00:01The Gardos are 54-50. Lost yesterday. Sucks. 12-inning game. Gavin Williams was brilliant.
00:11Couldn't get a hit. Terrible situation. But still, right there in the thick of everything.
00:17But, you guys are not going to like this, and I've been saying it to tease it. I hate to
00:21do it, but
00:22it is on how Martinez and Jose Ramirez returning the Guardians' acquisitions at the trade deadline,
00:28which I understand is a tradition unlike any other, and it's a tradition you don't like.
00:32But the question must be asked. And to answer it, we welcome in Matt Derry, host of the Derry
00:37Brothers Guardians cast and Locked On Lines. He joins us right now on the Wise Heart Right.
00:41We make a right call, Kyle Wright Hotline. Matt, how the hell are you?
00:45Gentlemen, what's happening?
00:47I want to ask you about Jared Goff at the end of this, but let me talk to you about
00:50him right now,
00:50about the Guardians here.
00:52Yes, sir.
00:53Is Martinez coming back and Jose coming back the moves that they will make at the trade deadline?
01:00Man, you are just busting out all the old bits this morning, aren't you, Ken?
01:03Well, I got to do what I got to do. You know, we're getting close, and it's a last chance
01:08I'm
01:08going to get to talk to you about it on air until after the deadline. So, I think a lot
01:13of
01:13people are thinking about it. They need some bullpen help. They need some relief help. It would be
01:18nice to have a hitter out there. All right, what do you think they could do, Matt?
01:22Well, no, I mean, look, you've got a lot of teams in the mix. You've got a really bad
01:26American League where everybody's in play. You've got four teams in your own division
01:30who could buy. Now, I think the Twins will end up being sellers, but you watch Minnesota
01:36the last four days, they're pesky, they play hard, and they're in the mix. Detroit is in
01:41fourth place in the division, and they might be buying to try to go for it one last year
01:46with Scooble before he departs Detroit. So, you know, to me saying, oh, yeah, Angel and Jose
01:52coming back are the acquisitions we needed, no, that's not acceptable. There are plenty of bats
01:57out there. Even if it's a bit player or a right-handed bat like a Tyrone Taylor from the Mets,
02:03who's more of a platoon guy, I think you have to add. God bless Petey Halpin, who had a great
02:09day on
02:09Monday and plays good defense. A guy like Arias, you know, Manzaro and Hoskins are a tire fire at
02:17first base at times at the plate. You've got to add. You've got to add another bat that can make
02:23this team better, and I think that's what they should do. I mean, are you kind of where I'm at,
02:28where I think it's almost a miracle that they have this record at this time, considering how awful
02:33that day was when we lost everybody with a pulse, and we've kind of had to cobble things together,
02:38piecemeal it, for the duration that they have, and to sit here 54 and 50? I know we always want
02:43more, but given where we were at this time last year, that I'm actually feeling okay?
02:49Yeah, Tone, I don't disagree with you, and I look up and I go, all right, you're right. I mean,
02:54at one point you had DeLauder, Martinez, and Ramirez all out. You were playing Stuart Fairchild.
03:00You were trying everything out there, and you weren't hitting. This last four-game series with the
03:05Twins is the embodiment of this entire season. Monday, you put up, you hit seven home runs,
03:11you score 13, you followed up Tuesday with great pitching, great bullpen work. You win the first
03:16two, and you go, all right, we are better than this Twins team. Let's just win one of the next
03:21two,
03:21take three out of four, win the series, and that's the tease that they give you. And I know you've
03:26had
03:26Zach Meisel on the show, and he's been saying the same thing. And then Wednesday, whatever a clunker,
03:30it happens, Minnesota scores runs, they're very good situationally hitting, which the Guardians
03:35aren't. And then yesterday was an absolute joke. I mean, an absolute joke. You can't move a guy over
03:41in the 10th and the 11th and get him to third base. You had a Pat Bailey strikeout where he
03:46couldn't get the bunt down. And then the 11th, DeLauder swings through a fastball and doesn't
03:52move the runner over. And I love Chase DeLauder, and he's going to be awesome. But you got to move
03:55the runners over. That was bad baseball. 0-17 with runners in scoring position. So the tease
04:01is there. You split that series, and you go, all right, well, we split. No, but you should
04:05have taken three out of four. You had an unbelievable performance yesterday from Gavin Williams. And the
04:09bullpen, for the most part, got you two opportunities to walk it off. And in the ninth, you know,
04:15Manzardo comes up. You know he's not delivering. He's got to be sent down. Like, there's things
04:20that have to happen. But with all of that being said, they have the third most tied for the third
04:24most wins in the American League. So they're, like you said, Anthony, they're right there.
04:29Matt Derry joining us here on the show. Yeah, it's, I said to these guys yesterday,
04:35they might actually be the, I know we do a lot of arguing about the Browns, and we've
04:38done some real arguing here over the last couple of years about the Cavs. This might actually
04:42be the perfect team to ever argue about, because I know it's like, well, you can't really say
04:46nasty things about them, because they always pull themselves up. And you can't really say
04:49they're that great, because while they make the postseason, they always play well enough
04:53to make you frustrated and go, isn't that just the perfect one how it is? You're never
04:56right. You're never wrong. Like, anybody who's sitting there going, oh, you guys don't know
04:59baseball. You don't know what the hell you're talking about. This organization's fantastic.
05:03Were they right against the Pirates? No. But if somebody was sitting there hammering every
05:08single thing they do, were they right in the first two games against the Twins? Were they
05:12right at the end of the first half of the season in the series against the Marlins? No.
05:17Like, they're a young team. We still don't really know their identity altogether.
05:21They are young. I think you can question some of the roster decisions. I think you can question,
05:27you know, and I don't want to do this, but you know, you can question ownership because the
05:32payroll's low. I get all that. And obviously, we could have a work stoppage next year, and not a
05:35lot of people are spending money. I just mentioned reference to Tigers earlier. I mean, they've got
05:40the best pitcher on the planet, and they're going to let them walk. I mean, there's, you know,
05:44the Twins are going to sell. You watch the Twins these four games, and you go, man,
05:47they're scrappy as hell. They play hard. They're well-managed. And yet, you're right. A guy like
05:52Trevor Larnik, who beat the Guardians yesterday with that base hit, and to put them up, he'll
05:57probably be shipped out. They've got some guys in their pen that probably will be traded.
06:00Joe Ryan, their best pitcher, I know the Guardians racked him around Monday. He might get traded. So
06:05you wonder, what's going on in the game? That's a bigger picture thing. The bottom line is,
06:09you're right, Ken, Guardians do have a good team, and they are 54-50, and they did survive and
06:14stayed around .500 when their three best hitters were all out. But you do want to see more when
06:20that window is open right now. And they're going to Tampa this weekend to face the best home team,
06:26the best home record in the American League in the race. They play very well down in that
06:29stupid dome. Guardians are a better road team than home team, so hopefully they pick it up. But
06:35there's been missed opportunities this year for this team. And, you know, yesterday was just the
06:41same thing. I mean, 0 for 17 with runners in scoring position. It just won. If you get one
06:46knock there, you win that game. And that spoiled a great performance from Gavin Williams.
06:52All right, Matt Derry joining us on the hotline. So, Stephen Kwan, we've been discussing him a bunch
06:58from looking like he didn't belong in the league a month and a half ago to getting closer and closer,
07:05it seems like, every game to being a little more like the Stephen Kwan that we know and love.
07:10Are you buying it or still too early?
07:14I am buying it. And I heard Tom Hamilton say the other day, Stephen Kwan is back. I see a
07:19confidence. I mean, you guys know I'm such a geek. I watch all these games. I don't miss it. I
07:23mean,
07:23I really watch them all. And he looks like a different person the last two to three weeks.
07:28He really does. He looks confident at the plate. The bats are competitive. He's fouling pitches off
07:33that a month ago he was swinging through and striking out, making contact. The defense has always
07:39been there. And to be quite honest with you, I like him in left field. I know they've played
07:44him in center. But if you've noticed over the last couple weeks, the resurgence at the plate,
07:48he's consistently just sat in left field. And so when you look at a lineup at 4.30 in the
07:53afternoon
07:54or 4 o'clock before a 6.40 or 7.10 game and go, oh man, Halpin again in center.
07:59What's up with that?
08:00I honestly think the reason he's playing Halpin a lot, not for the bat, is for the glove,
08:04bat him ninth, but put him in center and leave Quan and left where it's consistency for Steven,
08:10where it's not moving from left to center back. And I think it's working. And he just,
08:14he looks confident. I don't know if it's a mental thing. I don't know if he's like, forget it. I'm
08:18not even thinking about my contract or anything else. And that's key for this offense. Now,
08:22the other guy they've got to get going is Manzardo. And look, they sent Rocchio down last year to get
08:29his head straight. Other teams have sent people down. I remember years ago in Detroit,
08:32sent Max Scherzer down. When the Yankees sent Volpe down, when the Mets sent Alvarez,
08:37their catcher down, it might be time for a week, two weeks, just to have Manzardo go to Columbus
08:41to kind of breathe a second, because that's not working right now. That first base platoon or
08:47whatever you want to call it, you know, Hoskins had a big day Monday. And then yesterday went right
08:51back to windmill status. It's like, they've got to get more production from that spot.
08:56Yeah, Bearius, what keeps him here?
09:00I don't mean to be so nasty about it because somebody posted his slash lines the other day
09:04and they're like, Hey man, I know he's brain dead sometimes out there in the field and on
09:07the base paths, but these are good, good numbers here. And I go, well, that's, it's worth a
09:11discussion then. Go ahead, Matt.
09:13Uh, I don't know, Ken, he hits right-handed.
09:17All right.
09:19He's taller than six feet. I have no idea.
09:22Khalil, Khalil Watson showed me, I know Khalil Watson's OPS was not high and I know he's
09:28a young player and everything else. And you don't want all rookies out there. That's the
09:32old adage. You're not going to win with young players, but my goodness, that kid came up
09:36and in big spots delivered. And when there's runners on base, I do not expect Gavi Arias
09:43to deliver. I just don't.
09:44So I thought when Jose was, when Jose came back, this was a no brainer. It's been, it's
09:50been five years of this and I get it when he was 22 and you're sticking him in first
09:55base, uh, uh, you know, in the playoffs against the Yankees, but enough's enough. And he's
10:01still here when on hell comes back. And I know on hell told the media in Akron or whatever,
10:05he feels like he's ready to go now. So if that's an activation today, why not just cut the
10:11cord, you've got steam and can play every position and be a backup. I thought Watson
10:15showed, showed a lot when he was up here. Um, I'm, I'm, I'm scratching my head. Just
10:20like you guys are is on hell. Martinez is a power hitter now, or am I just so starved
10:25for off? Oh, I'm a star for anything, but if I, am I just so desperate for offense that
10:29I don't know what I'm looking at power hitter now? I mean, on this team, he is, well, that's
10:36what I meant. Like, am I just so hungry for offense and I'm like, Oh yeah, power hitter
10:40now. Oh yeah. We got, we got home run. We got Bopper here. I'm excited to see him come
10:44back. I really am. I think they've needed that bad. And obviously it's a guy that can
10:48hit, you know, left and right. So, I mean, Dave, you're right. Uh, Kenny, they just, they've
10:55got to find a power source somewhere because you can't, it's tough to string three, four
11:00hits together every time and manufacturers runs like that. That's why Monday night was so
11:04much fun. And I know it was an anomaly, seven home runs off an all-star pitcher, but, uh, you
11:09know, they've got to find a way to find some power and there's going to be some
11:13bats available at the deadline. Again, it's going to be a lot. It's going to be a
11:16competitive market. There's going to be many more buyers and sellers because this
11:20thing is wide open. We'll see what they do.
11:23All right. Final one. I told you to ask about Jared Goff. I did my QB tiers today.
11:27You do locked on lions. I have him in a first, I have him a 1 PM Kirk Cousins category,
11:32which
11:32makes him a franchise quarterback in tier two. Uh, is that true? Or is he a bubble guy
11:37in the city of Detroit? No, people love him here. Uh, he is the guy here. Uh, he
11:44has won playoff games, something Matthew Stafford could not do. And I'm not even
11:48knocking Stafford. Stafford's great, but Stafford's better. If you're doing tears,
11:51I'm putting Stafford ahead of Goff, but I still think Jared is a top 10 quarterback
11:55in the league. Uh, you know, I, I saw maybe cowherd or one of these folks did their
12:00quarterback tears and said he's ninth on his list. And then you look at PFF and
12:04they've got him 16 behind guys like Sam Darnold and Jalen hurts and even Dak
12:09Prescott. I'm putting them ahead of all those guys. And I know Jalen won a Super
12:13bowl, but I think Jared with time to throw and with a good system. And obviously
12:17he's got a lot of weapons around him is really, really good. I'm, I'm, I'm saying,
12:21I think he's first tier. I think he's actually better than a guy like Kirk
12:24cousins. And I think the lions can have a good year this year. The schedules schedules
12:28the easiest in the league. And, uh, if they're healthy, I think they'll be good. And
12:32he's always solid. I truly liked Jared Goff at Derry speaks on Twitter, Matt
12:37Derry, Matt, we thank you for the time as always, brother. Take care.
12:40All right, fellas. See ya. Matt Derry hosted the Derry brothers,
12:43guardians cast also locked on lions on the wise heart. Right. We make a right
12:46called Kyle. Right. Hotline.
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