- 2 days ago
Jared Sandler joined Shan, RJ, and Bobby to recap the Rangers being no-hit by the Astros and the team’s ongoing offensive slump. Sandler analyzed the lack of athleticism on the bases, how injuries to stars like Seager and Langford factor into the team’s woes, and more.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Good morning, Jared. How are you?
00:02I'm great, guys. Another example last night of Santa not doing anything for a Jewish kid.
00:10I knew the minute the Astros brought in a guy named Santa to make his major league debut at Weird
00:15Coast.
00:16Some are calling this one of the most embarrassing no-hitters, if you can rank them and level them, that
00:23there's been recently.
00:24Would you agree with that, with their starter having an 8-3-1 ERA coming in, and then you're getting
00:31the major league debut to finish you off?
00:36Are there levels to this?
00:40I mean, there are levels to everything.
00:43I'll be honest, I didn't sleep much, and I've been thinking about so many different elements of last night, but
00:49ranking the no-hitters, that's still on my to-do list.
00:53But I will tell you that a couple days ago, we were talking about how you get some no-hitters.
00:58I mean, Reed Detmers, who is actually a good pitcher, he has not maybe had the type of career that
01:04you would have expected when he first came up.
01:06But he threw a no-hitter, and when you consider the trajectory of his career, you get some random no
01:11-hitters.
01:12But, yeah, a guy in Tatsuya Imai, who has such a hard time throwing strikes, but then seemed to almost
01:20catch the Rangers off-guard when he did throw strikes.
01:24They didn't seem locked and loaded, ready to jump on hittable pitches.
01:29Yeah, it wasn't great.
01:30Last night, this has been a rough four-game stretch.
01:34And honestly, were it not for a comeback in the ninth inning on Wednesday against the Rockies, it would be
01:40five straight losses.
01:42The Rangers would have lost that series to the Rockies.
01:45You know, we've talked a lot about the schedule, and there's truth to the fact that when you don't play
01:50the best teams in the league, you stand a better chance to win.
01:54But we've always said, you've got to play good baseball during that stretch, right?
01:58The variance between the best and worst in Major League Baseball is not the variance between the best and worst
02:04in college football,
02:05where you could, you know, an SEC team in that week 10 or whenever they go play the, you know,
02:10the schools that barely qualify for Division I football.
02:13Yeah, like, they can sleepwalk through those games when they play the Citadel.
02:17You can't do that at the Major League level.
02:20And the Rangers, you know, they played good ball against some of the good teams, right?
02:25They competed well, but now that they're getting opportunities against bad teams, and they're just not playing good baseball.
02:31So Ranger fans, at least on my timeline, they wanted blood over the weekend.
02:36And they're going to skip for post-game interviews and in-game decisions.
02:40And going to Chris Young for the talent or Ray Davis for not spending.
02:45So how should we be dividing up this offensive blame pie?
02:52Let's just call a spade a spade.
02:53The Rangers have underperformed this year based on what we believe fair expectations are for this team.
02:59And whenever that's the case, no one is, you know, free from culpability, right?
03:07But, Jared, let me stop you on that.
03:10I would have thought expectations, you know, were 500 or a little bit above 500.
03:16I guess you could say maybe second place in the West.
03:19They're five games under.
03:20How much have they really underperformed?
03:23Because there were, led by Bobby Bell, a ton of offensive questions and concerns going in.
03:28And so my follow-up to that is, how much do you really think they have underperformed?
03:33I think the quality of the, I think you watch the product on the field.
03:37It's left a lot to be desired.
03:38Yeah.
03:39So you can look at the record.
03:41I mean, I know people don't like hearing this.
03:44But the Rangers are, you know, a good week away from having a, I mean, they're like five days ago,
03:50whatever.
03:50If the season would have ended, it would have been in the playoffs.
03:52I'm not saying that to provide sunlight.
03:54I'm saying that to suggest how muddy the American League and the American League West is.
04:01You know, it's not like they're, you know, in the AL East where you've got two teams that, you know,
04:07are by far and away the teams with the best records in the American League, right?
04:11They, they, you can look at the record and the record definitely tells a story.
04:17But if you also, you know, watching the games, the way they're losing some of these games, the things that
04:21they are or are not doing, I think it's been disappointing.
04:25I don't think that player, coach, front office, any of those three levels would, would assess the start of the
04:32season and say, we feel great about the way we've played.
04:35Like I, I use 2015 as an example, Jeff Bannister's first year.
04:39The Rangers were five games under 500 in late July.
04:41They went, got Cole Hamels, got Sam Dyson, got Jake Diekman.
04:46Those moves were not necessarily exclusively for 2015.
04:49But I remember talking to John Daniels in that front office and Jeff Bannister and that staff.
04:55They felt like they had a run in them because they felt good about the quality of baseball they were
04:59playing.
04:59They were having a tough time closing out games.
05:02But you weren't watching it and saying, man, you know, they're not doing the things they needed to do to
05:09win.
05:09They were doing a lot of things to win.
05:11And they just weren't finishing it off.
05:13The Rangers in 2026 right now are not playing the quality of baseball that I think that would be expected.
05:22This is not, you're right.
05:23This is not a team that was supposed to win 95 games.
05:25Who knows what happens in a given season, right?
05:27The Cardinals were supposed to be in a rebuild and they've been outstanding this year.
05:30The Rangers will see them starting Monday.
05:33You never know.
05:35But I just think, you know, record aside, I think that the quality of play has not been what you
05:41would want to expect.
05:43Jared Sandler with us here on 105 Through the Fan.
05:44Jared, let's say that, you know, today Chris Young wakes up and he says, hey, Skip and some other people
05:51in the organization, I want us all to have a meeting.
05:53And we're going to sit down and we're going to talk about where things are at with the offense right
05:55now.
05:56If they're sitting in there and Chris Young is to say, can this be fixed with the people we have
06:02here right now?
06:04What conclusion do you think they would come to?
06:08Are you including Corey Seager and Wyatt Langford in that discussion?
06:11Yep.
06:12So I'll say this.
06:17It is not unreasonable that a lineup would not perform close to its potential when its two best players have
06:25been hurt and when healthy have not performed, right?
06:27With that said, if the thought is, well, once the Rangers get Seager and Langford back, it's all fixed.
06:34I also don't know that that's necessarily fair.
06:38Here's the challenge with the lineup.
06:41It's a math problem.
06:43The teams that slug at a really high level score runs.
06:49Now, you might look at a given lineup that slugs and say, well, they've got a lot of holes and
06:56come playoff time, they're fine.
06:58That's fine.
06:59Teams that slug score runs.
07:01Not every team can slug.
07:03Slugging costs money.
07:05Power costs money, whether it's power bats or power arms.
07:08Not every team spends at, you know, the level that allows them to build a lineup full of slug.
07:15You know, unless they, you know, the Rays and you've got Junior Caminero, right?
07:19You develop a guy, comes up, so you have him before he hits free agency.
07:23If you're not going to slug, you've got to find ways to cover 360 feet.
07:29All right, you get what I'm saying?
07:30You've got to find ways to get from home all the way back to home.
07:34Athleticism and speed on the bases is a way to do that.
07:37Let's take the first inning for the Astros as an example.
07:40First batter of the game gets hit by a pitch.
07:42He didn't do anything.
07:43Jeremy Payne, he didn't earn that, right?
07:44He was given a gift.
07:45But he then steals second.
07:47He then moves over to third on a ground ball.
07:49And then he scores on a sack fly.
07:51But the ability to steal second, to turn a hit by pitch into a double, the ability, all right, there's
07:57going to be a ball in the gap with a runner at first that 99% of Major League Baseball
08:02players will score on.
08:03But there are other doubles with a runner at first where, say, 50% of players score on.
08:08The Rangers don't have a ton of guys right now who are getting on base who are on the right
08:12side of that 50% threshold, right?
08:14You think about the guys who have been doing a great job of getting on base for the Rangers.
08:18Josh Young, Jack Peterson, first and foremost, those guys aren't runners, right?
08:23They're not guys that are going to get you that extra 90 because of their speed and athleticism.
08:28They have other redeeming qualities.
08:30That's not one of them.
08:31So if as a lineup you're not slugging, and it's not just those two, right?
08:34Like even Corey Seager, when he's at his best, he's not a burner.
08:37Jake Berger's not a burner.
08:38Both your catchers, which is not unusual for catchers, but both your catchers are not burners.
08:43Justin Foskey, who's been great since he's come up.
08:45He's not a guy who's going to give you that edge on the bases.
08:49And unfortunately, he's had problems on the bases getting picked off twice.
08:52So if you're not going to slug, how else are you going to create offense?
08:56Because it's not easy to get three hits in an inning or have three guys reach base in an inning.
09:00Just the math of it, that is very difficult to rely on.
09:04So if you're not going to slug, how are you going to create those advantages?
09:07And unfortunately, I think the speed and athleticism part for the Rangers has been lacking a bit.
09:12And the one guy who can bring that more than anyone else is Evan Carter, and he's had a really,
09:16really rough go of it offensively.
09:18And Wyatt.
09:20Yeah, and Wyatt too.
09:21But that's supposed to be like Evan Carter's supposed to get on base and be an athlete.
09:27If he hits you 20 home runs, awesome.
09:29But if he hits you 12 home runs, he could still be great.
09:32Against righties, he needs to get on base and be an athlete.
09:35And he's had a tough time.
09:35At least with Wyatt, you expect some more of that slug.
09:38But yeah, Wyatt went healthy.
09:40Over 150 games, we expect to be a 20-30 stolen base guy.
09:44And yeah, when he was healthy, he unfortunately didn't get off to a great start.
09:49So that will help.
09:51And getting Corey Seager back will help.
09:52And getting Josh Schmidt back should hopefully help.
09:55And obviously getting Josh Young back in the lineup, hopefully tonight, will help.
09:59But I don't know that getting all those guys back gives this team a top-five lineup or anything.
10:04I also don't know that they need that with their pitching, but they definitely need more than what they're getting.
10:08Jared Sandler, joining us here at 105 Through the Fan.
10:10You mentioned getting Corey Seager back will help.
10:13His whiff rate, his swing and miss rate was astronomically high.
10:19What did you see from him or what metrics are there out there that saw from him before the injury
10:25that would lead you to believe that this was just a slump and this isn't the sign of something bigger?
10:33Yeah, no, it's a great question.
10:35A couple things.
10:35One, the exit velocities, you know, that's the first thing.
10:41I know some people are going to roll their eyes at that.
10:42But like at the end of the day, you hit the ball hard.
10:44Chances are you're going to put yourself in a position to succeed.
10:47So that hasn't changed.
10:49The bat speed metrics aren't concerning, right?
10:51When guys start to swing and miss as they get older, sometimes their bat slows down, right?
10:56Let's take Andrew McCutcheon, for example.
10:59He's, you know, he's towards the very end of his career.
11:01His bat speed's not the same today that it was 10 years ago.
11:04So older hitters have to do things differently.
11:06The Rangers just face Mike Trout.
11:08Mike Trout is still a really good player, but he goes about it.
11:12He's not as good as he once was, but he's still good, but he goes about it differently.
11:17His body's changed.
11:18He's gotten older, injuries, whatever the case might be.
11:21With the bat speed with Corey, you know, that to me is not lacking.
11:25I mean, the swing and miss stuff, especially on the fastball, RJ, yeah, I mean, that's unusual.
11:31That's concerning.
11:32That's like, you know, you get a kid who gets straight A's, and all of a sudden he's like
11:35not studying and getting C's, or, you know, it's like, whoa, what's going on?
11:42You know, I think the other thing, too, is with Corey, you know, Corey was, he wasn't getting
11:48pitched to a lot.
11:49You know, he was drawing walks for a period of time.
11:51And I think he understands the math equation, right?
11:54I think he understands that if he draws a walk or if he hits a single, I mean, that's
11:58great.
11:59That's better than nothing.
12:00But that still means that you probably need two more hits to score him, right?
12:04Because the guys behind him weren't slugging, right?
12:06You can't rely on the double.
12:07And he also knows that on a 50-50 double, he's probably not going to score from first,
12:13depending on the situation, right?
12:14So I think you might also have a case of him expanding, right?
12:17The chase rate is trying to do too much understanding.
12:21I mean, he's not going to come out and say it.
12:22What's he going to say?
12:23He's not going to be like, hey, the guys around me aren't hitting, so I got to try
12:26and, you know, he's not going to say that.
12:27But, I mean, Corey's a smart guy.
12:30You know, there's some good stories about Corey and his baseball IQ.
12:36He knows what he's doing.
12:37And I think that probably contributes to some extent.
12:40Jared Sandler, Rangers insider here on Sean and RJ after they were no hit last night
12:44against the Astros on 105 through the fans.
12:46And so how are the injury updates looking for Seager, Wyatt, and Young with the shoulder?
12:52Well, can I just say something quickly?
12:54Yeah.
12:55Because I sort of brought up that Santa comment at the beginning,
12:58so we didn't really talk about the no-hitter specifically.
13:00That sucked.
13:01That sucked a lot.
13:02Yeah.
13:03When did you start getting the sick feeling in your stomach?
13:06When were you like, oh, my God?
13:08In the fifth inning.
13:08I looked over to, and we had Elvis, you know, I told Elvis that I don't feel good about this
13:14because, you know, there are some random no-hitters out there where guys just don't throw strikes,
13:20but they throw so few strikes that they get guys off, you know, off their game.
13:25I'm not, that's, I am in zero way, shape, or form saying that's an excuse at all.
13:29It's not one bit.
13:30But, like, when the Rangers weren't taking advantage of getting ahead in the count,
13:33Tatsuya Emai through five innings was throwing a first-bit strike less than 40% of the time.
13:37He's the only pitcher this year to go through five scoreless and hitless innings
13:42with a first-pitch strike rate under 40%.
13:44It happened two times in the last three years.
13:47So, like, it just, that was a little concerning.
13:50Now, the Astros don't have a great bullpen or anything, but, like, you know,
13:54the Rangers just, it's not like they have their A lineup out there either.
13:57So, yeah, I didn't feel good at about the fifth inning.
14:00I felt great two batters in the game when the Rangers had back-to-back walks.
14:04Didn't feel great once they didn't take advantage of that,
14:07but didn't expect a no-hitter at that point.
14:09I want to know statistically, if you know this off the top of your head,
14:13because I feel like I've tweeted it about four times this year,
14:16where in the fifth inning or later I said they're getting no hit.
14:19Do you know how many times that is?
14:21And I'm curious how accelerated that rate is compared to, like,
14:26other teams at this point in time in their seasons over the years.
14:30Like, how many times the Rangers have been held hitless through five innings this year?
14:34Yeah.
14:35I don't know the answer.
14:36I know it was a lot more last year.
14:37The Rangers last year, I think.
14:39Yeah, the Rangers last year, at one point,
14:42I don't remember what it was at the end of the year,
14:43but at one point around the All-Star break, by, like, a decent margin, I think,
14:48were held hitless one time through the order more than any team in baseball.
14:51Oh, good.
14:52They had a tough time getting going early.
14:55And, hey, the first inning's been a real problem for the Rangers this year as well.
14:58But I just want to say, like, I see social media, right?
15:02I do think a big part of what, you know, in my role, like, it's not required,
15:07but I do think engaging with fans and understanding how fans feel
15:12and not just totally ignoring social media is a part of it.
15:15And so I see it, and I know a lot of – there's a lot of frustration.
15:18And I just want to say, like, I get it.
15:19I don't blame you.
15:20I understand that you're frustrated.
15:22Like, this was an awful four-game stretch.
15:24And to cap it off getting no hit by a bad pitcher on your rival team, that sucks.
15:30And so I just – I want to – I get it.
15:34Like, there's – you know, people don't like excuses or whatever.
15:37No excuses.
15:38You know, you get – like, it happens over 162 games.
15:42You have crappy weeks.
15:44But, like, to get swept by the team with the worst record in baseball
15:47and then to follow that up by getting no hit by your rival,
15:50a team that's not off to a great start and a pitcher who's really had a tough time,
15:55that sucks.
15:55And I totally get that.
15:57Skip is getting attacked and catching heat, obviously, right,
16:01for the lack of offensive production.
16:03And then what happened the other day, and even, you know, to some people,
16:07they were upset with his post-game interview.
16:09Give us your perspective and just reset for us what happened with Osuna and McCutcheon.
16:16Yeah, so Alejandro Osuna was 3-for-3 at the time.
16:21The Rangers had the tie-and-run at second in a high-leverage spot.
16:26And Skip Schumacher was basically faced with a decision,
16:30Taylor Saucedo versus Alejandro Osuna or Chase Silseth, who's a righty,
16:34against Andrew McCutcheon.
16:35And Skip knew that the minute he pinch hits for McCutcheon,
16:39Kurt Suzuki's going to the bullpen.
16:40He was not caught off guard by that.
16:41I saw some people on Twitter saying, oh, he got punked.
16:43He absolutely knew.
16:45You're making that decision.
16:47Alejandro Osuna has had a great 20-26 offensively for a guy, you know,
16:52his level of experience against righties.
16:55Now, you might look and see, I think, it's like 2-for-6 against lefties.
16:58Both those hits were infield single ground ball hits, right?
17:01It's not like he's putting together good at-bats.
17:04Over a larger sample size, in the minor leagues, upper-level minor leagues,
17:10against lefties, he's a sub-600 OPS guy.
17:12So, let's just, it is indisputable that Alejandro Osuna has not earned his stripes
17:18against left-handed pitching at the major league level, right?
17:21That's not to say he can't grow and get better.
17:25I think he could.
17:26Watching Alejandro Osuna's at-bats against lefties,
17:29compared to Evan Carter's at-bats against lefties,
17:31are two different things, but is a high-leverage spot down by one
17:35with the tying run and scoring position, you know,
17:37the best time to try and focus on his development as opposed to winning?
17:42Because if you let Alejandro Osuna face the lefty and it doesn't work out,
17:45then you get burned for that, too.
17:47The only reason why people are getting frustrated is because he was 3-for-3,
17:51but he was 3-for-3 against righties.
17:52All right, this game is, it is a different game for hitters when it's a righty
17:56versus a lefty.
17:57Now, you take a guy like Corey Seager, I mean, not that he's a guy you'd platoon
18:01anyway, but like, yeah, a guy that has done it, been there, done that,
18:05like, that's different.
18:06Alejandro Osuna has really not experienced success against lefties.
18:09Now, it didn't work out.
18:11That's not the reason the Rangers lost the game exclusively.
18:14The issue might be, hey, they need better production out of Andrew McCutcheon,
18:18right?
18:18They brought Andrew McCutcheon to hit lefties and then to come off the bench
18:23and, you know, in those situations, have success.
18:26He's 2-for-18 as a pinch hitter.
18:27That's not going to cut it, right?
18:29They need more from Andrew McCutcheon.
18:32So, and the other part of this, too, by the way, let's not forget,
18:35Josh Young got hurt.
18:36I don't want to lose people here, but Josh Young got hurt prior to that.
18:38Michael Hellman's now in the game playing shortstop.
18:41So, you've lost your backup center fielder.
18:43In a close game, which they're not a lot of runs, defense is important.
18:47If they don't pinch hit Alejandro Suna, they let him face Taylor Saucedo.
18:52Taylor Saucedo then faces Evan Carter either later that inning,
18:56in which the game's tied, so you're okay with that.
18:58But odds are, the very next inning.
19:01And now you've taken, you either are just giving up and out with Evan Carter,
19:05or you're taking Evan Carter out of the game.
19:07You've now lost your two best defensive center fielders in a low-scoring game
19:11in which defense matters.
19:12So, there are a lot of different components here.
19:14Now, there's frustration with the way Skip answered the question.
19:16To me, that's just people upset, looking for more reasons to be upset.
19:22The guy was minutes removed from losing a game that he was frustrated that the team lost.
19:27And so, he got snappy.
19:29You know, I just, I don't know.
19:32That happened.
19:33I mean, go back and listen to my interviews with Jeff Bannister from 2015 to 2018.
19:38I mean, like, I was, you know what, in my pants when, you know, they would blow it.
19:44Neftali's leaves in 2015 would blow a save before they would change out the closer.
19:48When Sam Dyson was like, you know, I got my head bit off a number of times.
19:52I didn't care.
19:53I got it.
19:53The guy's a competitor.
19:54He just lost a tough game.
19:55Yeah.
19:56You know, the question has to be asked, but I don't expect him to, you know,
19:59give me a Hallmark card type answer.
20:01So, I don't, I didn't have any issue with that personally.
20:04And let me say this.
20:05I don't think Laura had any issue with it either.
20:07A lot of people are like, oh, that's rude.
20:08Like, like, Laura's taught, like, don't, let's not underestimate Laura here.
20:12She's tough.
20:12She can, she can handle herself.
20:14She gets it.
20:15She understands what she signed up for.
20:17She didn't have any issue with it either.
20:20Jared, four starts this month for DeGrom.
20:23He has not been outside the Chicago game where he was brilliant, vintage.
20:27He's given up basically 16 runs and 16 innings.
20:29His velo seems fine.
20:31His movement seems fine.
20:32Is he just wild?
20:34Has he lost his command?
20:36It doesn't seem like there's an injury.
20:38Yeah, wild within the zone, RJ, I think.
20:40I mean, you look at the location of the four home runs he allowed against the Astros.
20:43None of those pitches are touching a perimeter of the zone, right?
20:46None of them are what you would describe to be pitcher's pitches.
20:49And also, when he's pitching from behind in the count, just like any pitcher,
20:53well, it, you know, it puts you in a little bit more of a compromised situation.
20:57I thought the Astros against DeGrom and Houston did a tremendous job of saying,
21:03hey, you know what?
21:04Screw the slider.
21:06We're probably not going to hit that.
21:07And no one's hitting it.
21:08We're just going to key up for the fastball.
21:10And when we get the fastballs, we've got to take advantage.
21:12And they did.
21:13Right?
21:13Like, the game's not that easy, right?
21:16It's not that simple.
21:17But sometimes the thought process can be simplified a little bit.
21:20Whereas when the Rangers faced Tang, and I don't remember if it was that game
21:24or a different game in that series, they kept trying to hit his nasty sweeper,
21:29and they let a lot of fastballs go right down the middle or right in the heart of the zone.
21:35So, I think teams are taking that approach against Jacob.
21:38Jacob is still a really, really good pitcher.
21:41But, you know, eight years ago, when he threw 98 to 100,
21:45there weren't a lot of starters doing that in combination with a 97-mile-an-hour fastball.
21:49Hell, we were starting to see relievers do that,
21:52but there really weren't a ton of relievers who were throwing 101 and 92
21:56with their fastball and their slider.
21:58There are more guys doing that stuff now.
22:00So, hitters are more accustomed to that.
22:03There also is a ton of technology that allows hitters to replicate things
22:08like a pitcher's approach angle, their release point, to fully prepare, right?
22:12It's not just about the velocity.
22:13It's the path of the ball from the release point.
22:16Jacob always, you know, is one of these guys who's measured great with his vertical approach angle,
22:21which is simply to say the deception that he creates with the ride in his fastball
22:26based on the release point.
22:27It's like the Mariners have really, you know, tried to dominate in terms of acquiring guys
22:32who fit that mold.
22:35Hitters can prepare for that more.
22:37That's not to say, again, that Jacob deGrom isn't really good.
22:40It's just that he doesn't have the same margin for error that maybe he did five, eight years ago, right?
22:45And so we're seeing that.
22:46His fastball command has not been great, and teams have taken advantage of it.
22:51Last one for you, Jared Sandler here on 105.3 The Fan.
22:55My perception is when it comes to – and look, the trade deadline's in August.
22:59We're a long ways away.
23:01But my perception is that even if Chris Young wants to add, he has a financial ceiling because of ownership.
23:10How accurate do you think that is, and what do you think they're thinking in the front office right now
23:17about adding, subtracting, staying with moves that I think obviously need to be made?
23:23Yeah.
23:23So a few things I need to add to this.
23:25Bobby, we had a conversation before the season.
23:27I said I thought this was going to be a league average offense.
23:30You disagreed.
23:31So far, you're right.
23:32I just want to let you know.
23:33Yep.
23:34I'm not – you know, I don't run away from that stuff.
23:36I was going to make you say it with AI if you didn't.
23:38You just ruined the rest of the show.
23:41And I apologize to Sean and RJ for whatever that does to Bobby's head.
23:45Yeah, yeah.
23:48So as far as the trade deadline and let's start with the financial side, I think a part of –
23:52you know, yes, they shed payroll.
23:55There's no salary cap, but an owner can enforce his own internal cap, right?
23:59You know, if Ray Davis says you can only spend X, you can only spend X.
24:02It doesn't matter that there's no cap.
24:03I do think, though, that the big thing is to stay under the luxury tax.
24:07It doesn't mean that, you know, the Rangers are going to just take on $30 million of salary
24:11or whatever their wiggle room is, but I do think that they have the ability to take on salary
24:15at the trade deadline.
24:17I think one of the challenges last year was they didn't, and I think that the thought was,
24:21hey, instead of maxing out whatever, you know, you want us to spend going into the season,
24:28let's leave some wiggle room so we can make some of these adjustments or ads as needed.
24:31As far as the trade deadline is concerned, there is no doubt that the brain trust understands
24:39that if the Rangers are not in it, whatever that means, and that's where there could be
24:43a gray area, that it's possible they take on the role of the seller.
24:49For fans, that – like I'm seeing a lot of that, like sell now, sell now.
24:54You know, they don't have to commit to that right now.
24:55Now, if they did, you know, they wouldn't have a market to truly drive up the price tag
25:01for, you know, whomever they're going to sell.
25:04It's not the front office's job to be emotional and to ride the wave or get knocked down by the
25:13wave
25:14in a situation like we're in right now.
25:16They're going to look at it and say, hey, you know, whether people listening agree or not
25:21that the Rangers have the ability to press on the gas and get into a playoff spot.
25:26The Rangers are, you know, within a few games, a couple games of a wild card spot in, what,
25:31three and a half or whatever in the division, three in the division.
25:35So it's not like they're 10 back right now.
25:38Also, the front office isn't, by considering the possibility of them competing,
25:43doing any disservice to themselves in the event they were to decide to sell in July.
25:49It's not like they need to commit now and they're building up intel now that they, you know,
25:54would use to their advantage in July.
25:57They're having conversations on both sides internally, I'm sure.
26:00They just don't need to commit, you know, as you mentioned, Sean, I think it's August 3rd this year.
26:04They don't need to commit to anything for a while.
26:06So for them, let's just, you know, like they're going to take the approach.
26:09Let's just see where we are, right?
26:10Like they don't need to, the only thing they would maybe need to do right now is if they felt
26:14like
26:14they had to go and get someone right now to give this team a chance to win.
26:19But I don't know that they want to spend the resources at this point.
26:24So, you know, I think that's where they're at.
26:27Like I get that a lot of fans have made up their mind.
26:29And again, I understand the emotional rollercoaster of a fan.
26:32I get it.
26:32I understand that there might be people that are saying trade everyone right now.
26:36And then in two weeks, if the Rangers go 10-2, you know, over this stretch, they're like,
26:40no, no, okay, you know what, I'm back in.
26:42Like that's a part of being a fan.
26:43I get it.
26:43And there are people who are more resolute.
26:45They don't care what's going to happen.
26:46They want to buy.
26:46They don't care what's going to happen.
26:48They want to sell.
26:48But for the front office, they just don't need to have that mindset right now.
26:53So I think they are still fully committed to trying to see this team win.
26:58I think they feel like, hey, we're where we're at in spite of the fact we haven't gotten
27:02the best out of Evaldi and DeGrom, although, you know, Evo's been really good lately.
27:06And we haven't had Seager and Lankford.
27:08Let's just see what it looks like when we get those guys back or back on track.
27:12And then they'll make decisions at that point.
27:14Awesome stuff.
27:15Thank you, brother.
27:15We'll see you tonight.
27:17See you guys.
Comments