00:01Good morning, K.
00:02Weird day. Weird day. Let me tell you, as good of a loss as you're ever going to have in
00:092026.
00:10Yeah, was that as good of a loss for the Guardians yesterday considering the stakes?
00:16Think of a bad pitcher off the top of your head.
00:20John.
00:23Nick Pavetta.
00:24Nick Pavetta.
00:26Wait, Pavetta?
00:27Yes.
00:27I was thinking of the ref.
00:29Nick Pavetta.
00:31Had the Guardians rolled out there and lost to Nick Pavetta, that would have been a problem.
00:36Sonny Gray is a tremendous pitcher, and he's always had good luck, with the exception of one outing against the
00:42Cleveland Guardians.
00:43All right?
00:44Foster Griffin, who I always want to call Foster Grant.
00:48Foster Griffin went out there.
00:49I thought he pitched admirable.
00:51I know that there was a couple of little tight spots.
00:53I mean, you gave up one run over six.
00:55You struck out seven.
00:56They weren't exactly crushing the ball off him.
00:58Everything was very soft.
01:01I understand that.
01:03So, well, that's, and that's not a bad thing.
01:05It's like, well, sometimes they sneak through, right?
01:07It wasn't like they were pounding him.
01:08You struck out seven.
01:09You gave up one run over six innings.
01:12It was about as, there's no such thing as a good loss, but it was maybe the most unangry you
01:21could ever be after a Guardians loss.
01:23And that's weird to say, because things are rather tight right now.
01:27Everybody's emotions are high.
01:28Our hearts are fluttering.
01:30We're all very, very nervous.
01:32Because we just want to get this team into the postseason.
01:34Well, are people really nervous or they're just feeling a little tight at the end of the year?
01:38Are they nervous?
01:39Well, I think they're both because every loss has a chance to send the whole formula into oblivion.
01:47Like, it can mess with everything.
01:50Losing and getting out of the divisional spot where we have this red carpet to the ALCS, as people are
02:00starting to note.
02:01As you get to the final week, everybody's now looking at the potential bracket.
02:05And I've seen a lot of people outside of Cleveland go, this Guardians team is going to have this route
02:10to the ALCS.
02:11Like, it's a bunch of what John was saying, you know, earlier in the week and late last week.
02:17So you have, you'd won six in a row.
02:19You can't win seven in a row all the time.
02:21So I just didn't think it was that upsetting where you also had the Astros lose, all right?
02:27And you also had the Rangers lose, which doesn't hurt you as much.
02:32Now, Owen, can we take each other through the math here?
02:34You also had the White Sox.
02:36The White Sox lose, beg your pardon, exactly.
02:38So all these teams lost.
02:40So you're still a game up in the Central Division for the lead.
02:44Correct.
02:44You are still...
02:46And had the White Sox won, you would now be the wild card team.
02:50Right, yes.
02:51But the magic number going into the night was two.
02:54And coming out of the night, it is now one.
02:57One.
02:57Even with a loss.
02:58So the magic number goes down to one, even with a loss.
03:01So it feels like a win.
03:03Am I wrong?
03:05It's...
03:05It feels as close to a win as you're going to get without a win.
03:09It's the best losing that you can do.
03:12Yes.
03:13Because everyone else lost.
03:14That's where we're at.
03:15I know that people want damning, hardcore opinion on a baseball team that won six in a row.
03:19And at one point, it was 500-500 and left for dead.
03:22I just don't think you're going to find that right now.
03:24If it was two weeks ago, regardless of opponent or anything, if it was two weeks ago, you'd
03:30be like, ah, man, we dropped a 1-0 game.
03:32We dropped that game.
03:33Yeah.
03:34That's going to hurt.
03:34But there's four games left now.
03:36And it's also...
03:37Now it's a race against the clock.
03:39Maybe I need to ask for more.
03:40I know they've been shut out a couple times this year.
03:42And maybe I need to be nastier towards the bats.
03:44I bet some people are.
03:46But I do think that those folks have kind of dropped in.
03:49I'm not trying to make an excuse.
03:51But again, it's Sonny Gray.
03:53He's a really, really, really great pitcher.
03:54And he's really, really, really good against you.
03:56And so I'm not very upset that it was Sonny Gray.
04:01And I'm not upset because your magic number lowered because you got help from elsewhere
04:06around the American League.
04:07So, hey, it's...
04:09I've had bad days.
04:10I've had bad Guardians days.
04:12This isn't as bad as some of the other ones.
04:14Yeah, I think where people would be just a little annoyed is it's...
04:17This is the type of pitching you're going to see in the playoffs.
04:20So if you're also extrapolating what it's going to look like in the playoffs
04:24and is this team going to have any punch?
04:26Is there going to be anything to their lineup?
04:28And you see the type of night when Jose, Chase, Adele, Lowe, what'd they go?
04:35Last night, oh, you know, runners in scoring.
04:38Probably over 1,000.
04:39Yeah, they didn't get it done at the play.
04:41And it was...
04:41I mean, it was small ball at its final.
04:43There were 17 hits total.
04:44We had five.
04:45They had 12.
04:4617 singles.
04:48It was not a night for hitting it to the gap and taking off.
04:53And Jaron Duran scored the only run because he's really fast.
04:56Yeah.
04:57And Quan made a great throw.
04:59And it was a close play.
05:00Way closer than it probably could have been.
05:03So it's disingenuous for me to cuss them out and say how terrible they are and all the other stuff.
05:07Like, it's silly.
05:08It's a silly exercise.
05:10I mean, I could, but I wouldn't mean it.
05:12And I think you guys would see right through that.
05:15It's a weird year because I had this conversation.
05:18This made me think about it yesterday.
05:19I actually threw it in on the commentary on Fox 8 last night because I was thinking about John's argument
05:24that we had with him.
05:25And again, it's not beating up on John here.
05:27John is from a big market where they really go for the gusto.
05:31And they can spend $300-plus million on players and do those things.
05:35We are not.
05:36And so it's not where I think John's frustrated because he can't believe that we think like this in this
05:42city when it comes to our baseball team.
05:44And we can't believe that John can expect us to just, oh, yeah, open up the floodgates and spend the
05:49money.
05:49You have the money.
05:49Spend the money.
05:50I know how much the Dolans are worth.
05:51Spend the money.
05:52Like, we just, we're on different planets.
05:54And part of that is like, hey, he is 24.
05:57I am 40.
05:58There's a difference in how we see baseball.
06:01There's a difference between how I see the Guardians where, how can I be nasty towards the Guardians when they've
06:06been that competitive year after year after year?
06:09And I think some people would go, no, Ken, that's why you've got to be nasty.
06:13They won't do enough to get over the hump.
06:14And I go, I just don't see it that way.
06:16I just don't.
06:17I don't.
06:18If they finish in the ALCS, I don't get that mad.
06:20Yeah, but it's that conversation people are openly thinking about in September.
06:23No, no.
06:24But when John said it, see, this is where I'm at right now.
06:27We all think they're making the postseason, right?
06:29We don't know if they're going to win the division.
06:31It looks pretty decent for the division, but do we all think they're making the postseason?
06:34Yes, especially now.
06:36So it's magic numbers one.
06:37That just means that these other teams have to lose one game.
06:40You can lose all the games.
06:41And as long as they lose one game, you're in.
06:43Yes.
06:43So you're making the postseason.
06:46If you make the postseason, considering how many rookies did you play this year?
06:52Over 10?
06:53Yeah.
06:54I think it's a dozen.
06:54I can go get the numbers again.
06:56I ran them a couple weeks ago.
06:58It was 11, I thought.
06:59Nine had, at that point, had been up.
07:03And that was not including DeLotter, who his rookie year technically started in the playoffs
07:08last year.
07:09All right.
07:10Well, okay.
07:10So I had 10 last night, I said.
07:13Yeah.
07:13I think it's 11 total that you count as they're still in their rookie season.
07:17So if you have 11 guys that you're counting still total in your rookie season, is that meant
07:21to be, I understand the division, is that meant to be a team that goes to the postseason?
07:27Yeah.
07:29Typically, it's hard to overcome that.
07:31And I started thinking big picture.
07:33Again, this all piggybacks off of Matt Derry's call to John yesterday, John's opinion, the
07:38whole thing.
07:38And I started to spin it up in my head and I'm going, it's not going to be fun for
07:44radio
07:44or anything like that.
07:46But if they go out and they lose in the ALDS or ALCS, it's bittersweet, but it's not firing
07:53down with cannon fire, yelling at the guardians for letting us down.
07:56Because I still think that if you're going to go to the ALDS, if you're going to go to
08:00the ALCS, you're going to have to obviously have help from your young guys.
08:03All that experience is money in the bank of time, money in the bank of being better, of
08:11sweat equity to make this baseball team better for the future.
08:15Like their future is, I think that our time to yell at eventually David Blitzer about spending
08:21money on Chase DeLotter, hopefully he stays healthy and we can have that argument, spending
08:25money on Travis Bazzana, hopefully everything stays afloat.
08:28He came out of that bad funk and it is, was doing better.
08:31Hopefully those things are okay.
08:32He's had, he's just, they're pitching him away and he's just flailing away and he's
08:36had some of the worst at bats of the team.
08:38And so that's the one thing I'm nervous about is they, as they just had, they've what four
08:42runs over the last three games.
08:43Like, I just don't want this to be a team that has no shot once they get in the postseasons.
08:48That's.
08:48And yet Bazzana last night made a couple of the best defensive plays you're going to see.
08:53And he's gotten better in the field.
08:54So he's gotten more comfortable and he's definitely trying to, I think maybe he's trying a little
09:00bit too hard.
09:00He might be trying to press.
09:01I know he obviously, everybody wants to contribute.
09:03When you see, when you see Jose Ramirez out there playing through pain, it's, it's not
09:08going to get any worse, but it's not going to get any better.
09:11And it's going to feel awful until the end of the season.
09:13When you see Jose Ramirez playing like that, I'm sorry, that tends to have some sort of
09:17meaning to the rest of the team.
09:19There's no, I'm sorry about it.
09:20It just tends to have a meaning to the rest of the team.
09:21So they go out there, they play hard, they want to contribute.
09:25They tend to probably overdo it.
09:27And I wonder if that's happening with Bazzana anyway.
09:29I just, it's a long way to say it.
09:31I'm not trying to just go, well, I don't know how great this season is.
09:35Just enjoy it.
09:36I just feel good about today and the future of the franchise, even coming off a loss.
09:40Yes.
09:40Just want to update your rookie count here.
09:42Right now they have 16 rookie eligible players that have appeared this year.
09:49There's 10, 10 that have made their debut this year.
09:52And then the lotter help him messick, George Valera.
09:57Yoho's technically a rookie still.
09:59And Foster Griffin is technically a rookie still.
10:01He's 31.
10:04Well-traveled 31 year old rookie.
10:0831.
10:09Yeah.
10:09We had Brandon Whedon here.
10:10He was like a thousand.
10:12You're going to end up in the playoffs with half of your 25-man roster being rookies, basically.
10:19I get that probably I should shut up and we should focus on the now.
10:24But I can't help but be a little bit focused on the future and see what's possibly coming to the
10:28future for the Cleveland Guardians.
10:30And I feel better about it.
10:31Now, there's going to be a conversation to be had this offseason about lockouts and salary caps and salary floors
10:36and everything like that.
10:37But I feel really good.
10:38This is as good as I've felt after a loss.
10:42I can't remember when.
10:43Because baseball is such a day-to-day sport, you don't feel that bad after losses.
10:47You can't feel that great.
10:49I feel really good after wins sometimes, but not that great after wins because you've got another one tomorrow.
10:53This is about as good as I think I'm going to feel after a loss, especially in a tight moment.
10:57Maybe you feel differently.
10:58I just feel great.
10:59I just want the offense to get going.
11:01I just want to go in full head of steam and with guys all full of confidence going into the
11:07postseason so that we know about the pitching.
11:11The pitching, I'm pretty damn confident about.
11:15And the bullpen, we had Matt Darion a few days ago, and he was giving us reasons to be confident
11:21about a bullpen that I didn't think a month ago we were going to be.
11:24So, let's just get the hitting going because we know in the postseason, if you don't hit, you got no
11:27shot.
11:28So, you got Williams.
11:29You got Messick.
11:31You have Bybee.
11:34I'm writing this down as we go.
11:35Boy, this is scintillating.
11:37Bybee, and then you have Foster Griffin, right?
11:39If Foster Griffin pitches like that, I think we're going to be in a good spot.
11:43If they would have lost 11-10, it would have been a lot of scoring and all that's great.
11:47And it's like, hey, we got the Sonny Gray, but they got the Foster Griffin and we need a Foster
11:51Griffin.
11:51Is Foster Griffin's only giving up one run?
11:54Is he making a case?
11:55Has he made a case to actually, and I think if you look at the way, and I want to
12:00count my chickens before they're hatched,
12:02but if they get into a best of seven, the way that it is structured, where you could start your
12:13number one and your number two twice.
12:14So, you could start Messick and Williams twice.
12:17That's fine.
12:18Is he making a case that he could be that other starter in that series?
12:22Foster Griffin?
12:22Over Bybee.
12:23Over?
12:23Yeah.
12:25Are you willing to make that argument?
12:26I'm still not.
12:27I mean, there can be an argument for it.
12:30How much longer does Bybee have with the organization?
12:33I think you've got to take that into account as well.
12:35No, I'm taking it into account right now.
12:36I'm taking it into account.
12:38Who's going to get it done right now?
12:39Well, Bybee's been a bigger part of the organization.
12:41Foster Griffin, you just traded for.
12:43None of that matters to me.
12:45I'm going with the hottest hand.
12:46And who's the best pitcher that can help you out right now?
12:49I'm not thinking about anything beyond that.
12:51All right.
12:51It's playoffs.
12:52All right.
12:52That's fair.
12:53I'm not knocking you for that.
12:54But also, I do have to think a little bit big picture, don't I?
12:57Well, Tanner Bybee, contract-wise, will be with the club through 2029.
13:02He has a club option in 2030.
13:05Okay.
13:05So, this guy's going to be with us for a while.
13:06Foster Griffin.
13:07What do I have left on him?
13:08A few weeks?
13:10Isn't that it?
13:11Huh?
13:11He's a 31-year-old.
13:12Yeah.
13:12So, I'd probably still go with Bybee, based on history, based on, he's still, like, I
13:20still think he's a bigger part of the club.
13:21It's just who you feel better about right now.
13:24That, to me, is the only thing that matters in formulating a lineup and a rotation.
13:28It's the only thing that matters.
13:30There's no dictatorship.
13:30Let's go around the room.
13:30So, you would pick Foster Griffin over Tanner Bybee?
13:32No.
13:32I asked if he had made a case strong enough where he would be the guy that Vought would go
13:38with.
13:38If you're asking, you're maybe thinking about it.
13:40No, I am.
13:41You're kicking it around in your head.
13:42I am.
13:43I'm just wondering.
13:44All right.
13:44So, let's just do it, damn it.
13:46You got a game to start tonight.
13:47You got to win it.
13:48Is it Foster Griffin or Tanner Bybee?
13:50I just, I loved last night.
13:52I loved the way, and I thought that, you know, if you look at the BAPIP of what was going
13:59on last night.
13:59I always do.
14:00Like, he was even a little unlucky.
14:02Where are you looking at, and where are you finding all these things?
14:04You never brought up BAPIP.
14:06You never brought up WRC+.
14:08I just, you never brought these things up.
14:10Yeah, I think it bores the average listener.
14:12But as it's time to, you know, dig deep and get into the situations, like, that's the stuff.
14:18The Guardians sure as hell look at all that stuff.
14:20They're looking at FIPS.
14:22They're looking at, yeah.
14:25Wait a minute.
14:25How hard is the ball being hit?
14:27How hard is the ball coming off the bat?
14:29That's not true.
14:29If the time is taken to explain what it was and why it's so important to a baseball game,
14:35then it's the same thing.
14:35Everybody loves to say, DVOA this and DVOA that in football.
14:39And I do think that it's kind of broken through and that regular fans are kind of like, okay,
14:42what's the DVOA?
14:44What's the ADOT?
14:44Those type of things.
14:45I think that stuff has broken through.
14:46But in baseball, it's like, oh, just all you have to do is explain it every now and then
14:52when you talk about it and then why it's so important to what the ball club's supposed
14:55to do and then it'll break through.
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