lefty.
11:50Maybe.
11:50He's been in there pretty consistently.
11:52Yeah, okay.
11:52Outside of him being a bozo and needed to maybe take a seat and learn what it means to be
11:57a professional.
11:58Yeah, but I also still look around and I go, you were still going to utilize him with your analytics
12:03and your platoon numbers as a platoon guy out there against lefties for most of the season.
12:08And so I don't know that they have a legitimate everyday major league outfielder on this team.
12:14I have not seen that.
12:15They didn't add that in the offseason.
12:17They should have, you know, dealt from a strength of starting pitching, utilize one of those guys.
12:22Like I was saying this in the offseason, whether it was Cameron or Bubich or Reagans, use one of those
12:27guys as collateral
12:28to get a legitimate outfielder and get a legitimate outfielding back for your organization right now.
12:34Because I look at the outfield as four or five just platoon guys, and that's not going to cut it
12:39at the big league level.
12:40Well, Cags and Collins have not been used as platoon players.
12:45Now, Cags wasn't given an everyday role.
12:49They were hoping that he would earn it.
12:51He didn't start opening day, you know.
12:53Well, right, against, you know, the Cy Young Award winner, future Hall of Famer in Chris Sale.
13:00You know, Carter Jensen was in there.
13:02Again, I'm sorry.
13:03I just don't view Jack Caglione the same way I do Bobby Witt Jr. and Mikel Garcia.
13:08But I hope I eventually do.
13:10Sure.
13:11And I'm not viewing it from that perspective at all.
13:13That's what you want.
13:14If you want him in there, regardless of who's on the mound, well, then you're treating him like Mikel and
13:18Bobby.
13:19I just want real baseball, Vern, instead of this nonsensical crap that we're watching.
13:23But we haven't seen that with Caglione.
13:25He's been in there pretty consistently.
13:27Consistently.
13:27More so lately.
13:28But I want to go to the ballpark every day.
13:30I want to know who my left fielder is.
13:31That's how you and I were raised on baseball, right?
13:34And I know the game is different now.
13:35Yeah, but we also were raised on football where they didn't go for it on fourth down all the time.
13:39Right.
13:40The NBA wasn't always three-point shooting.
13:41But those are decent enough changes for the sport.
13:43I'm looking at kids right now going out to the ballpark.
13:45How can they identify with this team?
13:47They have no idea.
13:49Who's going to be in the lineup?
13:50And the guys that they do know, other than Bobby, aren't hitting their weight at this point in time.
13:54That lineup we saw all weekend has been put out there 13 times already.
14:00Maybe 14 after yesterday.
14:03Ned Yost never put the same lineup out there in 2015 more than 11 times.
14:07We've already seen this lineup 14 times, 54 games into the season.
14:12So if you don't know who's on your team a third of the way through the season,
14:15if you don't know that one through nine, well, then you're just, you're not, you're not paying attention
14:21because it's Mike Kell, Bobby, Vinny, Salve.
14:25People are sick of it, right?
14:26I mean, Carter, Cags, Collins, Massey, and Isbell.
14:29That's the one through nine you're seeing five out of every seven days.
14:34And Q's been honest since he showed up.
14:37I'm using everybody on my roster because when I showed up here, you guys weren't using Ryan O'Hearn.
14:42You weren't using Brent Rooker.
14:44You were running your bullpen guys into the ground.
14:46And the edict from on high was in this type of market, we need to utilize all 26 on our
14:52roster.
14:53So, yeah, occasionally, Elias Diaz and a Starling Marte and Elaine Thomas are going to get a look.
14:59And to be honest, those guys are doing their jobs, which brings us back to the individuals that are not
15:03doing their jobs.
15:04The all-star closer, the all-star opening day starter, the all-star third baseman, the all-star catcher,
15:10the 3,100 first baseman, the guys that we didn't discuss this offseason because, well, we know we got this.
15:17Those are the guys that are leading you to 10 games below .500.
15:20So how do we fix that then?
15:21That's the million-dollar question I know.
15:23Is that leadership?
15:23Those guys step up and start doing their jobs.
15:26Yeah, but it's a lot of those guys, Vern.
15:28Like, you just listed the whole roster.
15:29Right, Boobich is heard.
15:30Yeah, Strom is heard.
15:31Yeah, no doubt.
15:32Yeah.
15:32No doubt.
15:33So, like, when the whole roster isn't achieving success, then what do you do?
15:37Well, I don't think it's the whole roster.
15:39I think it's the best players on your team that are letting you down.
15:43Again, Carter and Cags have done.
15:44Now, did you want a little bit more power out of Cags?
15:47No doubt about it.
15:48But what he and what Carter have done in their first full season, 54 games in, I'll take it.
15:54Collins, Lofton, Lane Thomas, Kyle Isbell, Starling Marte, they've done enough.
16:01Mike L., you know, you're dogging it?
16:04You know, you're not giving effort down the first baseline?
16:07But not getting benched or something like that, too.
16:09Carter Jensen, you're sleeping in.
16:10Jack Caglione, you're pouting out there on the field?
16:13You know, Vinny, you can't use your voice because you stink offensively?
16:16It's, yeah.
16:18I understand that there's frustration and we want an answer.
16:21But to me, the answer is, you know, Mahomes, Kelsey, Chris Jones, you know, 50, Karloftis.
16:30These are the guys that are screwing things over for this team this season.
16:33So, somebody who looked like a stud, you had to see with your own eyes.
16:37What's the future look like for Stephen Kolick in this rotation?
16:41Well, yeah, he's certainly not going anywhere anytime soon.
16:45With the injury to Reagans and the injury to Bubich, yeah, Kolick is not only a part of this rotation
16:52for the rest of this season,
16:55but he's, you know, next to Waka, Lugo, you know, he might be your number three next season right now
17:03with him and Noah Cameron vying for that.
17:06Of course, you'll have Cole Reagans, Luwinder Avila, maybe Ryan Berger coming off of injury.
17:11Yeah, Stephen Kolick, a very cool, calm, and composed 29-year-old without much swing and miss.
17:18So, you're wondering how long will it last?
17:21We'll see.
17:22But, yeah, you know, that Freddie for mean trade, you look at his numbers, he's been defending his tail off
17:27out there in San Diego,
17:29but he's hitting like he's still a royal, hitting below 200 with an OPS in the 400.
17:33So, yeah, it's looking like another win, the Stephen Kolick move.
17:39But, yeah, thank God you have him.
17:41You know, thank God you have that pitching depth, or else this record would be even worse than 10 games
17:46below 500.
17:47I mean, it's so sad when you look at that rotation.
17:5029 quality starts, the exact same number as the Dodgers.
17:55Dodgers are 20-9 when they get a quality start.
17:58Royals are 16-13 when they get a quality start.
18:02Shoot, they've gotten a quality start in nine of the last 10 games and are 3-7 in that stretch.
18:07It's embarrassing.
18:09So, Vern, then what happens if this continues like this in the offseason?
18:13Yeah, that's a John Sherman question because, you know, if you fire the manager after you give him a three
18:21-year extension,
18:22well, let's be honest, it's the general manager more so than the manager.
18:27So, is John Sherman ready to cut ties with J.J. Piccolo?
18:32I certainly wouldn't be.
18:33You know, you look at what he's done free agent-wise, you look at what he's done at the trade
18:39deadline,
18:39I still think it's a net positive.
18:41Two winning seasons in the past three years now, I understand this year is careening towards 90-some-odd losses.
18:48But, yeah, that's a John Sherman question because everything below the general manager to me looks like a cop-out.
18:56And firing the general manager to me would be, you do that, you're completely overhauling your entire organization
19:04because you don't just get rid of J.J. and then give it to Scott Sharp, right?
19:08You don't just keep doing what you've been doing from Dayton to J.J.
19:11It would be a complete clean house.
19:13And, man, again, to me, it comes down to the players.
19:16I think there is talent on this team.
19:19Man, that's one of the things that has hurt me most this season is people call up and say,
19:23oh, there's no talent on this team.
19:24And with the way that they're playing, anything I say to defend them makes it sound like I'm a homer.
19:30But the fact that you can calmly say this team doesn't have enough talent
19:35and I really don't have the weapons to combat that, that to me really hurts
19:42because I do think this team is talented.
19:43I do think it's a winning roster, but, I mean, the record says it's not.
19:49So, yeah, it's a John Sherman question.
19:50It begins with the general manager, but I don't see any of those heads rolling at season's end.
19:55A lot of similarities.
19:56I think you're talented.
19:57I think you're wonderful.
19:58And, of course, I love you, Vern.
19:59Keep doing the Lord's work with that pre- and post-game show.
20:01We'll be locked in tonight at 530, my man.
20:03My man, I appreciate it.
20:05Of course, Vern.
20:05That's Josh Vernon, Royals Insider, here at 96.5 The Fan, coming up.
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