00:00but right now we bring to you friday night baseball on apple tv sideline reporter heidi
00:06watney tonight friday night baseball you got the rangers and the orioles at 7 p.m central heidi
00:13how are you this morning i'm doing great how are you i'm very well very well indeed so let's start
00:20by getting right into rangers and orioles and then i would love to talk with some broader baseball
00:27stuffs with you how cool is it when you see a story like cody bradford who just pitched the
00:33other night after not having pitched since 2024 not only come back but be pretty effective
00:40yeah it's always great to see guys especially when they've been out for a long time and i know
00:45jordan montgomery is on his way too for the rangers but when they've been out for a long time and
00:50they
00:50can come and they can be effective right away it's just such a boost for the team and everyone's been
00:56rooting for them anyway because you know coming back from an injury that takes so long to recover
01:01from um it i just feel like it gives the boost and the rangers have a number of guys that
01:06are going to
01:06be coming back soon um jack lighter could be back soon as well so they can just get a big
01:11boost i mean
01:11i know they didn't do a lot at the trade deadline but they could get a big boost just from
01:15you know
01:16guys getting better from their injuries i am kind of curious jack lighter was has been a starter all
01:20season but i'm kind of looking at this rotation right now if cody bradford does continue to stretch
01:25out as a starter would it be interesting to see a guy like jack lighter go into the bullpen to
01:31help
01:31the rangers have some bullpen depth there that i mean what they're talking about um uh garrett crochet
01:41going into the bullpen when he comes back for the red socks yeah garrett crochet can be put into the
01:46bullpen um i think jack lighter could and he's such a good dude and you know has such a great
01:51pedigree with
01:52his dad i think if that's what the rangers wanted him to do to help out the team he could
01:56but
01:56montgomery would be another option to go into the bullpen too and i know they talked about bradford as
02:02well um so i i get to actually i get to sit down with chris young before the game today
02:07so maybe that's
02:07something i'll ask see why in our conversation about that um possibility but you know jack is such
02:14an adaptable young pitcher that i think you know whatever you throw at him i think he's just going
02:21to tackle with gusto yeah i'd be interested his thoughts as well because when we talk with skip
02:26schumacher on wednesday he also seemed to not flat out say but kind of intimate that jordan montgomery
02:32would be heading to the bullpen as well so it'd be interesting to see those bullpen additions there
02:38how how and how important in one of the most bizarre american league races we've seen in our
02:45lifetime maybe ever is this series for both of these teams neither of which have had the most
02:51captivating season and yet both of which are still right on the cusp of the playoffs isn't it crazy
02:58i had a national league gm describe the american league earlier this year to me as mid and that's
03:05just stuck with me um fair very mid this year but i mean yes it's still anyone's race and you've
03:14got
03:15teams including the rangers who are again below 500 but teams that are below 500 of the trade deadline
03:21that are still in the mix i you know i've talked to another gm um in the american league just
03:27before
03:27the trade deadline and he said you know you have to look at your roster and you don't look at
03:31necessarily the stand i mean you have to look at standings but you can't focus everything on your
03:36record and your standings you have to look at your roster and say can this team compete in the
03:41postseason can this team win a world series to decide whether you're going for it or not because
03:46if you're not then what are you doing are you playing just to make the postseason year in year
03:51it's like the argument that everyone's making with the brewers this year right like they have the
03:55prospect capital why didn't they go get tarix scuba why didn't they get that piece that could help them
04:01beat the dodgers the brewers are a very good regular season team the last couple of years
04:05and in the postseason they haven't done a whole lot right so that's when you look at the american
04:11league you have to look okay can we make it to the world series and can we match up against
04:17the
04:18dodgers and in any you know series you could have i mean a seven game series is a little tougher
04:24to just
04:25like pull the wool over another team's eyes or have like a great game or two because you have to
04:29have
04:29the entire series but a team can go on a run in the postseason for sure if their pitching gets
04:35hot
04:35and their offense can do enough um then you've got you've got the makings of someone that can go
04:41like in 2023 when we saw with the d-backs and rangers which surprised a lot of people going to
04:45the world series that year um probably not as much here in texas because you guys got to see the
04:51talent
04:51we were still a little surprised yeah a little bit we've lived it for a long time so
04:57yeah but i i see a lot of parallels with this rangers team and that team there's talent there
05:03and if the starters can come back and be healthy then then they can go on a run the offense
05:10there's some offense in there to be had and um with liatt langford back and picking it up if
05:16cory seager can just get right i know the back has been a thing um he told me last time
05:21we were
05:22here that it wasn't bothering him hitting but something's obviously off with him so um you know
05:27i do believe in the rangers the orioles have a little bit tougher road to hoe the orioles have
05:31some solid starting pitching actually it's their offense that just you know has been not great all
05:36year i'm kind of curious um if you've ever seen a situation like what happened with the grom
05:43uh in the past here where he said i'm gonna deny this i'm not i'm gonna invoke the no trade
05:49clause
05:49i want to stick with this team we saw them tape up the general over his name plate and then
05:55uh now
05:56they're saluting him all the guys every time they get on base they're saluting to to the dugout and
06:00they're saluting to the grom do you think that's a moment that could galvanize this team where they're
06:05just like the maybe they didn't believe in us but we're gonna go prove them wrong and we're gonna go
06:09out there in major league this thing absolutely a hundred percent i mean look at what the red
06:16socks have done everyone wrote them off red socks for dead and they they've been the hottest team in
06:21baseball since you know the end of june um and i do think that the rangers could do something similar
06:29and i've seen that before where teams um you know player doesn't want to be traded for whatever reason
06:34but when he came out and said it's because he believes in this team whether that's the truth
06:39or not that in itself is motivating for his club and um by all accounts everyone in that clubhouse
06:47loves it and he's as hard a worker as any and he's a guy who's great to pick his brain
06:52when it comes to
06:53pitching he's not going to be the most vocal on a team but you know if he stands up and
06:58says something
06:59like that it absolutely can make those guys look at themselves when the trade deadline is hard
07:05especially for bubble teams right if you know if you're going to be a seller and you know if your
07:09team's going to be a buyer but for so many bubble teams especially in the american league this year
07:14it's like what are we gonna do is my buddy gonna be here tomorrow is like what's happening with our
07:20team and for him to stand up and say that i absolutely think that can be some sort of galvanizing
07:24moment for the club talking with heidi watney right here on 105 three the fan she'll be part
07:29of the broadcast for rangers orioles 7 p.m central tonight on apple tv but they also have the rays
07:34and
07:35the mariners at 8 30 p.m central i wanted to flip flip over to the national league for just
07:44a minute
07:45and the struggles of the dodgers i get it they're the world series favorite you mentioned it they traded
07:50for tarik skuble everyone thinks it's unfair and all this and that but at the same time they've lost
07:56six games in a row what are we to make of the dodgers i think that uh we just chalk
08:04this up to
08:04a bad week and um and still think that the dodgers are the juggernaut that they are they just have
08:11so
08:11much talent on that squad and the dodgers philosophy the last couple years and it's been talked about more
08:18this year than years past but dave roberts told me last year they don't it's not that they don't care
08:24about regular season games they do you've got to get there but and and the dodgers do care about
08:31getting that number one seed as well because they had to go through the wild card last year if you
08:36remember and and that's a tougher road to hoe because you can match up against someone that just
08:41goes on a heater and your offense can get cold for a game and that's kind of what what the
08:47problem has
08:47been for the dodgers is their offense just isn't really clicking right now um but the talent is
08:53there the they're going to get their pieces back by the time the postseason comes around and they're
08:59going to i'm sure be ready for october but we'll see now one more question kind of along with the
09:06dodgers i know shohei is generational he's all time he's amazing do you kind of look and think this
09:13is the year for the pete crowe armstrong mvp though you know i love pca i love the energy and
09:24the
09:25enthusiasm and the passion that he plays with i love that he gives um every child who wants his
09:32attention his attention like he's a great player um and he is having an mvp caliber season it's just
09:40hard when you've got a unicorn like shohei and that's going to be the challenge every single
09:46year sean casey had a good argument because i i was kind of starting to lean towards well shohei
09:50hasn't been pitching and pca and who's more valuable to their team right pca i you can make
09:57the argument that he is more valuable to his team than shohei is to the dodgers with the wealth of
10:02talent that they have but sean casey made this argument yesterday he said games are won on the mound
10:09and you can't dismiss because of recency bias what shohei did on the mound when he was able to pitch
10:16earlier this season and i do believe that he's going to return to the mound too i think it's another
10:21one of those things that the dodgers are doing just they want to make sure people are fully healthy
10:25before they bring them back they don't want someone to be nursing an injury and to be 80 percent of
10:30themselves if they can try to get them as close to 100 as they can so um i don't know
10:35it's just it's
10:35interesting watching this race it's like watching you know the hall of fame game last night it's
10:40always fun uh yeah you've just got to watch it you've got to see how it plays out gets people
10:47excited heidi you know heidi i heard you were locked in on that you are the best heidi you are
10:53so amazing
10:54i love yes kevin loves the hall of fame i was gonna say it's a pleasure to have you on
11:00as always but
11:01you just ruined all of that i love it your hall of fame game nonsense heidi
11:08well i was trying to figure out how to work that in but oh she's the best dude well i
11:13will probably
11:14talk to you again heidi probably still watch you on apple tv tonight despite my disappointment
11:19in your hall of fame game nonsense rangers orioles seven o'clock tonight on apple tv that last part
11:26notwithstanding heidi part the rest of the interview was delightful well thank you so much if you tune
11:33in for every game show at 6 30 i'm sitting down with cy so we'll talk the state of the
11:37rangers so
11:38it'll be a good good conversation i love it love it thank you very much all right take care guys
11:44you
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