00:00Guardians got a big win yesterday. I think to a lot of people, it's obvious that their best win of
00:06the year.
00:07Let's see if Matt Derry agrees. He joins us right now on the Wise Heart Right. We make it right
00:11called Kyle Right Hotline.
00:12Matt Derry, one half of the Derry Brothers Guardians cast with his brother Todd. Matt, good morning.
00:18Boys, let's talk some baseball.
00:21Was that the win of the year yesterday for the Guardians?
00:26Wow, close. I mean, can you put it in the top three, Ken?
00:30I mean, you've got to put the Kyle Manzardo pinch hit 1-0 win in Philly up there this past
00:37Wednesday.
00:37Is he power ranking? It sounds like he's power ranking the wins, yeah.
00:42Well, I was prepared, Anthony. I kind of knew this was coming.
00:47And then probably Wednesday, too, in Chicago that they had to have blew the game.
00:52And then came back to win in 10 innings.
00:54But top three, yes, absolutely.
00:57All right. Yesterday, what sticks out to you about their stick-to-itiveness?
01:04Like, for them to win a game like that, I think at one point they were a 97% loser
01:12probability in that game.
01:14For them, especially with their offense now basically one of the worst in Major League Baseball over the course of
01:20the last...
01:20Well, the last month they are the worst.
01:23And then, you know, you put them their whole season-long numbers.
01:26They're now one of the worst.
01:27So, the fact that they could be that resourceful and find a way to win that game, what does it
01:32say about them?
01:34I mean, they finally, Tony, they finally got a couple of hits with runners in scoring position.
01:38That's the biggest thing.
01:40I mean, they were...
01:41First of all, they didn't play good baseball yesterday.
01:43I think Stephen Boat would tell you that.
01:44You've got your second baseman stumbling all over the field, your shortstop throwing the ball away.
01:50You know, Watson in right field, I don't know what he was doing yesterday.
01:53He struggled a little bit defensively.
01:55You just made, you know, Cooper Engel misjudges a pop-up, cost you a run.
01:58They didn't play well.
02:00But to get a couple of knocks with runners in scoring positions, starting with the chase to Lauder hit, with
02:07two outs, was mammoth.
02:09And then for Hoskins to deliver was huge.
02:12They just have not been able to find anybody, other than this week, Khalil Watson, to deliver with runners in
02:19scoring position.
02:20And, you know, Stephen Boat has been asked about it.
02:22He says it's difficult.
02:24It's hard.
02:24We've got a young team.
02:26Tough to deliver in those spots.
02:27The pitchers are really good.
02:28Like, he's saying all the right things.
02:31But the bottom line is these guys have not delivered.
02:34And with Jose Ramirez out, who, by the way, has also, before he got injured, really struggled with runners on
02:40base.
02:41And Anahel Martinez and now DeLauder's back.
02:43But you're missing three of your top hitters, and the guys that have come in to replace them, a bunch
02:50of them were not major league players.
02:51You were trotting out at times this year.
02:54Stuart Fairchild and Petey Halpin and Gabby Arias is still on the team.
02:59Those are not major leaguers.
03:01They're just not.
03:02And so there's a giant step down, we saw with San Diego, with all the injuries they've had.
03:07They've had to bring guys up.
03:08They don't deliver.
03:08Their offense is the worst in the league.
03:11Detroit, same thing.
03:12When they had guys out, you know, they're playing Zach Short at shortstop, who's been DFA'd 50 times.
03:17There's, you know, pitching depth is a lot.
03:20There's a lot more pitching depth right now in baseball than hitting depth.
03:22But, man, the DeLauder hit yesterday was the biggest one because great to have him back.
03:27They have to have him healthy and playing because he's really good.
03:31But, and what's behind him right now, including guys like Manzardo and Quan, who struggled, those guys are killing this
03:37lineup right now.
03:38I think it was just so good for him.
03:40It's got to be emotionally good for him because you've been injured so often.
03:45And you're such a young player.
03:47And then you have the rib injury that happens.
03:50You have your first day back, basically.
03:52And you come up with such a big hit.
03:54Like, I just think it hopefully catapults him for the rest of the season.
03:58Because you have a tendency, you know, you're young.
04:00I know you try, but maybe you press.
04:01And then all of a sudden, the rest of the season gets away from you.
04:04And I know it's one game there, Matt.
04:06But I just think it's such a good start for him.
04:07Because we rely on, I mean, he's part of the future.
04:09We have to be able to rely on Chase DeLauter if we're going to do anything here over the next
04:13handful of years.
04:15No, you're right.
04:16And you think about all of the clutch hits that he's delivered this year, including the home opener and everything
04:21else.
04:22And he's come up big.
04:23And it doesn't matter who's on the mound, if it's a righty or a lefty.
04:26Look, we saw yesterday Stephen Vogt pinch hit for Khalil Watson with David Frye, which drove me absolutely crazy.
04:33I knew it would.
04:33My brother and I are going to record this hour, and we'll talk about that.
04:40I just, I can't handle all this platoon stuff.
04:43This is a guy in DeLauter that you are not pinch hitting for.
04:46He hits lefties.
04:47He hits righties.
04:48I don't care if the pitcher's ambidextrous.
04:51DeLauter can hit.
04:52And, man, he's not 100%.
04:54You can see it.
04:55He's wearing like a flap jacket for the ribs.
04:57And he's not 100% yet to shoot that ball in the center field and tie the game yesterday.
05:03It was just, like you said, Ken, he's great.
05:05He's really a very good, a great young player that's only going to get better.
05:09But he's got to be on the field.
05:11He's had so many injuries.
05:12And, man, that was awesome to see.
05:14Well, especially because I see him.
05:16I see Bazzana.
05:17You just see the future of the organization.
05:19Manzardo, I think, to a degree.
05:20Cooper Engel's up now.
05:22I want to ask you about him in just a moment.
05:23Let me get to the Josh Naylor thing, though, between him and Austin Hedges.
05:27You know, I was a big Josh Naylor fan.
05:29And you hear rumblings here where maybe he's intense, he's a little too intense.
05:33And then Austin Hedges, he's a leader of leaders.
05:36When Austin Hedges speaks, I have to listen.
05:39And when he's saying that nobody likes you, over to Josh Naylor, which, yeah,
05:44does sound like a high school dig, but they are on teams.
05:48Popularity matters.
05:50So was it good riddance to bad rubbish for the Guardians when it came to Josh Naylor?
05:54It sounds like it.
05:57Well, it's obvious that they never, ever really considered him for a long-term contract.
06:02And he was a guy that hit over 30 home runs for you a couple of years ago.
06:06And the team really, they never really made an offer.
06:10So I don't know how much of it was.
06:13That's just what the Guardians do.
06:14Guys leave.
06:15They don't hand out and dole out a ton of big money contracts to guys,
06:20especially with where he is on the age spectrum, number one.
06:24Number two, his postseason performance, his lack of hustle at times, his attitude.
06:32A couple of years ago, I think, probably rubbed some teammates the wrong way.
06:36And that included probably Austin Hedges, who, like you just said, Kenny,
06:39I mean, he's the best leader on the team.
06:41He's the most popular guy in that clubhouse.
06:43Everybody loves Hedgie.
06:44The guy's back every year.
06:46He'll be back next year probably on a one-year deal until he wants to manage
06:50somewhere else or coach somewhere else, unless it's in this organization.
06:54So for Hedges, you're right, that back and forth the fans missed it yesterday.
06:58It was pretty telltale on where the team is with Naylor.
07:02And, again, Josh is not very popular around the league either.
07:06He had an incident earlier this year in Detroit where he ran home on a ball,
07:11hit to right field, and threw his, like, base running oven mitt at Dylan Dingler,
07:16the Tigers catcher.
07:17Like, what was that?
07:18And he got beamed on the next pitch the next time he came up.
07:22There have been a couple of other instances with other teams.
07:24We remember what he did with the Yankees and the rock the baby thing.
07:27They mocked him on that.
07:29You're right.
07:30I mean, we all seemed to love him when he was here, and he delivered a lot.
07:33He had really good years here.
07:34But for what Hedges said about him, I think most of the team there probably feels the same way.
07:40All right.
07:41It looks like Bazzana is just having kind of your standard rookie issues.
07:46He came out flying in the first month of May and then June.
07:50But he's still finding some ways to get on base and obviously has pretty good vision at the play.
07:57Just what do you think overall of the experience of having him?
08:01Look, I said it from the beginning on the pod in April.
08:03Where is he?
08:04Get him up here.
08:05He's ready.
08:05I was tired of watching Arias every day, and then obviously Arias got hurt.
08:09And they tried Juan Brito and other guys.
08:11But there's a reason Travis Bazzana was picked 1-1 in a draft that was loaded and has guys like
08:17Nick Kurtz,
08:18who are unbelievably good, and Chase Burns in Cincinnati has been great.
08:21In a draft like that, Bazzana's got to be here.
08:24And he's here.
08:25And I think that he handles himself so well.
08:27You would never know he's that young and, I guess, baseball immature.
08:32He's got the tools.
08:34And right now, like you said, he's struggling.
08:35He certainly struggled a little bit yesterday defensively, and I think that will get better.
08:39But he's got to be up here.
08:41And the fact that Steven Vogt and the organization moved him to leadoff pretty early on tells you how much
08:47they rely on him
08:48and think he can do the job.
08:50He carried the offense a couple of weeks ago in Houston when nobody was hitting except him.
08:54And now, since that weekend, he's struggled, like you said, a little bit hitting the baseball.
08:59I think he'll be fine.
09:00I really do.
09:00I think right now, Vogt's just trying to figure out where to put everybody in the lineup because they're not
09:05hitting.
09:05And hopefully yesterday, springboards with just a little bit more offense.
09:10I mean, Anthony, they scored five runs in an inning.
09:12This team can't score five runs in a game ever.
09:17So I'm not worried about Bazzana.
09:19I think he'll be just fine.
09:20Actually, I think he may make the all-star team based upon just how weak the second base crop is.
09:25I want to throw the White Sox series into this and talk about this month.
09:29I know it's a very difficult month for the Guardians.
09:31If they end up this week tied or plus-minus one somewhere in there for the division,
09:38how good do you feel about the rest of this season considering the injuries
09:42and the very tough month of June with the schedule?
09:46Yeah, I mean, look, Todd and I have talked about it on the podcast.
09:49You've got to stay afloat.
09:51I mean, you've just got to stay around playing 500 baseball without Jose and Angel Martinez
09:58and then hopefully make a run here because it just, like you said,
10:02the schedule's been a little bit grueling.
10:04They hadn't won a series in a while, and yesterday's win was just enormous,
10:09like you guys talked about, just to win a series and beat a good team.
10:12That Seattle team's good.
10:14And I know their top relievers didn't really, after Spire came in,
10:18they went to some younger guys, which thank you, Dan Wilson, for the Mariners to do that.
10:24We appreciate that.
10:25But, like, yeah, they've got to stay – they've just got to stay playing around 500 ball
10:29because those are two enormous losses.
10:31I mean, Martinez is your top home run hitter, and the Guardians, as we know,
10:35don't have a lot of power, and then Jose is Jose.
10:38So, you know, I'll be interested in seeing how they respond tonight
10:42and bounce back after yesterday because yesterday was an emotional win,
10:46like you said, and a grind.
10:47And I mentioned before, Kenny, I mean, Quan and Manzaro have got to get going.
10:52They just have to.
10:54I'm stunned at the fall of Stephen Quan from basically a year ago today to now,
11:00just in terms of hard hit rate and driving the baseball.
11:04It's just not there.
11:05And Manzaro – Manzaro got pinch hit for yesterday.
11:08Quan's been pinch hit for twice this year.
11:11The team's trying to win, and I get that they're playing matchups and lefty-righty,
11:15but those two guys are guys that – they were hitting lefties, righties.
11:18It didn't matter.
11:18Do you ever pinch hit in the past for Stephen Quan?
11:21And for Manzaro, he's actually hitting lefties better,
11:24but he's at bets yesterday in this uppercut pop-up swing.
11:29Vote had seen enough and went to Hoskins.
11:30So those guys have got to wake up.
11:32Well, it's been a popular discussion online with the diehards
11:36about the lack of development for hitters in the system
11:39and when Junior Caminero is doing what he's doing.
11:42And now the list, you know, starts to grow of other players
11:45who have been able to do it somewhere else that weren't able to do it here.
11:48Is this legitimate discussion, or is this just people finding something
11:53to complain about despite the fact that we make the playoffs every year?
11:57Well, I mean, look, Anthony, if DeLauter and obviously Bazzana
12:01came through the system as a number one overall pick,
12:05if Khalil Watson continues to perform – and look, it's a small sample size,
12:10but he's exciting.
12:11And he's been hitting lefties and righties.
12:13And if you watch the games, Khalil Watson's not just shooting the ball
12:16down the right field line and smashing balls – I'll use – you know,
12:20we'll geek out here for a second – to the pull field.
12:23This dude's hitting the ball all over the place.
12:26He's knocking the ball for a single through the hole at short and third.
12:29He looks like a guy that's 33, not 23, the way he handles the bat.
12:33So that's the answer to the we never develop any hitters,
12:37we don't have any young outfielders.
12:39They haven't for a long time.
12:40And Quan was the one guy that you said, man, we've got a guy through the system
12:44that actually is an all-star, that's an actual outfielder,
12:47and now he's just on a nosedive and might not be here next year.
12:51So, like, Watson's the guy that you could use as an example.
12:54If he continues to play well and leave him out there and play him,
12:58don't pinch hit for him, please.
13:00Let him play.
13:01He's athletic.
13:02He does it all.
13:03So, like, I want to see more of Watson because if he develops
13:05and is a guy that you can rely on and plays right field almost every day
13:09because the water has to DH with the rib injury
13:12and we don't have a lot of other options.
13:14I get he plays lefty righty with Fry,
13:15but Watson's almost the guy that by the end of the year you say,
13:19oh, we've developed another outfielder.
13:21We actually can do it as opposed to Gandhi Diaz is gone,
13:25Cam Manero is gone, all these guys are gone from the system
13:28that have turned out to do much better elsewhere.
13:30Matt, I have to ask you two questions within the next 75 seconds.
13:34So, here we go.
13:35One, when do we get to see Cooper Engel actually catch?
13:41I don't think you do.
13:42Where is he going to play?
13:44I was just – honestly, I'm not being critical.
13:47I was just honestly wondering because, I mean, you got catchers there
13:49and they're both veterans.
13:50So, what are you really going to do?
13:53Yeah, I mean, Patrick Bailey has done an amazing job with Slade Ciccone
13:57and is almost like Ciccone's personal catcher.
13:59You know, Hedges catches Parker Messick and Messick's an all-star.
14:05Those two guys behind the plate are the least of my worries, to be honest.
14:08So, I think Engel's going to be either in left field or DH-ing.
14:11The next thing going on with the Terry and Armstrong stuff,
14:16I know that you are a – you also host Locked on Lions.
14:20First, I know that's a bizarre story.
14:22I get it.
14:23But, do the Lions make a call for Denzel Ward?
14:28I don't know.
14:29You know, the Terry and Arnold thing is so weird.
14:31Arnold, sorry.
14:32I said Armstrong.
14:33Arnold, I'm sorry.
14:34There's a court date today.
14:38Supposedly he's hired this high-powered lawyer that everybody thinks is going to get him –
14:42somehow get him off this thing and get him back in the field.
14:45I just don't know if that's going to happen.
14:46But, making a call for Denzel Ward is something that I brought up because, you know,
14:51the Lions need a corner.
14:53But, there's a lot of veteran guys at free agency that are a lot cheaper out there,
14:56like a Kenny Moore, Trayvon Diggs.
14:59I think they'd go – the Lions would go that route first.
15:02Brad Holmes doesn't love giving up draft capital for anybody.
15:06So, I'd put that as a, you know, 35-40 percent, Ken.
15:11Not even a 50-50 proposition.
15:13Honestly, 35-40 is a little higher than what I might have thought there.
15:16So, I mean, Matt –
15:17Yeah, maybe, yeah, 30.
15:19Yeah, I just –
15:20Fair.
15:21I don't know.
15:21We'll see.
15:22We'll see.
15:22I mean, I'm not hoping it happens, but if you can get, like, a second-round pick,
15:25what am I supposed to say?
15:26It's going to be very, very difficult, and I know that the Lions timeline is different
15:29from where the Browns timeline is.
15:30Find this man on Twitter, at Derry Speaks.
15:33He's one of the best.
15:33Matt, thank you so much for the time, my friend.
15:37Fellas, it's good to talk with you.
15:39You know that.
15:39Matt Derry.
15:40Derry Brothers Guardians cast.
15:41Also, co-hosts of Locked On Lions podcast as well.
15:45You hear him on 92.3 The Fan all the time.
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