Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - MLB SQUAD: MLB's Managerial Landscape SHIFTS | Are the Dodgers Still the Team to BEAT?

Episode Date: May 13, 2025

Are the Colorado Rockies and Pittsburgh Pirates making the right moves by firing their managers mid-season? With Bud Black and Derek Shelton out, the MLB landscape is shifting. Our hosts discuss the impact of these decisions on team dynamics and performance. Plus who are the top teams in baseball right now? Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Amazon Fire TV Stick 4kDid you know your Fire TV is also an Xbox? Turn any TV into your gaming and entertainment hub with Fire TV Stick 4K devices — no console required. Head to Amazon.com/firetvlockedon to get started. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription and compatible controller required. Wonderful PistachiosGet snackin' and get crackin' with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more! Supply HouseJoin the TradeMaster program today at SupplyHouse.com/TM and start ordering plumbing, HVAC, and electrical supplies with just a few clicks. Plus, use promo code S-H-5 for 5% off your first order. That’s SupplyHouse.com! Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

manager firings, they just aren't what they used to be. Just how effective is getting rid of the headman slash maybe even hitting coach. We're going to discuss that and more on this Locked-on MLB Squad Show. Step up to the plate. It's the Locked-on MLB Squad Show, sponsored by game time. From the Dodgers to the Astros, the Mets to the Rangers, and everyone else in the league, with the experts of the Locked-on podcast network bringing you the most comprehensive breakdowns of all the action around the horn.

We're coming in spikes up. No hurt feelings allowed. So squad up. Welcome into the latest edition of the locked on MLB squad show. This is all of the hosts invited at least. And we've got six of the hosts from the Lockdown Moby channel to talk about the state of the game. And quite frankly, the state of the game is who's fired their coach recently?

Who's about the fire their coach soon? Is that going to happen? We've got a lot to talk about where that's concerned. also going to get into some power rankings conversation because, of course, that's what we do. Who's the best? That's what we want to know. And that's what we're going to talk about here to talk about it with me. I am Jeff Carr, Lockdown Reds co-host and Lockdown MLB. Joining me is Sully from Lockdown MLB. We got Jeff Snyder from Lockdown Dodgers. We got Bonie from Lockdown A's and the two men that know the most about the least the most recent firings.

Gary Morgan of Lockdown Pirates and Paul Holden the Lockdown Rockies, Bud Black, Derek Shelton, unemployed. And when it comes to the state of the team in which they left, is it really that big of a deal? Is it going to make that big of a difference? Gary, I ask you first. You ask me first because I've experienced it a couple days longer. Yeah, I mean, honestly, the team looks different.

It does. We're seeing slightly different decisions than we've watched for five or six years now. We are seeing experimentations with players that we've wanted to see for a while. It's almost like he's been reading Twitter while he was waiting to get the job. But he's just suddenly doing things that we've kind of thought were common sense moves all along, pushing guys a little bit further based on his gut instead of just what analytics tells him to do. it's been exactly what we were hoping for and the energy levels up the competitive fight is up like they they stood toe to toe with the Mets tonight you know and fought through it the offense

still not talented but they're fighting they're fighting for this guy it may not add up to anything but it's a lot more fun to watch guys that look like they want to be playing the game i like to watch Paul, I know this. I saw a flyer going around social media. Can't confirm or deny whether the Rockies released it, but they're asking for help additions for outfielders, pitchers, mascots,

people serving drinks in the stands, all that stuff. But Black, gone, how we feel it? You know, a move had to be made. I mean, this is a team that gave up 21 runs at home and also only had

three hits in that game amongst, I mean, Literally, statistically, the Rockies are worse than the last year's White Sox team. This is a team that unless they go on some sort of a tear, which the odds are very much against them with, I think, the most difficult strength of schedule remaining in all of baseball for the rest of the year. I mean, you had to, you had to make this move. But here's, here's the deal. The Rockies are so much, they are so far behind the eight ball in so many ways that just moving on from Bud Black will not. immediately make this team really any sort of better. I mean, the nice, the good news is Warren Schaefer, the guy that's promoted has got a lot of connections with the young Rockies. A lot of these young guys,

the Rockies are trying to get going. This is a guy that worked with them in the minors. Great relationship with them. But I mean, let's just, let's just be honest. Bud Black was not the right move to start the season. The Rockies should have moved on at the end of last year and started this process before instead of doing what they all. always do, which is throwing out the same thing and hoping that it works. This is a team that cut payroll. This is a team that, you know, made a bunch of steps. Bud Black was not put in a position to succeed.

This is not all on Bud Black by any means. But someone, something had to happen. Accountability had to be, there had to be accountability when you give up 21 runs in the midst of one of the worst starts in baseball history. Now I think with the loss today, it might be cemented as the worst or still on par with a couple of those other ones there. So this team is so far broken beyond just the manager, but you had to make a move.

And I hope that it means the young guys are going to be a little more excited to play. You know, some of the veterans too, mentioning that this might be a kick in the butt. But this is a team that's going to have to consistently go up against the Dodgers, the Padres, the Giants, the Diamondbacks, and let alone all the other good teams throughout baseball. So will it change anything? I doubt it.

There needs to be a lot that changes with the Rockies before. we start seeing something big happen. I always think it's funny when a manager gets fired or a head coach in the NFL, the tweet always says, we have relieved him of his duties. I always think that's such a dumb youth. Oh, that job looks heavy. Let me hold that for you. But I think of Bud Black's case, it might be the best description I've ever heard.

Like, if I'm Bud Black, I'm like, oh, I don't have to do that anymore. He's so happy right now. He doesn't need the money, I'm sure. He's at a job for a long time. He can say, I didn't quit on these guys. I didn't put on this ownership that never gave me a team that was ever going to compete. I didn't quit. But now I don't have to do it anymore.

This is so nice. Yeah, and it's funny. I mentioned the other day that Bud Black has had success as a manager. He's a former manager of the year. He had back-to-back winning season, post-season seasons. First time in Rocky's history. with the Rockies came within one win of winning a division title in 2018. Just one win somewhere along the way.

They would have won the division title in 2018. They were a pretty good team in 2018. The team fell apart. This is not his fault. I think that there are some teams that could use a veteran manager who maybe could do worse. Sometimes you want to have someone who's coming off of a bad experience. I'm reminding of when Terry Francona was picked up by the Red Sox, after a pretty miserable experience with Philadelphia,

sometimes you want to say, hey, there's a veteran manager who's had success, who's had failures, who just got out of purgatory baseball-wise, not in terms of Denver, but in terms of a baseball experience. And, you know, is there a team, I don't know, maybe whose logo is a bird in the American League East, who may have a managerial situation coming up? Could you do worse than bringing in a veteran manager?

In terms of the effectiveness of this, the fact of the matter is of course it wasn't all Bud Black's fault but it's not all one it's not like there's one baby Huey sitting on this team that's destroying them at this point by the way if anyone got the baby Huey reference

bless you're a Gen Xer as well I was just not along as this is going like it. Oh my and still he's here again but but if it's multiple things that have to be changed and start changing them yes they should have let go

of Bud Black at the end of last year If they say, hey, look, we're going to rebuild, but you don't want to sit here for a rebuild. And if you want to stick around, we'll promote you to the vice president of Beans and Franks and Franks and Beans so we don't have to relieve you of your duties. But we're going to get Warren Schaefer, who was actually, it's interesting. He is the first manager born during the COVID years. He was born. He's that young.

He is a toddler. And he is so young. It really, really, my birthday is day after tomorrow. I took a look at how young he is. Wow, I'm now a, not even a young manager anymore. This is a sad day for your pal Sully. But something had to be done. And if it's multiple things, it's start doing the multiple things.

And the best time to have done this at the end of last year, the second best time is now. I don't find it interesting that Clint Hurtle is the conciliary of it, kind of sitting there. Back, maybe October is on. Isn't it? But they had to do something. And it's clear the machine's broken. So just because you don't have, you know, Earl Weaver or John McGraw, you know, that you can put in there doesn't mean you necessarily have to keep giving the car keys to a drunk. So, you know, you have to.

Is Tonya really available? Wow. I said you up. Well, Terry and Tony is not. Is, uh, but isn't the main thing that needs to be done better ownership, Paul? Yes. Yeah. I mean, that's what everyone calls for, and that's what it's at its core.

I mean, unfortunately, the Rockies are a very fascinating team in which, I mean, over 26,000 people watch the Rockies get blown out by 21 runs. I mean, and as much as the. It was 38,000 one game, didn't they? 38,000. I was at that game, actually. It was the 30th. It was against the Reds. I mean, here's the deal.

If the best thing that could happen for the Rockies, I think, in the big picture, is, actually not Dick Monfort selling the team. It's Dick Mumford stepping away from all things baseball operations related. Keep doing what you're doing with the fan experience. Keep making course field an elite place to go and enjoy an afternoon in Denver and one of the best, I will stand by it. I mean, as much as people are going to hate me for this for Rockies fans, because people want to boycott and all this stuff, their course field is one of the best baseball experiences that you can have. If it's a beautiful day in Denver, and if you're not a Rockies fan, your favorite teams in town. That's why all these people come. Denver is very much a place

where a lot of people from all over the country lives. So, I mean, just about every team. I mean, the Tigers had more fans than the Rockies did against that series. I mean, this is just a place that attracts baseball fans. And it would have Denver fully buy in. We've seen when the Rockies are good, Denver is right there behind them and ready to support. And this is a team hungry for it. And so I think Dick Mumford can continue to create an elite baseball experience. and all his other business operations and connections that he has around this at the town. But he's proven that he is not capable of running a baseball team, of being effective in putting the right people in charge.

As much as this opens the door for a new manager, I am very much waiting for a Rockies legend. I got a buddy name. His name is Jordan lifelong Rockies guy. He's just waiting for Vinnie Castilla to get the call to be the next Rockies manager. Or we're going to call Todd Helton up and he's going to come run the team or something. something like that. This is a team that needs to look outside of the organization, bring people with different perspectives in and start changing the minds of the people at the top because I don't have a lot of faith in the GM Bill Schmidt right now either. I mean, again, Bud Black's got lost his job,

but this is a GM that has re-signed a lot of people that haven't panned out. There's been injuries and other things. The draft class and his draft still need to, you know, we still need to give him time to see what actually happens with some guys that are exciting. But I, I don't know. it's again, yes, yes, he does need to sell, but it's also, he talked about before while he was crying foul and saying baseball's broken because the Dodgers can spend more money than everybody else. And that's why they can't compete with anybody. He was saying, you know, ask me again in July how I'm feeling when it comes to reevaluating his position with the team. And I think he needs to really take that seriously. I mean, this is, the time for change in Colorado is right now.

because we're facing three straight 100 lost seasons. And maybe the worst season in baseball history. And you can't just sit there and say, moving on from the manager and a bench coach and the hitting coaches. I mean, of course, you've got a clean house. But that's not enough. These, the issues with the Rockies go way, way higher. I got a couple of questions.

One about the difference of the front office and the dugout. And whether or not you do want your favorite player in that manager's seat coming up next. The MLB season is in full swing and you've got NBA playoffs going on, NHL playoffs going on. There are so many ways to get in on the action over at Fandul, America's number one sportsbook. You got to check out Fandul right now because if you're a new user and you place a $5 bet that wins, you get $200 in bonus bets back.

Those odds are insane. And there's an interesting one. I'm looking at some futures here on Major League Baseball when it comes of the season. And there is an interesting race right now that a Miami Marlin is the favorite for. That's right. We're talking about Augustine Ramirez is the favorite for the National League rookie of the year. Currently, his odds are at plus 420, right ahead of a Louis San Hell Acuna over with the Mets at plus 550 and Dylan Cruz at 6 to 1. Roki Sasaki, he's falling down to fourth in these rings plus 650, according.

to Fandle. And if you want to jump in on that, and the daily lines, the point spreads, the overunders, the money lines that Fandual has, and you're a new user, your first $5 bet that wins, gets you $200 in bonus bets. Fandul is the official sports book of Locked On. We've got you covered every single day for your favorite baseball team, literally every single baseball team represented, and every game, every night on Lockdown MLB game night. And then you got Sully's takes of the league at large on lockdown MLB every single day. Make sure that you're locked on your favorite MLB team. And I wanted to ask a couple of questions that play off of the manager conversation and kind of what we had. I want to start first because we had mentioned analytics. And I know, Gary, you had mentioned, you know,

kind of a diversional way from where Derek Shelton was leading the team. I've seen that with the Reds and how the regime was ran under David Bell. I think Terry Francona uses analytics, but not to the extent that David Bell did. And of course, we have the man behind Moneyball with us here, Booney talking about analytics. Is there a separation that you want to see from your favorite team where analytics are fine in the front office, but when you get down to the dugout, man, give me your gut. Give me your feel for the daily outs and strikes and balls and all that stuff. I don't necessarily want to see that many analytics from the manager. Absolutely.

I mean, no question about it. And you were asking at the break, I mean, does it make a difference to have your favorite player or a favorite team when they're done playing as they want to get into that? Yeah, yeah. I think there's no question with regards to both sides. I think you need a little bit of gut in that in that dugout.

Terry Frank Hina would be somebody like that for me. Cotsay something like that for me, too. Just kind of like a gutsy type of man. manager who's played the game at a very, very high level and just goes with gut. No question about it. It brings a little bit of identification to the team and sets a little bit of a culture to what the team's about. So 100%. I think that is extremely important in today's game. I think that I'm not the biggest analytics guy in the world, mainly because I'm not interested. I'm actually, there's no microscope powerful enough to detect how little I care about predictive stats.

I literally don't care about exit philosophy. The idea of a true home run, I think, is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard because I think Andy Chavez's catch was a true home run. So that should count as a true home run because it was over the wall. So therefore, that's a true home run. But I understand, first of all, it's a big sandbox. There's a lot of ways people can enjoy baseball. A lot of people do like the predictive stats.

And I like the narrative. Other people don't. There's no wrong way to enjoy baseball. So I'm not saying, they're dumb. No, this is not how I enjoy it. I do think that one of the problems that happens, and we saw this with Seattle, when they were like,

you're hearing all the talk about, they're bombarding the people with all this information and all these players who are, you're almost giving them too much information. You have to adapt information. Everyone's always used analytics. Abner Doubleday, who didn't invent baseball.

I'm using that as an example. He had analytics. He said, hmm, he hit the turn up hard with the stick. You know, because that, you know, runs batted in is a lousy

predictive analytic, but it's an analytic. We've always used data to determine where you put players in a lineup and who pitches and this and then the other thing. So it's not that dirty a word. I want my front office to have all the information and to make sure the manager has all the information.

And the manager has to know what to do with that information. said, hmm, we can adjust this and or do you want at this point, I'm not going to rest this person on this day. I'm not going to rest Catelle Marte against the Dodgers in a critical game there because the analytics showed us to this is the day of rest. These are competitive players and a lot of times it seems the analytics are about preventing something bad from happening instead of being aggressive and having something positive happen. let's not have Blake Snell finish the sixth inning because the data shows he may fail as opposed to I'm a competitor, I'm trying to save the damn

World Series. I'll always go to that because that is, I think, the single stupidest managerial decision made in the 21st century. Can we have Brady Little existed in front? I mean, I have an option of this. I mean, the Pirates also dismissed

Radley Haddad. He was the link between analytics department and the manager. He was the game plan coordinator. Well, he was the one overloading these kids. He was the one overloading the bench in between it. Reds did the same thing when they fired it. He was the one.

Deciding this guy can only go this long and stick to it no matter what. And that stuff is already in four games of Don Kelly gone. I mean, it's great for everybody in that room. Can I look one thing out? Like, everyone goes with talks about as if Billy Bean invented analytics. He didn't. We've had analytics for a long time. We've had... Brad Pitt invented analytics.

That's true. But of course, the thing about Moneyball, the elephant in the room, and it's not stomper, but the elephant in the room for Moneyball was, it was the steroid era. So, yeah, you didn't want to steal bases because you had a bunch of guys who roided up the yin-yang. So you wanted to make sure it was a three-run home run. It didn't matter for the first base or second base. And the other thing was, and of course this was mentioned, I think there was one line in the movie Moneyball that mentioned, hey, we have three Cy Young contenders. 60% of our games are being started by Cy Young contenders.

Maybe that's why we're winning a bunch of games, not because the dude from Guardians of the Galaxy got a walk. Well, and I think this is a benefit for a team like the Dodgers, why you, I mean, why Dave Roberts has been so successful. I mean, he's been able to manage a team with a lot of personalities, lot of talent and be successful with it. Obviously, the more titles would be probably the biggest criticism, the want for more with a team like that. But I think you do have that mix there where you have the abundance of resources. And Dave Roberts, you know, there's been some criticisms maybe I guess with how they handle

pitching, but the injuries usually push them to the points that they've had to make the choices that they've had. So I think there's the benefit of having a manager that will probably, you know, takes in a lot of the information that the Dodgers give him and all that, that access that they have. But if you need him to make a baseball gut call, like he'll probably be the one to do that. I mean, you know, just to circle it back to do you want a lot of analytics? I'd like the Rockies to be involved in analytics a little bit more. And this is a, this is a true story.

Folks, if you don't know this, the Rockies used to have their analytics department also work laundry and do laundry for the team. So that is a real story you can look up at a small analytics team. And this is a team that hasn't been able to keep smart analytics-based people in within their organization. They've had people leave within under a year to do stuff. So I would like the Rockies to start bringing people in to start cracking the code of course field. But I also think there's a lot of benefits to your Dave Roberts, your Terry Francones, your stuff. But for me, as a Rockies fan, there's no way I want a former player right now.

I want a different mind. Or if you are going to go within, like go with this guy that maybe can really, really, rile up your youngsters, but I'm, I'm pleading for the Rockies to finally look from outside the organization to get some new ideas. Can I also, I'm going to, Jeff Snyder, I'm going to jump in and defend Dave Roberts, especially as I always do because I love the 04 Red Sox. But I don't want to hear any more criticism about how he handled switching staffs. Last year in the World Series, he didn't have Gavin Stone.

Tyler Glass and I was in a full body cast. The Clayton Kirshaw looked like the big, you know, looked like the, you know, looked like the dude from the big Lobowski. Otani wasn't pitching. Bobby Miller wasn't pitching. They had a bullpen game, not because there was an emergency in that an 18-any game.

No, we're scheduling in a bullpen game. Four times in the postseason. Four bullpen games. And I'll tell you, you know, the one mistake I can say, the one thing I blame on Dave Roberts over the years is a time that he went with his gut over the analytics. And that's 2019 NLDS game file.

when he tried to go on a Clinton-Kershaw redemption tour, said, let's have Kirchaw come in and close this game out, instead of one of our eight-rested relievers, and they lost the game, you know. And so when we talk about analytics, I think Dave Roberts is really good at taking the analytics, understanding his team, who his people are. Every time Dodger fans jump on on Dave Roberts,

for some stupid, indefensible decision, we find out later, oh, here's why that made sense. This guy, you know, his baby, was sick at home, he only got two hours of sleep last night, you know, or, you know, things that only a manager knows. Fans think they know everything, you know, but only a manager knows. And so, you know, I think Dave Roberts has done great at balancing the people and the numbers. And nobody's perfect, but, you know, he's pretty close. And there's some stat head who's going to try to create a baby's above replacement crying stat to sort of put that in there to show that

if they had done that with another baby that would have worked. By the way, he went for his gut when he had to do back-to-back bullpen games because he scheduled a bullpen game and game four of the World Series. And then game five was a disaster for Flaherty. And so it had to be back-to-back bullpen games. And he had to analytics be damned. He squeezed that X-Rending out of Blake Trinen. The guy who was calling that game for the Dodgers on the radio was texting me during the game.

what's he doing? Why did he, why did they pull Jack so soon if they, when they know they just, you know, and I told him, hey, it's going to work out. It's going to work out. I didn't think it was going to work out in game five. I had confidence that's going to win one of the next three games. And that's what I told me is. Dave Arbitism is trying to win today.

He's trying to win one of the next three games, whichever one that is, that's all that matters because that's how the World Series has decided. No one has ever gone broke betting against the Yankees defense. So if you just, if you say, hey, the Yankees defense, is going to blow it. I'm going to put my money on the Yankees defense blowing it. There you go. Jeff Carr was told there would be no math. That's a lot of math.

That's analytics. No one betting against to fail. A lot going on there. I know this. I don't ever want Barry Larkin near the manager's seat. I'm going to tell you why coming up next. And we'll talk about why, or why we think, the team

that is the best in Major League Baseball is You know, if you can't watch us on YouTube, if you can't watch your favorite Lockdown podcast on YouTube, you can listen to it on your favorite podcast app, literally all of them. Full stop. I don't know anyone that we aren't on. So go check it out today.

So yes, I mentioned the favorite players, the manager thing, there was a little bit of a discussion for the last few years when David Bell would do something silly and people were like, oh, he's on the hot seat. And Barry Larkin's ready to go. He's in the broadcast booth. He's getting ready. He's just going to move right down to the dugout. And I never wanted to see it.

And honestly, I don't know. He might be a good manager. But I know he's a Hall of Fame player. And I know he's one of my favorite players that I've ever watched play the game. And I don't want to see him fail as a manager because that completely resets his, his legacy for me. I think that happens. with any player. The Reds saw this in the early 90s. I was a baby, but they saw this in the early

90s with Tony Perez. Tony Perez is still one of the most beloved Reds of all time. And I think that the management of the team of the time saw this going in a very, very bad direction. So before it really hit the bad times and the rough stretch, they fired them too early. So now the narrative is, well, they fired Tony Perez too early. But I think the whole point with this is, like your favorite player being the manager of your favorite team completely resets that player's legacy for you. And I never want to see Barry Larkin put himself in that situation. I just think the best players have a real hard time teaching people that don't have the same talent as them, how to do things.

I just don't think it translates. Yeah, Bobby Bonds was a great hitting coach, despite being a pretty flawed hitter, you know. And you look at, I mean, how many managers are, we're backup catcher? when they were playing, you know? Like, you weren't even good enough to play every day, but they watched the game, they understand the game on a different level. And yeah, I mean, who's the, like, has there ever been?

Joe Tori, I guess, is the best example of a guy who was a great player and a great manager. Frank Robinson had some success as a manager, but not, but not, you know, like overwhelming. But he had a couple of good years as a man. manager. Hill Hodges, I guess. Bob Lemon was a Hall of Fame pitcher, and he managed the Yankees to the World Series,

and was a good manager elsewhere. But the point is taken. You know, it wasn't Mickey Mantle or Joe DiMaggio, who became the great manager. It was Billy Martin, who was, you know. Now, Yogi Berra never really got his fair shake. He managed the Yankees to the World Series in 64, but he clashed with his former backup, Ralph Hout, who was the GM, and fired him after. losing game seven of the World Series.

He managed the Mets to game seven of the World Series, but he clashed with management then. And of course, George Steinbrenner fired him two weeks into the 85 season. So we never got to see if Yogi would have become the great, great manager. But the point is like, I think the great, you could make us a very strong argument to the greatest manager of all time is Earl Weaver. And I don't think he played in the majors. Tommy Lassorto was a journeyman pitcher.

and he was one of the best man, you know, Tony LaRusa, who I have issues with, but he has undeniably had success, was a backup catcher. Whitey, Therzog. Jim Leland. Yeah. I mean, Francona was the biggest star in college and flopped as a player. Don Mattingly recently. He's probably the best one I can think of recently, and he didn't do that great.

Yeah, Maddenley was much better as a player than as a manager. Yeah. Jeff, I told you my father's story about my father, my mayor, rest of peace was the biggest San Francisco giant fan in the world. And I remember in 2014 when the Giants were a wild card team and the Dodgers won the division. And I was going into the playoffs, I said, Dad, you know, Dodgers could be tough. And my dad just turned to me and said, Paul, he didn't call me solid because he also was a solid. Paul, don't worry about their Dodgers.

They have an idiot for a manager. And lo and behold. And the seventh inning of game one or the, oh, the game that does not exist. Yep, yep. Don't you think it matters on the state? We'll men and black that from you right now, boom. It matters of the state of the franchise. I mean, like, for example, Paul and Gary, you guys wouldn't,

just to bring some energy to the team, to the franchise, a former player like a Todd Helton, Gary, a former player like a, shoot, I don't know. Andrew McChatchen gets brought up here. He gets brought up here all the time. And honestly, if you know him, no. I don't think really I don't think they're a solution But I think it brings some

Some excitement to the fan base Someone that You know brings identification to the to the team and so forth I don't know That's just kind of my take I don't need a team that already leads in enough To throw in the old stars of the past Like one they should they don't even have a team

Hall of Fame but they'd rather be like Hey we're gonna have all these guys involved doing this And I mean no like please go I don't want to see a Rocky Take over the Rockies What about Niffie Perez? But that would be someone. Tori Alba. Bring him in over here.

Is a love child of Joe Tori and Jessica Alba? Like you're better off. Over team, you know. You're better off. Yogi Barron. God knows what from the 60s. You know, we got a little bit of everything. But you're better up getting someone like Chris Ayaneta or someone who wasn't the star of the team. He got Jordan Pacheco.

I mean, if you're like you guys are mentioning like backup guys that like didn't really ever break out, but Jordan Pacheco is about a lot of hype kind of about what he's been doing for some of the hitting approach at the minor league levels. He got called up to be the hitting, now the Clint Hurdle is now the bench coach because he was the hitting coach after the Rockies fired the hitting coach. So the Rockies are, you know, they're they're kicking the tires on some of these retreads. And I do need to issue a correction, by the way. 38,423 people actually watch the Rockies lose 21 to nothing. So I was off by, you know, 12,000 people. So in case you're, you're curious of Dick Monfort's going to sell his team anytime soon.

Yeah. He's he's fine. Fell out crowd. You got to love that. Real quick, before we, before we go, give me one liner, best team in Major League Baseball, all starts off. I don't know about best team, but I want to give shoutouts to two teams that I don't think we've really talked about much at all on here. And it's the Mariners and the Tigers. I think two teams that are really looking to put together full seasons, that could be really big for both of their franchises. I think the Mariners are showing that, hey, they're going through, even though that ace pitching staff has had a little bit of some bumpy roads,

they're getting the offense, you know, they're having guys step up. It's pretty nice to have the best catcher in baseball with Calarale, and I think it's pretty safe to say that he is the best catcher in baseball there. And the Tigers, I mean, they just rolled the Rockies, and they also just rolled the Red Sox as of this recording as well. Two teams that, again, I'm not sitting here saying best teams in baseball, but two teams I really hope that they continue to put stretches

a really good baseball together and make it interesting because I think there are two areas that could be really cool to see them in the postseason and see them play an interesting ball at the end of the year. Gary, here you get. Well, that was a lot more than one line. I'm going to go. I'm going to say the Mets, maybe it's residency bias,

but my goodness, they don't look like they have any holes anywhere right now. Booney, who are you taking? I was trying to be creative and come up with something different, but you got to go Dodgers until they're not. And on top of that, they have the best players in all baseball, and they've created a culture that no one else has yet to figure out as well to copycat. So right now it's the Dodgers until they're not. It sort of feels like everybody's just keeping the spot warm if the Dodgers aren't in

first place in the NOS. That's just going to be that way. Jeff, I guess maybe give us your thoughts. To quote the great philosopher, Richard Flair, to be the man, woo, you've got to beat the man. It's the Dodgers until it's not, bro. Salih, who are you taking, man? Well, if Stephen Colick turns into an ace like he did against the Rockies, suddenly the Potters have another ace.

Obviously, it's the Dodgers, but I will just say, for the Cardinals and for the Minnesota Twins, it's never the wrong time of the year to go on an eight or nine game winning streak. And those two managers were on the hot seat, and suddenly they won more than a week of games, and they're not updating their LinkedIn page right now. Rocky's three eight game losing streaks this year, by the way. Just throwing it out there.

Mazel to talk. I think that, yeah, there's no bad time to go on an eight game winning streak, especially if you're a team that's in either of the central divisions, the central divisions, maybe the AL in a better way, the NL central in a weirder, maybe worse way. It's going to be a strange division to watch all year long. I don't think either team has, or either division, has a team, the Tigers.

I think I don't hate that. But even then, I still think the Mariners are better than them. I still think I take the Yankees over the Tigers. And I think that probably is it going to be a West Coast World Series? Mariners Dodgers, kind of looks like that before Memorial Day. I'll have to see about that, though. Thank you so much for checking out this edition of the Lockout Emmy Squash. We're going to have a full power rankings on the next one.

Really wanted to get into the managerial discussion of it all. and definitely, definitely a lot of fun talking about managerial firings. But I know this. Nobody's going to be able to hire Tara Francona because I didn't even think the Reds were going to hire Tara Francona. And they did. And that's what happens when you fire your manager at the right time. That's going to do it for us, though. Thanks for checking out the squad show.

We are part of the locked on podcast with your team every day. Baby Huey.