Wings on Katella EP 20: Angels Self Implosion in September; Anaheim Ducks preseason

Wings on Katella EP 20: Angels Self Implosion in September; Anaheim Ducks preseason

[Music] Hey everybody, welcome to Wings on Catella episode 20. One episode away from uh drinking responsibilities. The Chris Krider Chris episode. Um we are we are Wingsella uh representatives of the Sporting Tribune. I’m going to go once again from my left to right which never works but we’re going to make it work. So, uh, the man, no, he’s not even a myth or a legend at this point. He is the most well publicly known member of the Wings on Catella Group and the new host of Ducks in Deep, Zack Kavanagh, who covers the Anaheim Ducks for the Sport Tribune, Zack Cav on socials. How you doing, man? I’m good, man. You know, got to go to hockey games two nights in a row. We’re We’re back, baby. We’re back. You’re back there. You got three nights out of four for hockey. Yeah, another game tomorrow and then another game Friday. That sounds fun. I think another one on Sunday. Next man on my left, as you can tell, I’m diagonally across here. Uh, which probably means he’s right below me, is the actual man, the legend and the man that was ready to drop everything today. uh in the scenario that Mike Trout had an important announcement instead of just making meeting with the local television folks about home run number 400. Uh that is Thomas Murray. Tommy Lee Murray, how you doing, man? I’m good, man. Uh after fighting the 57 traffic, I was able to come home and take a nice little nap before this. So, I’m re-energized. I got my coffee and let’s do this thing. There you go. Thomas covers the Angels for the Sporting Tribune as well as the Ducks. Uh, also Jack James. So, he’s here. Hey, Jack. Jack James, uh, the we’ve always said the best looking member of Wings on Cadella. You can argue that all you want. It’s factual. Look at us. You’re beautiful. Uh, Jack James, he’s got a collared shirt out of the four of us. He’s the one with a collared shirt right now. He’s the one that came straight from the office. He’s the one that’s not in his 20 or that’s still in his 20s. He’s the one that’s still in college. That’s the problem. Um, Jack, what’s going on, man? How’s Arizona? warm. Uh, allegedly it’s supposed to get down to the mid 80s next week, but I don’t believe it because it keeps saying that and then as we get like two days before it’s supposed to happen, it jumps right back up to like 95 to 100. So, uh, cautiously optimistic that it’s going to be like normal levels of warm. I can deal with that. It’s been uh we have been anywhere from like 52 to like 92. my body is not adjusting well. So, uh, we talk Orange County sports here. Uh, Angels, Ducks, if you weren’t aware of that already and and we’re 20 episodes in, go listen to last 19. Um, they were great. So, we’re going to start off with some Angels chat today. Um, I think we’re going to all have different structures of what we’re going to talk about, but in the long basis, the Angels implosion at the end of the season. Um, they have been bad. Uh, I’m sure you can use other adjectives. Too bad, but is relatively just the word bad. They have been bad for the last, uh, week, two weeks, three weeks, uh, four weeks, and as we’re going to kind of dive into this about three months. Um, who wants to start? I’ I’ve got my notes about some things that that we’re going to touch on, but at some point here, Zack, you’ve mentioned it many times over. It’s the same thing. It’s insanity. You You do the same thing over and over and over. Uh, why don’t you start the Angels implosion over the last however long you however far back you want to go. I mean, thankfully I’ve been taken up by hockey to not be so bothered with it. Um, but you know, it says something that the only two Angels highlights I’ve seen in the last week are Mike Trout’s 400, which obviously, and Zach Neto chugging a beer on the jumbotron last night. Um, look, I I said it when we did like our first episode of like, oh, you know, maybe the angels are different. It’s like, no, they’re not. No, they’re not. What What do you think’s going to happen when we get to the end of this? Is it going to be the same thing? And you’re like, well, no. And it’s like, okay. Then there’s that little bit of optimism. They hook you all again and we all like, oh, may maybe. Hey, they swept the dot. Look at it. No, doesn’t matter. Um, I don’t know. I don’t even know what to say about it anymore, truthfully. Like it’s just I’m I’m numb to it. It’s it is this September tradition that you look at the last home stand and you’re like, “Wow, six games in a row at home. It could be exciting.” And it absolutely isn’t. And uh I mean showcased by the fact that they had one day off and they all took a like Logan Hoppy and Zack Nitto and Kaden Dana are all sitting between the benches of this Ducks game literally chugging beers. I mean Neto’s injured, right? So it, you know, not uh not really affecting how the the team’s playing, but still it’s, you know, fool fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice. I’ve I’ve I refuse to get fooled. I I didn’t buy in for one second and uh and here we are looking at down the same barrel of the same rifle that they’ve been staring at for a decade and try all over again next year. Fair enough. Um, Thomas Murray, uh, thoughts on however long you want to go back. [Laughter] Uh, you know what? I’m gonna go back. Let’s keep it in 2025. Like, let’s keep it within the calendar. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, no. 2014 was really Yeah, he took such a deep breath. I’m like sitting there waiting for him to go a decade back, which you know, it really started when Kendry’s Morales broke his leg on home plate. Yes. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, Tom. It all started It all started in uh 2003 when the ownership changed. Let’s start there. Um no, I mean this year it’s like I it’s like I said when the the deadline episode we did uh you had to look forward to what you have down the stretch and they had one of the toughest schedules in baseball in August and it proved to be that exactly and over their last 10 games they’re one and nine. Uh, let’s face it, this team really hasn’t been playing well. And now guys have just been kind of dropping like flies over the last uh over the last month. Zach Neto spend is hurt right now and he’ll probably finish the season on the injured list. Correct. Uh, Logan O’hoppy was out for a little bit because he got a concussion. He took a barrel off the chin. That was a really scary moment for them. Nolan Shawnwell just came back to the lineup. But you know, a lot of that stuff was happening at the beginning of the month. And I mean, as they kind of started to drop, you started to see the lack of death that this team has. And when you don’t have any death, you are probably going to go one and nine throughout your next 10 games. and you’re going to drop series to teams that are almost historically bad like the Colorado Rockies are this year who uh just avoided the worst season in franchise history the other night by beating the Angels I believe or it might have been earlier in the week. So, it’s been it’s been bad. Um, if you haven’t been tuning into baseball and you’ve been tuning into football or getting ready for hockey season, NBA season, you can’t really say I blame you at the moment. Yeah, I think that’s fair. Um, Jack James, um, thoughts before we get into, uh, kind of just to give a a look into the future of the show there. There’s got to be some changes and some are are going to be uh hand for, some are not. Uh so Jack, thoughts here? Yeah. Um you know, Thomas brought up the the injury bug part of it. Um I don’t remember exactly what episode it was, but but at the very beginning of the season, we talked about how the season might go for the Angels. And one thing I like to say every year is if everything goes perfectly right for them, they might have a chance. And when you have to say that every year, chances are it’s not going to work out that way. Uh, you know, I I will say it’s it was kind of nice having good or pretty much good health um for the Angels for the first I’d say 75% of the season and then it really fell apart over the last month. But uh just to you you asked us how far back do you want to go on this? If you look at baseball reference, they’re 1-9 of their last 10, 6 and 14 in their last 15, 10 and 20 in their last 30. In their last 30 games, that 10-20 records, third worst in baseball, and only three games ahead of the Colorado Rockies, who are seven and 23 at the worst mark. So, pretty much anything that can go wrong is just about going wrong for the Angels over the last month plus. Yeah, you you you kind of stole the way I was going to go about it is the Angels over the last 50 days, right? 19 and 31. The only teams worse than that, the Mets, the Twins, the Rockies. Um, one of those three teams is not like the others. Obviously, the Mets have bigger issues that, but the Twins, the Rockies, you didn’t expect the Twins here. The last 25 games, Angels the worst other than the twin or the Tigers and the Rockies, which the Tigers obviously had a weird collapse. I I had it in front of me and I’ve got to pull it back up, but I believe it’s it’s 96 days ago is let me see. Yep, exactly. 96 days ago is the day that uh Mr. Ron Washington decided to step down or the Angels had him step down, whatever it is. Um in the Ray Montgomery era, Angels 34 and 49. Um that is matched for the if I have this right, the third worst record in baseball. If I have it right, I I might have it a No, that’s it. Is the third worst record in baseball, tied. The only teams worse are the Nationals and the Rockies. I think the White Sox are even above that. I think the Athletics are even above that. Um just I think the Twins might be in there too somewhere. But either way, regardless, I’m not going to point fingers at Ray Montgomery. He was thrust into a position unnecessarily to a degree. But at the same time, Ray Montgomery has less wins than Ron Washington did as a manager this year with the Angels. Um, I cannot imagine he is brought back. I think if he is brought back, that is a Perry Manassian decision. I also don’t believe that Perry is the one that’s making the decision about who is behind the bench outside of the the singular man, right? You know, he I think Ray Montgomery was one of his guys. He got the bench coach role. I’d love to see uh Ray back with in that kind of capacity to some degree, but Angels have to make a change behind the bench here. Um, and I I didn’t mention any names to any of you guys, so this is a little bit open FL uh open platform as to who you think should be the Angels next manager, assuming that Ray Montgomery is not that guy. Uh, let’s go backwards. Jack, who are you thinking? I mean, there’s been a lot of smoke around Upper Pool holes. Obviously, there’s familiarity with with him with this 10 years with the Angels and the service contract he still has where he has to show up every year for spring training. Um, and he’s made it clear he wants to manage he managed the Dominican Winter League. I believe, correct me if I’m wrong, I believe he’s managing Dominican Republic for the World Baseball Classic, right? With Lay and Li usually wins. I know that he was the winning manager for the Dominican Winter League and it was with Lay which Lay Yeah. usually wins. I I could be wrong on that or just it was speculation. Oh, you know what? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. You’re right. You’re right. Uh but that’s the name that kind of sticks out first mostly just because there hasn’t really been smoke around any other managerial candidates and I don’t know what candidates out there are um at the moment. And and also like if you look at the Angel’s job, like how many guys that are established accredited managers that currently have managerial positions are going to want to take the Angels managerial job. You had Ron Washington who hadn’t managed in in a decade and wanted to get back into it. He got it. The manager before that was Nevin. He was, you know, bench coach, promoted. you know, Joe Madden was kind of the last manager that the Angels had that was already managing a team and was kind of accredited that uh took the job. Um, and one thing I’ll just point out, you know, yes, it’s not looking great for for Ray Montgomery, but at the same time, it’s like if Ron Washington was a manager, would the Angels still be like not not as spiraling out of control? This happens to them every year, no matter what the manager is. Over the last decade, they’ve had what, five different managers and four different GMs, and they’ve had the same results every single year. So, what’s a new manager going to do that’s going to change something that happens every single year? That’s a comment I was going to make is every year for the Baseball America Handbook, all I do is just hit copy and paste, but I update the years. Angels haven’t made the playoffs in 11 years. Uh, the only teams that have worse stances are the New York Jets and the Buffalo Sabres, right? It’s only worse in New York, which is pretty factual. But either way, um I can’t just keep updating this. I can’t sit there and say Mike Soa is the last guy to have a winning record as a manager of the Angels, right? And I can’t sit there and say that 11 years. And Thomas, you mentioned it, man. Is this isn’t saying that Ry is bad. This isn’t saying Ron is bad, Joe, Brad, Phil, Sos, Perry, Joey, anyone, right? This isn’t saying anyone’s bad. You hire people to do a job, but you handcuff him. And this, a lot of this just falls on Arty Moreno. So, Billy Upler, right? Billy Upler wants to bring in Eric Chavez as a manager. Everyone knows it. Everyone knows it. It ends up being Osmus and then Joe Madden. It’s just the way it is. Uh Perry wants Perry Perry had a a long list and I don’t know if Ron was at the top of his list or not. I really genuinely don’t. But Ray was up there, right? And that’s a part of it. But you hire these people to do a job and you don’t let them do their job. It’s as simple as that. Look at what’s going on with Clayton McCulla over in Miami. That’s that’s I mean, obviously Miami is on an upwards trajectory, but I don’t know. It just Thomas, you mentioned it. Jack, you’ve mentioned it. I think it’s just it’s tiring to copy and paste that this team is just this bad for over a decade. Um, Thomas, uh, thoughts? Who are you thinking for Angel’s next manager? Sure. Um, I mean, here’s the thing. I don’t want to say who I think should be their manager quite yet until the season is over and we see got who’s let go from what team. You know, who’s actually available? Now, do I have a guess of who could be the manager next season? Yeah, I do. I think the person that’ll be managing the team next year is probably going to be Tory Hunter, and it makes a lot of sense to me. Tory Hunter. Um, you know, I know I’ve been a little back and forth uh between the clubhouse at Angel Stadium and going out to UCLA and helping and going to cover them and as they’re looking for their next coach. I love that kind of stuff. But anyway, um anyway, um no, I think I think Tory Hunter just makes a lot of sense for them. He’s been around the clubhouse a lot a lot more lately. Uh, I feel like when we were there, I, you know, at the beginning of the season, we didn’t really see him as much as we are now. I believe he’s working as an assistant under Perry Manosian, if I’m correct, Taylor. Uh, it it just makes sense to me as somebody who’s kind of worked closely with Perry over the last, you know, two years. He was somebody that I believe finished as a finalist for the managerial position, uh, behind Ron Washington, if I’m correct. Um Tori’s expressed a lot of interest in wanting to manage in baseball over the years. It’s no, you know, it’s it’s no secret by any means. Uh just looking at it though, you look at the LA, you look at this like, okay, it’s Perry’s last year, uh potentially uh working as the GM of the team. And who’s he going to get? He’s probably going to get the guy that’s, you know, been working under him over the last year. Somebody that you can see eye to eye with. Uh, and it’s really just kind of it next year could really much be Perry Manoscian’s last dance with the Angels. So, it’ll be that’s kind of who I think they’re gonna end up with, but uh I’ll have an answer for who I want them to get probably by our next episode. You coward. Just say it. I I really don’t. I’m sorry. I had to. No, you’re good. No, I there’s a point to that is Tory Hunter was very um involved in the interview process uh when the Angels did hire Ron Washington. Um a name that that I forgot about that was part of that which was was very interesting because there was guys with the team that that reached out to me about this guy was actually Tim Salmon. Um which I thought was very interesting because I would not have ever placed him as as a managerial type. Um the big thing you you mentioned Jack, you mentioned Albert. Um, Thomas, you mentioned uh Tori. There’s a difference between those two guys, and it’s it’s only by about a few months worth of difference. One of those guys has a little bit of managerial experience. One of those guys has absolutely zero managerial experience. Um, Zach, going to you on this, are you looking for someone with a little bit of experience or are you looking for someone that’s a a fresh face, a fresh voice? I mean, might be a little tongue and cheek here, but I think you already said the name, Taylor. Why not pull a Randy Carlile and rehire Mike Soa? What’s he doing right now? Right? Like it I mean it sounds stupid like on his face, but like if if I’m if I’m putting myself in Arty Marino’s shoes and I’m thinking about how Arty Marino thinks, what’s your last resort? bring in the guy you know won before like Well, you know what else he did is he had the ear of Arty. He he was able to help assist the front office. Now, it ended up being a a Jerry Dotto deal. If you’re familiar with the situation that was a debacle in itself that I think a lot of fingers were pointed in the wrong direction sometimes. What’s that? What’s that stupid Brad Pitt from Bullet Train? Is when you point when you point one finger at someone, you have four back kind of thing. That was no one was counting the four fingers back. Um Jack, your reaction to Zack saying Mike Soa. Want to go to that? Wh why not why not bring Sosa back? Um I mean he started off by saying Randy Carile, so that obviously didn’t start off on the right foot. But but also but also, you know, like look, yes, um Mike Social is the best manager the Angels have had. He’s the most winningest manager the Angels have had. Um, I can’t. He’s been doing a lot of Team USA stuff over the last few years, right? Yeah. I I’d be interesting to see Yeah. I’d be interesting to see how his coaching philosophies have evolved since then because he was a very old school manager and that’s going to draw the eye of a lot of fans uh that are very much not old school anymore. Um, so I I don’t know, but I mean, hey, it’s the Angels. What do you got to lose? Yeah. Well, and and look, I also remember the end of the Mike Soa era being very frustrated with things like how he was handling the bullpen and things like that. And I’m not I don’t know that I’m actually suggesting that. Like I think I think either Albert or Tori are kind of where I was going to go before you guys said them, but I think I think that’s I don’t think that’s out of the question that Arty would do that because, you know, especially with it’s like in so many ways this feels like if you don’t get this right, like you have to do something now to change it immediately. And and it’s not the same thing as the Ducks hiring Joel Quinnville, but if the Ducks had gone and hired another young unproven coach, we’d be sitting here kind of thinking like, man, is it going to work? Is it is this the time that’s is this the time? Rather than like, we know what this guy can do and we’re confident that he’ll be able to apply it to this team. Now, are you confident that Mike Soa could come back and do the same thing? I don’t I don’t personally think so, but I think Ernie Moreno might think so. And then he might, you know, just push that scale a little bit and and bring Mike back to uh, you know, where he had his most success. He won a World Series and he will ultimately have his number retired as a manager. And why not just give it one more shot? I guess if if you’re already that’s you think you got to change things right now. You got to go with a a proven hand and somebody that knows your organization and that’s how that goes. I what I mean Taylor, you might know better. What what was Sosa’s relationship with Trouty like? Incredible. Incredible. Yeah. Um there you go. There you go. Jack, you mentioned something and and I want to agree to disagree in a sense. Sa was analytically minded at the start of his career. Now I understand the difference between saying old school to the old, but think of Frankie L Frankie Lindor, Francisco Rodriguez, right? So was the first guy to start using high leverage relievers in high leverage positions, right? He was one of the first guys to analy and putting he would switch around the leadoff. The problem with So was more about utilizing the young guys and how he utilized them is the way I would perceive it and and you can see it with Mike Trout’s first uh what it was first 50 games or first whatever you know his first stint in the big leagues didn’t do great with that kind of stuff and and always pushed towards the defense as opposed to the offense and that’s the Napoli Matthysse thing. We can go to all kinds of different things about it, but I think so was very much key minded as to how we’re going to overall process the entire team. Um, using Unell Escobar who never walked as a leadoff man was a a big process because you knew he was going to put the ball in play early. It was a very unique style. So, I I love the so I would love to see so back. I really would. Um, the one I would lean to is with where this Angels ball club is, this is a team that needs a voice for development, a voice for moving forward, and a voice that’s going to defend these kids. I I Ron did a lot of things. I love Ron Washington, but he did a lot of things that pissed me off. And one of the big things was he would throw his players under the bus. Now, I understand accountability, but throwing a player under the bus is not something I I believe in under any circumstances. Um, and that was something I think you need someone that’s going to defend these guys and fight for them. I think a name that you guys may or might not may not know. Keith Johnson is a guy that’s at the top of my list. He is the Salt Lake Bees manager. Has been on and off for the last about 15 years. Um, this is a guy that has a connection with all of these guys to some degree. I think he is the right one developmentally. He’s been the uh first base coach for Miami not that long ago. Does that sound right? Either way, a guy that has over a thousand managerial games, um, has been in positions at a high level, has also had, uh, winning seasons in the last 10 years, something Angels need. Um, so I don’t know, Keith Johnson is is a guy that’s Andy Shotsley, another guy that’s internal with the Angels is someone a dream scenario for me. And I’m going to jump on Thomas’ toes because I’m going to start speculating on some things for the summer or for the winter. See, look at that, Zack. Look at that. I said summer for winter instead of winter for summer. I did a great job there. Um, dream scenario, AJ Hinch gets fired because of the Tigers collapse and comes over to the Angels because AJ Hinch is the best manager in baseball under all circumstances in my mind. I love AJ Hinch. I know that there’s a lot of baggage there from the Houston days. Big big AJ Hinch fan. Um, I I think though one thing that we all mention and Thomas, you mentioned on it, no one has been let go yet, but I think we we’re not much of a speculative group. This is these the four guys here are not a speculative group, but I think it’s safe to say that the Ray Montgomery era of this and the interim thing is going to end in a week. We are recording on Tuesday, by the way. I don’t know. Any other thoughts on that, guys? I mean, yeah, AJ Hinge, that that would be a great name. I would love to see it. Uh regardless of any controversy, however, Angels fans probably feel, you know, just because of the lovely times when he was in Houston and how that went down. Um I I would like to see it though. I mean, I think you get someone who’s kind who obviously, as we talked about, experience. That’s going to be the major thing. That was the one thing I did like when they hired Ron Washington was just you got experience. you know, you got somebody who’s done it and you kind of knew the direction the Angels were going to head into this direction right now where, you know, developing young guys, getting them to play, and I I think Ron was great for this era of Angels, and it sucks how it ended for him. I I don’t think he’s coming back. Personally, I would really be shocked, but I think putting AJ Hinge with this group would do wonders for the Angels. And if the let’s say the Detroit Tigers fall off the track similar to how the Baltimore Orioles did during the playoffs last year. Um and he gets let go. That’s great opportunity for the Angels. I would I would jump all over that in a heartbeat. I really would. Um, the only thing is, like I said, I I feel like Perry Manosian will want to get his guy cuz again, it’s probably going to be like his last dance in his gut. It’s so It’s so tricky. Well, and that’s this is going to be huge this managerial search because it’s going to prove once again because we say it every managerial search. Is it Arty pulling the strings on this? Is it Perry? Is it the general manager? Not even going to use Perry as the example. General manager’s decision or Arty’s decision. Simple as that. Sure. and and we’re going to have to find out because and if it’s someone like Tory Hunter, it’s another Okay, we don’t know. We genuinely don’t know if it’s Albert if it’s Albert Puhol that’s leaning a little towards ownership. I Albert’s one of my favorite guys. I love Albert, but that’s an that’s an ownership call. You know that. Yeah, it definitely is. I The one thing I always compare the Arty Moreno to in terms of just ownership in sports is he’s always just reminded me of Jerry Jones of the Cowboys. just a little too hands-on at times and involving himself too much and yeah, I don’t know. Let your guys work. Look, no, I I I wish Arty was more like Jerry Jones because then we’d hear that’s what’s crazy, right? We would hear from him once in a while like that’s the only thing that’s a little crazier is so frustrating from the outside. Speaks once a year in Arizona and that’s kind of it. Yeah. Big thing for me, not even once a year. Yeah. at this point. Big thing for me is uh not taking any football advice from Thomas Murray. Um so that’s a big one. Hey buddy. Rams prove they can hang. They prove they can hang. Now can they hang for 60? I don’t know. But they prove they can hang. That that that they they they prove they can hang for uh 59 minutes and 58 seconds. Yeah. Uh we won’t talk about we won’t talk about this. I’ll take those two seconds. Shut up. Hey, the Rams used to play on Catella. We could we could work. That is true. They did. Yeah, they did. They used to practice at they used to practice at Brookers Junior High back in the day. Yeah, that that’s when we’re going to cut Thomas entirely from uh the podcast. So, we’re not getting football Thomas on this. Um I I I almost ate a cheese steak yesterday and I said, “Wait, no, I can’t do it. Not after.” It’s cool. Hey, I I think the Rams are a great team. So, I couldn’t believe Eagles pulled that off. They should have won that game. Speaking of cheese Speaking of cheese steak, we’re going to save the Trevor Zagris comments for later. Um I I’m looking at my notebook here, guys. I’ve got uh Angel stuff. I want to talk real quick about the low miners. Uh the angels low miners. Um, a lot of questions about the talent in the angels farm system and how good it is or how good it is and is how they’re developing. Um, this has nothing to do with that at all. Um, very interesting note, there were five guys in the Angels Farm that were on three championship uh, playing rosters. two two loss two championship loss rosters, one winning roster, but five guys in the span of 13 months got three championship game three championships worth of experience. Um it was Yubaldo Sodto, Hayden Alvarez, Brian Vgara, Marlon Cano, and one more guy, and I can’t remember who it is, and I feel bad, but anyway, the Angels um go to the DSL Championship in August of 2024. They win the Arizona Conference League Championship here in 2025 and finish runner up in the California League Championship in 2025 here in a 13-month span. Just something I thought was really interesting. Um, you know, got to kind of go and watch that. Uh, Tre Gregory Alford was outstanding. Um, up to 102 uh or no, last pitch of the season for Trey Gregory Alford affiliate ball was 102 and he struck out Johnny Levelville, super prospect for the Giants. thought it was really exciting. Dylan Jordan is a legitimate starting pitching prospect. Uh someone I think a lot of people could get behind, get very excited about. Dylan Jordan was the runner up for Baseball America, Angels My Leager of the Year. Just want to make a note of that because people have been asking. Uh Rody Rodriguez was on that team as well, the Angels My League player of the year for Baseball America. Um there’s a lot of fun players. I want to see how they develop and and we’re talking the difference between rookie ball and low all the way to the big leagues. So, I’m not going to get into that. Just something that I thought was really interesting was that you have guys that are playing for championships in the low miners that are getting that experience when uh you know that part of the organization is winning. The rest of the organization not so much. But having that winning experience and being able to to carry themselves together between TGA, Dilla Jordan together, Dubald Dotto and that group, uh very exciting. very very exciting to see it. So, um kind of any thoughts on that guys? Anything extra before we we dive into the other two? I got I got a question for you. I got an answer for you. Um yeah, because remember we were talking about you know a lot of the guys on this team. Haven’t really played highlevel championship style baseball in the past. Uh well, what do you think like in terms of the you know these kind of playing in these games? Do you think that kind of translates over to them in the future? Absolutely. Just I guess a bright sign. Well, yeah. I mean, you have to play in high high level baseball games. You have to play in competitive baseball games. That was the whole point of the trade deadline, right? Which we won’t even get into, but that was the whole point of the trade deadline. Get these guys to play competitive games. Now having, you know, your star prospects, your star pitching prospects pitching in high le high high competitive games and having like Dylan Jordan started game one of the Arizona League Championship. He started game one of the California League Championship in less than a month apart. Um that’s huge. That’s substantial for his development. Um so yeah, it’s remarkably important for these guys to have that. uh it now performing in those scenarios uh that’s a difference that’s a different scene because learning how to fail is part of baseball. Baseball is a failure sport. It’s a complete failure sport. So if you uh like Dylan Jordan had his worst outing of the year I think in the California League Championship game one and it wasn’t all that bad but still learning to fail in scenarios and how to rebound from them is going to be remarkably important for these guys. Um, yeah, it’s going to matter in the long run and and for a guy like Trey Gregory Alfred, I think about him, right? He he’s probably going to be a reliever in the long run because you can imagine him in an important game knowing that pitched 75 the last he’s gone through an entire season, right? He’s pitched from March all the way into September, which is what you really want to see from these guys more than anything is just them being healthy for a whole year and continuing to progress. for him to go from March to September and finish his season on a note saying, “I’m gonna throw 102 past the best player on the other team, best player I’ve seen all season long, and strike him out looking with a 102 and pinpoint it.” That’s something he can carry with him through and through the rest of his career, knowing, hey, you know, it’s pitch 75 of my outing, but I know I have it in there and I know that we can keep doing that and I know what I’m going to do the next time it happens. Uh, that’s huge. So, I I think it was dramatically important for these guys to get that. Uh, it would have been nice if it was Zach Neto and Nolan Shawnwell and Logan Hoppy instead, but it’s important that guys like Trey Gregory Alfred and Dylan Jordan and Payton Lennick, I want to throw him in the mix because he’s just as good. Uh, didn’t pitch in the championship, I pitched in the clincher. And yeah, I I’m a firm believer that this is very important for the Angels organization. So, good. Uh um Zach, you went viral last night. Um for Angel’s purposes, Angel’s purposes. Uh how how full was the beer that Zach Neto chugged? It was Well, first of all, the beer itself about half full. the amount of beer that actually got into his mouth seemingly half of what was in that half full got because you he spilt it on the microphone that he was wearing for the ducks. So, uh I don’t I don’t know how well that video is going to come out for them when they when they end up having to cut that together. But yeah, I’m I’m trying to pull up the full list here because there was I think six or seven guys that showed up last night. Sebastian Rivero, Mitch Ferris, Kaden Dana, Logan Hoppy, Toss Doio. Yeah, there’s there you go. Um, yeah. No, I was uh I was alerted by uh by Ducks PR as I walked in the building. They’re like, “Hey, we got Ducks players here tonight.” I was said, “Oh, great. What are they going to be doing?” They’re like players there, Zack. Or sorry, Angels players. We’re going to put them between the benches. I was like, “Between the bench, like just during warm-ups, like, no, they’re going to watch the game from there.” And I said, “Okay.” And I and I I hadn’t I’d been so like checked out on Angels. I was like, “Are they not playing? I guess they’re not playing today. Are they playing? Is there any games left? Uh but yeah, no, they were they were there. They had a great time. Uh both Zach Neto and Logan Hoppy, we’ve talked about it before. They’re hockey guys. Uh they they were both in the box for the first period. Uh second period, they were there. Zach Neto loving the fight, tapping the boards with with everybody. It was it was a good time for all those dudes to let off some steam before the final trudge of the the regular season. Kaden Dan is a hockey player, too. He He’s got the look. He’s got every bit of it. He’s from uh midstate New York. He’s full-blown hockey guy. Um yeah, when I I posted it in uh in the Angels Reddit and somebody had commented like I thought that was an actor from Letter Kenny. I didn’t think it was uh Dan from Kenny. Um most important thing about that is uh I think Angel Stadium still claims the cheapest beer in the league. Um, what are the odds that Zach Neto actually paid for that beer? Oh, uh, I think he must have because I’m trying to think of where he even got it from. And I have to imagine he was in there’s like that impact club that’s like this VIP area where the players walk through. I have to assume that’s where he got it from. I can’t believe they let him like they I mean they all had bottles of water, but like just Yeah. have a beer between the benches. I mean, that’s really a dream, isn’t it? Um, closing out on Angel stuff. We’re we’re going to uh wrap the show on some Angel stuff uh related and and Jack, I’ll get to you on that, but um Thomas, you wanted to talk about the automated balls and strikes uh challenge system being implemented in 2026. Just wanted to say something. Uh the joint committee is the one that voted on this. I want to make a note that the joint committee consists of six owners, four players, and one umpire. So whatever goes to the joint committee is going to go to the owners no matter what because that’s how the vote works. Uh but this was a 9-2 vote so or uh yes a 9 to2 vote so it wasn’t uh unanimously lost. It was actually more favorable towards ABS system. Um Thomas thoughts on the challenge system next year? I’m excited for it. I I really like the idea of having the ABS challenge system in baseball just because I think it’s gonna hold umpires more accountable and I think it’s just going to benefit the players so much. I really loved it during spring training this year. I thought it worked wonderful. Um I two two or three years ago I went to a minor league game and that’s when I experienced it firsthand just in the stands and I thought it was incredible. And I know the one complaint a lot of people had was like, “Oh my gosh, this is going to just slow down the game even more.” But you hardly even notice it was there to be honest with you. So I I think it’s a really good addition to the game and I’m excited for what’s to come in the future though with baseball. I’m an old school guy. I just don’t like it. It’s It’s being stubborn. I No, I can openly admit that it’s just me being stubborn. It has nothing to do with anything. It It should improve the game. Um, also kind of screws over catchers a little bit and I’m catcher friendly. So, Jack, thoughts? It’ll I know that you you saw it in the Arizona Fall League last year, I’m assuming. Yeah, I saw it in the fall league and then obviously at spring training. Um, I will say it was fantastic theater when uh the Angels were playing the Dodgers in spring training and the ABS system was down the entire first inning and you say Kikuchi tried to challenge the ball, fast ball at the top of the zone. He does this. Obviously, the system’s not working. So, the umpire throws up his hands like this. And Kikuchi was not happy about that. So, that just opens the possibility for more chaos. I’m a fan of chaos. So, uh but yeah, overall it should be beneficial. I’m the same way, Taylor. I think it’s going to dim diminish the catching position slightly. Um and I don’t like to see that. But, you know, overall, I mean, for the most part, the the rule changes that baseball has had over the last 10 years or so, I’ve liked. Um, even if I didn’t like it at first, except the runner on second rule in extra innings. That’s still dumb to me. But, yeah, very remarkably. Um, you mentioned something. You say Kikuchi not being happy. There was a lot of stuff that happened with the Angels on that last road trip, including Kikuchi openly not being happy with Ray Montgomery’s decision to pull him when he did. Uh Mike Trout obviously 400 career home runs. Talked about that today. Thomas uh was boogieing to the stadium when that we had a lot of fun with Thomas earlier today on that stuff. So um guys, I’m going to skip the playoff stuff. Um I know I’ve got our notes open, our our script open, our notes open, but the playoff stuff I think we got to save it. I’m looking at the time here. Um 40 minutes in. I You want to go quick? Playoff. So the thing is we’re we’ll explain it. Thomas is leaving for a while. Thomas does all the editing and producing here for Wings on Catella. And when the playoffs start, Thomas is way out of state. Uh way out of state. So, we’re gonna Do you guys want to run through a really quick unassuming of who anybody plays whatsoever playoff predictions? I’m just happy because my preseason prediction is still looking pretty good. So, that’s that’s the only reason why I was excited. Okay, fair enough. I had the Rangers winning a World Series, so congrats to me. I had Phillies over Red Sox and that’s looking all right. Red Sox are slipping. Red Sox are slipping, but I still believe I’ve got to go look and make sure I had the R. I think I had the Rangers. I can’t remember. I think I had the Phillies over the Rangers, but either way, so I think I was with you with the Phillies. Um, Thomas, we’re not going to talk about Philly. Did you have the Phillies? I did. I did not have the Phillies. So, are you He accidentally put the Eagles. So, wait. Let’s Eagles World. Jack, real quick, Jack. Are you staying with the Phillies over the Red Sox? Yes. Yeah. I’m I I don’t think the American League is going to even sniff the World Series. Like, I I think it’s going to be the most disgusting American National League is just so much more superior, which means it’s going to be an American League sweep. Um, I’m watching the Brewers and the Phillies. That’s about it. I I don’t think the Brewers have it. I’m going to go Phillies. Phillies win this year. Big one. Bryce Harper gets another one. Uh Thomas, uh sorry. Bryce Harper gets one. That’s right. I’m okay with that. I mean, I’d be very happy with that. Mhm. He deserves one. I’d like I’d like to see Bryce get one, but I got the Dodgers even with their bullpen. Yeah. Yeah. I think I I think Show will probably move to the bullpen or something. Uh, it’ll be interesting, but I I still think the Dodgers are going to take it. I I like the what was it like a week ago? Blake Snell was able to talk Dave Roberts out of pulling him in the game and then he went and struck that dude out. That was pretty sweet. So, I I think the Dodgers are still They are who we thought they were. I I do not He loves that line. I love that line. Dennis Green is awesome. Uh, Zack Kavanagh, uh, playoff predictions for baseball. Yeah, I I think I got to go for the Phillies. Uh not because I want them to, but just it seems like they’re the best in in in my humble opinion. And I just I want to just be be on be behind the Dodgers until the wheels fall off thing, but I think the wheels are a little loose on that Dodger wagon right now. I am not on the Dodger board, man. And but so you guys will get this with the way I have to credential everyone and and move the pieces. I’m so far into hockey season that for baseball I have two wishes is one of my wishes is the Padres’s or the Dodgers win the World Series. Like easy done or I hope they’re out in the first round. Simple as that. Like just I want my job to get easier. I really do. So um uh sleeper team for the playoffs. Chicago Cubs. I’m going to go Chicago Cubs. Super sleeper team. Could win the series. So um I’ll put my sleeper as the Seattle Mariners. That’s a good sleeper. It’s not bad. Yeah, they got a good rotation. Good rotation, good offense. Sleeper team to They’re singing Cubs co. Yeah, they’re singing go Cubs go. I got the Cobies as a sleeper as well. They’re they’re another team I really like to I could see do it to be honest. I’ve liked them all year. Thomas, you you What’s Tom? Um, hey Chicago, what do you say? I love that song. I think it’s so cool. You got to finish it though. You got to do the whole remember remember what we were talking about. Yeah. So, hey Chicago. What do you say? Oh, come on, dude. You’re not going to give me my moment. I’m dropping it. Just off the high dive. Screw you guys. Um, give me my McAfee moment, man. As long as you wear your pants, I’m good, right? Yeah. Hey, Chicago, what do you say? Cubs are gonna win today. And that’s what I was going to go with. Give me the Mets at five. Break all the hearts of Chicago. Love Pat McAfee. He is very fun. Um, moving on to Anaheim Ducks. Uh, let’s see here. Where do we want to start? Where do we want to start, Zack? Do Do you want to get the tough stuff out of the way? Let’s get the fun stuff out of the way. Uh, let’s go to Thomas for Thomas. Jack, let’s go to you guys for this one. Any update on Mason McTavish? I actually have one. I looked at uh Puckedia. Um looked at the injury page and there’s two injuries listed for the Ducks. There’s Jansen Harkkins upper body and then uh Mason McTavish is listed as injured with a contract dispute. So yeah, perfect. I don’t know what that means. I think maybe that means like feelings are hurt maybe, but that’s the only update I got. That’s a good old Chris Pronger line that he’s dayto-day with hurt feelings. So good. Thomas Murray, any any Mason McTavish update? I mean, I found out about that one from Jack before this started, and I thought that was really funny. Uh, was it you, Zach, that put it out there? I saw somebody put it out there that they agreed on the years, but the numbers are way off. That’s That’s what Sarah Valley was reporting today that they’ve agreed to the term or that they’ve set they’ve they’ve settled on the term. They haven’t agreed, but they’ve settled on a term and that there’s something going on. Yeah, Zack, you’ve gone through this. The lovely Zack Kavanagh will give you more. Zack. Zack, we’ve gone through this like every week, right? We go through it every week, but there’s two new things to this. Um, you had the opportunity to bump into an important person in Mason’s life last night, which we I’ll let you take that. And also, we’ve asked this before, but is this going to How much further can this go before it completely ruins Pat Verbbeek’s legacy? and also ruins next year’s negotiations. Um, well, on on the bumpin, uh, Dale McTavish, Mason’s father, is a scout for the Ottawa Senators, who was one of, I think I think 15 scouts that were at the game last night. There were so many dudes just like lingering around the press box, standing in front of the snacks, uh, that I I kept bumping into people trying to walk through. Um, as far as like how how this goes for the future and and for for Beak I mean I think it’s already we’re already in a tough spot now. like the fact that you I I I when we were going into training camp, I put together a timeline, right, of cataloging his uh thoughts every time we got to talk to Burbique over the offseason. And at the end of the season, it was, oh, there he’s a priority. And then by the time that we got to July 1st, it was, hey, what’s the update? And like, well, now we’re we have the time here to get to start getting serious about this. So, it’s like, so you weren’t serious between April, May, and June. you had to wait till July to start getting serious. And even still, like there wasn’t any public movement on any of this until September. And you know, Mason was here. He was practicing. He was working out with everybody. He went back to Ottawa uh like the Monday or the Tuesday of training camp as reported by Elliot Freriedman. And now we’re at this impass. And he’s already missed the first two preseason games. I noted it in in one of my notebooks as well that I think the thing that’s tough about this for Mason beyond like the the coaching staff stuff that Verbique said to us in his in his preseason presser Mason is a notoriously slow starter to the season and the idea of him starting like having to get back up to not up to speed with his fitness because he is skating but just up to speed with systems and everything else. I just feel like that’s such a a big negative. Verbique did say that they were kicking around the idea of starting to negotiate earlier with their RFAS for next season, which was like, yeah, you better because if you’re going to if you go into next summer with nothing even started with Leo Carlson and Cutter Goier and Jackson Lome as just the top three, you’re going to be in tough sledding come September of that of that next summer. Um, you hope that this negotiation sets a bar that then is easier to negotiate off of going to next summer, but I think I I don’t think it’s truly ruined unless he starts missing regular season games. We can you can you can deal with missing preseason. Like you can get back up to speed. He can get overcome a slow start. That all that’s fine. But if he misses games, what are the odds it leaks into the regular season, though? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, we’ve only got 16 days, right? Um I think I if if Sarah Valley’s report today is true, I think I’m a little more optimistic that they can get something. Um but if if we go off of the problem is like there’s been so many conflicting reports and do you really trust like I understand some fans willingness to not trust Frank Sarah Valley with the Ducks information because he’s been wrong about Duck stuff before. David Pagnata was the other guy who put out the numbers that they’re supposedly talking about. Uh the the the difference being like 5 million versus 8 million, which is kind of a difference. Pagnata also not usually on top of Duck’s stuff very very well, but even I don’t know is is an unfortunate answer to give, but it like it could happen before we go to the rink tomorrow. It could happen, you know, October 10th. There’s nothing wrong with saying I don’t know. There’s nothing wrong. So, um, Becca Senica obviously a hot topic at Ducks preseason. To say, Jack, what’s that? Yeah, I was just gonna I was just going to push back. No, you’re good. I was just going to push back slightly on the don’t think it’s going to really don’t think it’ll ruin things missing preseason just because in a normal off seasonason, yes. In a normal season, yes. But when you have Joel Quinnville in implementing new systems, that’s going to be tougher to pick up on the more you miss training camp. And especially this is, you know, this year they’re the front office is saying, “This is the year we got to make the playoffs. It’s playoffs are bust.” And if you don’t have one of your better players, you know, firing on all cylinders right away, and you get off to a slow start, you know, and you miss the playoffs by, you know, one or two games, then how bad does that look? Then that could be detrimental. Um, so I’ll I’ll push back slightly on it, but it yeah, in a normal year it it’s not as big of a deal, but I think just because as a first year head coach and you are striving to make playoffs and have this playoff robust mentality when in reality you’re you’re you’re a fringe team at best, I would say, just because of what they’ve proven over the last few years. No, I and I don’t don’t disagree with that truly. Like it’s you want you want him here tomorrow. You want him to be able to play in one of the games this upcoming weekend. It just I I think with how this has gone, you just at this point the the bar the bare minimum is making sure that he’s here for the regular season and you go from there. Um yeah, you were talking about Beck and Senica. I’m gonna switch gears. I’m gonna switch gears. You messed me up, man. Um no, it’s fine. Uh, Zach, real quick, two things. Um, first thing, uh, congrats Ducks in Deep. Uh, new Anaheim Ducks podcast exclusive to the Anaheim Ducks. Um, you are the host here on the Sporting Tribune Podcast Network, whatever we’re calling it, the YouTube channel. Uh, so congrats on that. Just wanted to say congrats. Um, secondly, uh, oh jeez, days to upload. Five days to upload. We’re going to have to deal with the Riverside stuff. Um secondly, uh thoughts onville. You guys me you guys mentioned Gwenville. Um initial thoughts on Joe Quenville preseason thoughts and then we’ll go into the young man that is the hot topic of Ducks camp. Yeah, I mean obviously Q once we got into camp and started talking about hockey I think is I was a little bit more excited to to get into the weeds with him about uh hockey and honestly it’s only been the two preseason games and varying rosters of course but I think in just my initial impression is these systems that he is putting in here are so much more suited to what this roster is than anything Greg Cronin was trying to do. Like, and it’s it’s funny because when when you talk to Quendel a little bit, and you can see it in the comments, they’re not that far off in terms of like the function. You want to get out of the Dzone quickly and you want to put a lot of pucks on net. Okay, ba baseline. That’s what every hockey team wants to do, I guess. But, you know, that’s that’s the stated goals. The way Cronin wanted to do it, the man-on-man system didn’t suit the personnel that the Ducks had. the way Greg Cronin wanted to do it with the hy low shots just peppering the net. Not that the Ducks couldn’t do it, but it just it it wasn’t a a way to really generate what you want. The way Quinnville is doing it where it is more aggressive, it is a zone system where you’re collapsing on the boards and and forcing turnovers and having those defenseman when they do push up to continue pushing up the ice all the way, which you can do with a Jackson Lome or Nolan Zelwagger or Palo Mintikov. I think all of that just fits what the Ducks want or what the Ducks have so much better. And it’s an initial impression. It’s two preseason games. The, you know, the the first one an AHL roster plus cutter Goautier and then uh last night the more NHL roster. But, you know, I I I like the initial impressions and I think it’s so evident how much everybody in that room automatically respects Quenville the instant that you bring bring him up and just what’s your first impression? It’s like, well, I mean, the resume speaks for itself and all that sort of stuff. So, I think that alone is you’re not starting like earning this guy’s trust and and and worrying about like do does he know what he’s talking about. It’s like no, even if we don’t agree with what he’s saying, we still trust that he’s saying the right thing because he knows he should know what he’s doing. Um, the guys love him. Uh, and I think the system uh fits the team better. So, that’s my initial impression. Um, Thomas, Jack, any initial thoughts? Um, minus the the one we’re kind of talking about. Um, something I noticed last night, uh, was it Troy Terry that set up the goal for Helison? Was it Terry set up for Helison? Yeah, the first one. Very creative. Very creative, didn’t I? I’m a firm believer that Troy Terry is a systematic player. Um, I’ve had this argument with a lot of people is I think he’s a systematic player and seeing things like that makes me believe, hey, there there might be a little bit more there. There might be quite there’s there’s there’s more movement. There’s more ways to get him into space and it’ll allow him to stick handle around guys, which he can do, and find lanes. And that’s what I mean when I say I think this all works better for the roster. Yeah, I’m I was not a big Troy Terry believer. Um, but you know, one play is not going to make the difference, but that play singularly is like, okay, this guy and he’s done it before. He’s done it in the past. I can’t say that it’s just one play, but it’s one of those things where progressively watching Troy Terry be a systematic player has never changed my mind. And now it’s like, okay, this is a guy that might be able to hit that extra gear for me. So, Thomas Jack, any thoughts? System quarterback, huh? Yeah. Um, but uh, yeah, I mean, just like Zach said, I’m not going to make any bold takes or big, you know, it two preseason games, you know, until we get about a month into the season, then I’ll take stock into what I’m seeing. Um, but I will say they do look more cohesive in the defensive zone. Uh, under Greg Cronin’s man-on-man system, they just seemed like they were chasing their tail the entire time and they get caved in and they can’t get out. And because they’re playing man on man, they get tired and exhausted and they don’t have the legs to win puck battles and loose pucks and all that good stuff. Uh all the things you’ve lined out or lined up for this podcast’s entire existence, they looked a lot more cohesive. They just they looked like a team. Um, that’s about as in-depth as I can go just because it’s only two games, but they look more like a team in the defensive zone than they have in the last I don’t know how many years. Thomas, yeah. Uh, I really haven’t been able to watch too much of especially the last two preseason games, but kind of going off of what I’ve been reading from lovely Zack Kavanaaugh and going off of his social media, seeing those things. Uh, you’re seeing I think you’re seeing a team kind of maturing, getting better, improving. Um, and I think we’re going to see the Ducks take the next step. I don’t know how far is the next step. I’d like to see them play make the playoffs. Uh we’ll see though if they you know that is if that is a realistic goal. Everything kind of changes in sports once it’s the real time once it’s the regular season versus preseason. It happens all the time. Uh Angels for example were won the Cactus League a couple years ago and they finished back to back. Yeah. Put some respect on their name. Cactus League champs. Damn right. So, you know, we’ll see how things go in this uh preseason, but or the regular season, but I I think the Ducks are trending in the right direction for sure. Um big thing when it comes to this, we’re going to touch on this R on our next show is is preseason predictions to some degree. When it comes to NHL, the Ducks are in a mix with a lot of insane. It’s going to be the Wild Wild West. The Pacific is a wide open division. I was having a conversation last night and I asked notable Kings fan. I said, “If the Kings finished second in the in the Pacific, would you be surprised?” He says, “No.” I said, “If they finish seventh in the division, would you be surprised?” He says, “No.” And I think it’s generally that wide open. I think the Pacific is such a wide openen group right now between Vancouver being very interesting, Calgary incredibly interesting, uh, under quietly underratedly interesting. Um, Edmonson is what they are. Whatever. Uh, they are who we thought they were. They are awful. Worst. Hate them. Um, Anaheim looks great. Anaheim looks interesting. Anaheim is very fun. Uh, so I think the Pacific is going to be a very wide openen group. Um, Seattle, another team that has a lot of speed that I didn’t I didn’t think they’d have the speed they had. They have good speed. Good goalending. Good speed. I don’t know if the defense is going to let them stick around. Good goalender. What’s that? Good goalender. goending franchise altering goalender. Um Joey Decor, what a guy. What a guy. So, we’ve we’ve run through that. Um we’re going to talk about the most famous person in Ducks uh preseason camp. Uh from the second most famous person in Ducks preseason camp, the most recognizable figure of Ducks media at the moment, who is a man of the people, Zack Kavanagh. Uh, Zach, tell me a little bit about Becca Senica. I know that there’s been a lot everything is centered around Beckett this this preseason, right? Is maybe not everything, but a lot is centered around him because they have to make a decision about him. And has he put on the weight that they want him to? Is he strong enough to play at the NHL level right now? Yeah, they’re they’re certainly giving him the showcase. Uh, you know, playing him in back-to-back preseason games is not something you normally see um for anybody, let alone your your top prospect. Um, and not only playing in back-to-back games, but nominally on the top line like the the first one is, you know, you’re playing with Cutter Goautier, yes, but then Ryan Paling, so kind of whatever. And that was a very up and down game for Becket. Some highs, some lows. Um, kind of again getting his feet under him. Um, but he was much he was much better last night. You know, the first period was slightly rough. You know, he gets rocked early by a pass where he probably could have just tapped it in, kept his head up, you know, move around uh and then took a penalty end of the period. But then the second he was much better finding those gaps, working well on the power play, I thought. And then uh you know, not the cleanest goal in the world, but pushing forward, staying with the puck and staying strong on his stick uh to not get bumped off of it and and and finish a play. Um you know, Quenville’s just Quinnville said that he wants them to uh just they want to find more consistency for him. And I think in those in these first two games, that is exactly what I am seeing is that there is these times where he looks great and then there’s other times where he makes a backhand pass and nowhere and you’re like, “What are you doing, man?” And there’s times where it’s like, “Hey, you’re strong on your stick there.” And there’s other times he’s getting bumped off the puck. So, it is kind of that up and down. What does that mean for him going forward is like I don’t know. Like, you can’t hide him, right? It’s not like you could hide him on a fourth. No. No. Because if if he’s if you’re going to make him what he is, you have to play him in a spot where he’s used. You have to put him with Carlson Mc hopefully Mason McDavage at some point. Yeah. You’re not you’re not going to do you’re not going to put him on the fourth line with J, you know, not Jen Harkkins now, but right, you know, it’s you got to have him in the right spot. So, is he strong enough? I I want to say like when it comes to his strength, I had been kind of wavering on it. I was looking back at some old clips because I was cleaning up my my computer a bit and I found my clips with him from development camp, my interview with him from there and compared it to how he looked last night and the couple nights we’ve talked to him. He is bigger. He is stronger. Like that is something that has happened. Um he’s just he’s still a 19-year-old kid that just needs to fill in and you know that just takes time and where that time will be spent is another question. You and I were talking about this a week or two ago and Thomas Jack, I want to hear your guys thought this. The Ducks roster construction to open the SE. We talked about this with the Angels. The May roster for the Anaheim Ducks or April roster for the Anaheim Ducks significantly more important than what they’re going to put out on October 14th against the Penguins, right? Significantly more important. But what we’re watching in the preseason when it comes to roster battles with the Anaheim Ducks is essentially the 12th, 13th, 14th forward and the sixth, seventh defenseman. Um, Becket Senica got very much involved. You mentioned that Jansen Harkkins who uh obviously sustained the arm injury. He’s going to be out for substantial time. Uh, Ross Johnson is in that mix. Um, you and I have talked about Ryan Panling I feel like is a little bit safer in this mix because of what they’ve been doing with him. But yeah, and the fact that they they acquired him for Trevor Z like you have you have to play him. Igor Cedarov is a name that you and I had countered each other on a little bit in our phone call looked good in his short sample in the preseason, right? When you’re looking at that 13th 14th forward and the 12 forward as well, obviously reps are going to matter, contract status, etc. And obviously we’re talking about what was it? Uh who are the guys that that are going for that 670? Is it Helison and Luno is who we’re down to? Luno and Ian Moore. Yeah. And Helison I think is pretty much in there at this point. It’s it’s more a Luno. So who do you guys want to see get that 13th skater or that 13th forward seventh defenseman spot and it open floor. I mean, in a perfect world, you want Senica because he takes that next step that everyone’s saying he’s going to take and shows his third overall potential. But, uh, I I I just don’t want to put too much pressure on that just because, you know, when he was drafted, it was kind of known that this was kind of a a project. He wasn’t necessarily a third overall pick because he was the consensus consensus third overall pick. They picked him because he had so much upside. he just needed to fill out his game a little bit more. Obviously, you know, he’s 18 when he was drafted, so he’s gonna have to fill out the body anyway. But the biggest thing I’ve Zach went on great in-depth about Zenica right now, but the only thing that stuck out to me was just the turnovers. Um, it just seems like there’s plays that he makes in juniors that don’t get made here. Um, so he could benefit from going back down and not making the roster. So then that opens the door for, you know, maybe like a J set off or, you know, Tim Washi. He played a couple games last year. Um, so it’s going to be interesting for that. And then for the defenseman, I think this is um Tristan Leno’s time to really take a step forward and and to earn a spot. I think it what the last two years he’s made the uh roster out of camp, I think. And I think it’s I I would say it’s safe to say he’ll at least crack the roster right out of camp. Whether he stays uh throughout the season, I don’t know yet, but I think this is a good opportunity for him to take that next step for him. Um and then Ian Moore uh I don’t know if it’s this year. It might be next year. It I don’t know. Put some respect on the name, man. I I like Ian Moore. I really do. Yeah. It’s just he’s got, you know, Radco Gutas and uh Jacob Trouba and Helison and Luno ahead of him. It’s just going to be tough for him to do that. It’s funny that we alleviated the left-hand log jam finally and now we go into next season and all of a sudden there’s a right-handed log jam, but it’s a log jam that can’t It’s a different log jam. It’s a different log jam, though. I know it can be fixed. Um Thomas, I know you haven’t watched a ton. Uh, you mentioned it, but uh, any thoughts on 13 12th forward, 13th forward, 670? Yeah, I mean I think real quick. What in the world? We don’t need to do that. We don’t need to do that. Taylor is you some things are better than Taylor. It’s literally nothing. That’s what I thought. It’s literally nothing. Thank you. So 67. It’s from a song. It’s from a thing that became another thing that became a meme that became a meme of a meme. It mean like it used to mean something. It has no meaning whatsoever anymore. It’s just the thing kids say # swerve. Sure. Lamborghini mercy, baby. Um, Thomas, man. I can’t believe we’re talking about 67 on here. That cannot play Lamborghini Mercy on this podcast. No. No. Hey, 67’s been the highlight of high school football this season. I just want to say that. There were there were children at the at the when I went out to the Ontario preseason game, there was a group of kids sitting in front of us cuz the the press area was sort of among the people and these girls were singing K-pop Demon Hunters the entire time, which perfect, good, love it. Uh, and then every intermission there was uh they had like a party Zamboni with like people on it and they would be yelling at the children on that Zamboni just 67 67 67 and I’m like what? And the kid would wave and they’d be like yeah and then they do a lap then come back around six. They just yell at it again. I’m like what? Yeah. And then they like do this with their hands. Real quick, Zach, I want to put you on the spot real quick. My my wife is standing like five feet from me right now. She is the Taylor Swift fan of all Swifties. She is Swifty of all Swifties. So, she is ready for the smackdown of a lifetime. If you have a wrong opinion, if if you throw that down, I I will ask her. I will mute my microphone, ask her the best album, and if it’s not the one you said, you’re wrong. It’s And that’s not even like debatable. So, there you go. Thomas Murray, your thoughts, man. Yeah. Anyway, now that we’re back on topic, uh I I think that I think that I would like to see Becket be in San Diego this winter, fall, whatever. Uh this season, I would like to see Becket be down there. I think what the kid develop, uh he’s still young. He’s like what, 20 right now? 19. He can’t go. He can’t go. Yeah, I was going to say he’s not age eligible. Yeah. So, it’s either going back to playing with against 17 year olds in uh Canada or playing with the Ducks, which is that’s what makes it so hard. What if he goes to college? Everyone’s doing it. Well, he can’t because he signed his ELC. Nah, they’ll find a way. All right, Zach. What’s What’s the great Yeah, but if he if he plays if he plays with adults, he’ll probably get killed, right? I mean, I know you were saying he’s throwing into his body, but if if he stays in the NHL, what they will do is what they did with Leo Carlson where they will play him like once every three three games and when the and on on the game days where he’s not playing, they will put him through a hell of a workout in the weight room just to keep him because the whole thing is to monitor him closely and build up his body because that’s what he needs the most. It’s about game count, not day count. Correct. Yeah. So, so he could be a healthy scratch 73 times this year. Yeah. Yeah. Because it’s you once you play your 10th game, you burn the first year off your contract. But I if if he stays up, it it isn’t for that nine. I don’t think they’re going to do the Shane Wright thing of like trying to, you know, dink and dunk him around and scratch him, send him to the HL, put him in world. No, there’s no point to doing that. I think I think you I think you’ve answered this before. He cannot play in San Diego for the playoffs. like at all whatsoever. He cannot play in San Diego this year. No. Um, Zack, what is I think I think if he had played in junior, I think once his season is over, he could, but I think that’s uh Zack, who who you got for 67. Who you got for 67 and 123? Uh I think I I mean it gets depends on what your opinion of who the sixth and seventh uh players were or the 12th and 13th. I think the I think the fourth line is uh Kangelo Neesto Paling. That’s what I would do. Uh, and then you know, uh, with Hearkens out, I think I think it might be washi and I think I think it’s going to be Washi and Senica and I think you cut Ross Johnston because I think Ross Johnston is is a hold over from the early days of Rebeek’s ideology with the Ducks and his and Cronin’s ideology with the Ducks. I don’t I don’t know that Joel Quenville is going to share that opinion, but he did score a goal last night, so maybe he’s proving himself as being worthy to stick around. Um, but I think like if the Ducks decision comes to keeping Beckett Senica on the NHL roster or keeping Ross Johnston, I think the my decision would be pretty easy. But that’s that. As far as the defenseman go, um I think it should be Luno as the as the guy that stays up, but also just watching him so far in the preseason and like when we talk about guys that have built up, this guy is humongous. Like his his physical body has built up so much in the last two years. I think he should be playing. I don’t think he should come up and be the seventh guy in the press box. and Helison has proved enough, I think, to also not be a guy that should be sitting in the press box. So, now we’re in Log Jam territory. And I think Ian Moore would be benefited by actually playing in San Diego. So, I think I think it’s Luno and Hellison. And then you got to make a tough decision every night who’s going to be on the ice and who’s in the box. I’m with you on the decor. I actually I agree. I agree with everything you just said. Um, time for disagreements. What is the greatest Taylor Swift album? Mr. Or is that Kevin? 1989. Well, then is that what your wife said? It is not. What did she say? All of them. That’s Come on, boo. No, she did not. She had a difference of opinion on yours as well. Difference of opinion on mine as well. So, that’s fine. Okay. She said fearless. Fearless is good. I’ll give it that one. She’s smarter than I am about that stuff. What? Smarter than you are, too. So, that’s how it goes. Um, the don’t contractually obligated to say that. Yeah. Whoa. Yeah, you’re contractually obligated. I will pull the headphones real quick. There will be a there will be a serious argument going on. So, um, we’re in the closing thoughts. Uh, closing Anaheim Ducks thoughts, guys. Um before we go to Jack for some fun little potential futuristic items because he is the future and if I mean more preseason to go. Yeah. I you know I’m I’m more I’m I’m I don’t want to say I’m excited for cuts. I’m excited to see like what what the what the what the next round of cuts are because the first cuts they made are just the junior kids going back to junior. Like that makes sense. I as much as it’s great to get a longer view at these some of these San Diego guys and things like that when it comes to like Quinnville’s philosophy about what this roster is going to be, I think you’ll get a better picture of that when when the next round comes in. I don’t know if they’re going to just wait until San Diego camp opens, which I believe is uh on the weekend. Um but I I kind of need that one because there’s simply too many guys in camp still. Like I I it’s hard for us and the PR staff to manage who we’re supposed to talk to every day. And uh I just want a better clip picture of the the philosophy that they’re going for. Is it a Ross Johnston stays on the team type of roster or is it a Becket Senica gets his NHL shot type of roster? I think I think they’ll get that. Want to give a big shout out to uh the PR teams that we deal with. Uh the Kings, the Ducks, the Vegas go Vegas Golden Knights. Outstanding staffs. Uh, India Shay, Tessa Bramble, Steve Brown, Alex Gilchrist, Justin Cummings, among others. Uh, thank you for what you guys do. Thank you for making very easy. Thank Oh, it’s I love those guys. I love every I can’t believe how easy it is working with with uh these three teams. Love them. One one last duck stop because this this is the first time I’d gone to Honda Center since the construction had kind of doubled up. It is wild how much stuff has changed over the summer there. like it is a completely new experience driving into that building now. Uh and it’s going to keep changing very rapidly over the next several months and years. So, uh the garages weren’t all the way functional quite yet. They didn’t open them up for the game. They’re supposed to be ready I think early next week is the hope. I was going to ask is it is it three weeks is the plan for being done over there? They they said it will be done by the home opener at the very least. So, it’s more about city approval. It’s it’s about city approvals on things at this point. It’s not about they’re they’re built. They’re ready to go. It’s just a matter of like plugging in a couple things and getting the city to say, “Yeah, these look good.” But, you know, city city planners and bureaucracy. Jack Thomas, closing duck thoughts. Uh, this one’s not really productive for on the ice stuff, but uh, as someone who’s watching these games uh, on my computer, I will say it’s 2025. Can we please have an actual feed and not just play the uh jumbotron cam because you know there’s like a twoon-one that breaks out and then they show a replay of the last like you know routine save uh that happens. Um so just you know it’s 2025. I get it. It’s preseason. You don’t have to try that hard but like you know just have a camera just one day. Looking forward to a fun duck season, my man. That’s all I That fan is loud. Watch. It is hot in this room. Sorry. You’re good. Toasty. Go ahead, Jack. I also have one thing. I don’t know if we were going to do an Angel’s final thought, but very, very quickly, Joe Adelt. Go ahead. Oh, I was going to say Joell 36 homers, 96 RBI’s very quietly. Uh he had a rough start to his career as everyone knows uh the first few years. So nice to see him be productive um and really show out his power, play a full season. Um so yeah, just shout out Joe. Yeah, chance at um two guys with 30 plus home runs, 100 RBI. Uh it would be I I have it somewhere written down, but it hasn’t happened a lot in Angels history. to have two guys cuz [ __ ] over 30. Last time it happened was 2000 I think. Yeah, 2002 with um Gloss and uh Oh man, GA. I don’t think it was GA. I don’t think I thought it was 2000 because I looked up the same thing. Let me let me pull I can pull up the 2002 roster right now. Pull up. Um Thomas closing Angel’s thoughts as well on that and I’m gonna do the same. Yeah. Um, I I would just like to say bounce off Jack right there. I think Joe Dell has been one of the best stories in baseball to watch this year, seeing all the struggles he had. I mean, he even struggled at the start of this season and I know a lot of the fans on like Twitter and stuff were kind of calling for him to be let go from the team and people were saying, “Oh, they messed up. They should have got rid of Adele instead of Moniac.” And ever since May, he really just flipped the switch and he never looked back. So, you know, just really excited to see what what’s happened for Joe and it’s been awesome for him to just complete 180 turnaround. Uh, also would like to congratulate you, Taylor, on your 100 RBI season. That’s a Thank you. Thank you very much. I I try I try hard. Uh, last time you’re also looking pretty good in uh you’re looking pretty good in Kings G camp, too, today. I know. Thanks, man. I’m I’m working real hard on that. Um, last time that the Angels had multiple 30 home run 100 RBI seasons was 2,000. As Mr. Jack James mentioned, Garrett Anderson, Troy Gloss, and Moan, three of them. They had three. Uh, it would be the if if uh Joe gets four more RBI over this last week, it would be the fourth time in Angels history that they would have uh multi 3000s. Uh 1995, Jim Edmonds and Tim Salammon, and 1979, Don Baylor and Bobby Gr. Um, so there you go. Did I Did I jump on you, Jack? Was that what you had? I was just Yeah, I was going to say that. And also insane. We don’t have to go into the weeds on this, but insane that in 2000 Troy Gloss 7.8 war, 47 homers, you know, 108 OPS and not a single MVP vote. Not one. Not one down ballot vote. What was average? It’s like 280 285. That’s exactly why. So, times have changed, man. Uh, Zack, closing Angel thoughts. anything at all? Um, no. Yeah. Proud of you. Good job. Proud of you. It is getting dark. Holy. I just Look, people across the Angel’s organization are tired of saying like, “Yeah, too bad. It it wasn’t a good year.” Like people are Angel’s organization is tired of saying that. And there’s a lot of good people in Angel’s organization that are just like they’re they’re worn out. They’re done. they’re really tired. So, um, so, you know, positive growth year, uh, if they wouldn’t have been completely atrocious over the last 10 days or whatever, uh, they probably would have been a 75ish win team, I think they’re going to still be low 70s. They’ll probably win a game this week, probably. Uh, they will get to the 71 win mark at some point. Well, yeah. We we had pegged them at being 75 and they got six games left. They’re not they’re not going to do that, huh? No, they’re not. And it’s because they went one and nine against Colorado and Kansas City and whoever Houston. I I now that like I’ve got a hands-on look too at the the Ducks like the OC vibe thing like really sprouting and what is is like the formation of what it’s going to look like. I have I have to think that Arty is going to just be stewing on his side of Catella on and just looking at the swath of parking lot that he in theory owns and uh and wants to do something with. I’d imagine so. Um and hey, if the team was winning, they’d be making more money and then you could afford it. But you know, where’s the fun in that? Goal of this podcast was to go 60 minutes. We’re at uh 80. Um, so Jack, that’s that’s a good one for us. I know. Quick quick terms. Uh, Arizona hockey. Uh, there’s a group that’s trying to bring NHL hockey back to Arizona. Um, you and I were talking about it last night. Something I thought was really interesting was tickets for Arizona state hockey. Uh, someone posted a screenshot. It was Bring Hockey Back. Uh, great company. I will, they’re not a sponsor, but I will say if you don’t know Bring Hockey Back, go check them out. They’re great. Uh, great clothing company. I own BHB. Good stuff. I do, too. Big, big BHB fan. Um, they posted a screenshot of Arizona State hockey tickets. 150 bucks, man. 150 bucks. So, there is a a there is a hockey audience in Arizona, but it sounds like there is a group that’s trying to bring the NHL back to Phoenix. Yeah. Uh, I mean, Maricopa County Chairman Thomas Galvin, he got um, uh, hired or appointed or voted in, uh, to take over as chairman back in January. And at his opening statement, he made it very clear he wants to bring hockey back. He wants to bring the NHL back to uh, to Arizona. And he kind of laid out this three-step process. Step one, uh, create an advisory committee of, uh, sport leaders, political leaders, community, um, people around the community to work with Arizona government and to, uh, the NHL to try and formulate a plan. That’s step one. Step two was to find um, I guess there’s no really order for step two or three. It’s just find an owner, an ownership group, and find an ar a location to build an arena. U, so they took care of step one. They announced that um Shane Don’s wife uh Andrea Don will be heading the or acting as the chair of the uh committee. Uh another another person that’s been announced is uh Lindseay Fry. She does great work with the uh Matt Shot, it’s a long name, Mattshot Hockey Legacy, Arizona Hockey Legacy uh foundation. Um she does great work there. She’s heavily involved in youth hockey uh out in Arizona. So, um, they got two people already announced on the on the panel and they said they will be announcing more people in the upcoming weeks. They have another press conference on Thursday. We we might get a little bit more information there. U, so not much to say outside of that in terms of plans, but uh, it’s a step in the right direction for sure and it’s kind of brought out a little bit of excitement around around town. You can kind of feel it. I loved the Arizona Coyotes. Loved it. Uh, been to games, been to playoff games, was there for the Dustin Pinner goal. Sorry about that, boys. Um, me too. Yeah, unfortunate. I loved it. It was fun, man. I loved that. I I liked I hated that it was in Glendale as same as everyone else did, and that’s the reason why it floundered. It was one of the reasons why it floundered. Um, but I loved Arizona hockey. So, I hope it comes back. Um, I I will fully maintain that hockey did not fail in Arizona. The Coyotes failed in Arizona. The MLS failed in Arizona. Well, I it started before them. They should have moved to Glendale. They should have moved to Yes. They shouldn’t have They shouldn’t have done that. They shouldn’t have got rid of the the jerseys. They should have never done any of that. Yeah. Uh but, you know, here they are. And people give people give Arizona a bad rap for hockey. There’s just under 10,000 youth hockey players alone. Yeah. in Arizona. It’s a wildly growing hockey. Uh it’s not a hot bed for hockey yet, but there’s hockey out here. The greatest American born hockey player right now. Yeah. Is the Berlin is the greatest American born hockey player. Matthew Kachchuck. Actually, where’s Conor Helluck from? He’s from like Boston. No. Where’s Hellbuck from? I think probably Minnesota if I had to just throw a dart at the map. Yeah. So, the greatest forward uh in American skating history, Matthew Kachchuck, not the other one. Uh, actually, Brady can add to that list. Um, kind of crappy stuff to close out on. Um, the Tyler Skaggs trial is going on. If you’re unfamiliar, the Angels are being sued by the Skags family uh as part of the wrongful death uh lawsuit uh of Tyler Skags during an overdose. Um, keynotes because none of us are there. We we’ve had this conversation over the phone with a few of us, but none of us are there. So, Sam Blum of the Athletic just kind of hitting his notes. The Angels cannot relitigate Eric Kay’s criminal conviction in the civil trial. Um, the Angels claim they have new evidence suggesting Eric Kay did not provide the pillars of Scags. They also claimed that there was two witnesses that provided false testimony in Eric Hay’s criminal conviction. Um, Angels are saying there’s other substances that killed Tyler Scaggs. There’s a lot going on here. The Angels claimed that they were being sued for 1 billion. That was not accurate under any circumstances. As I write through this, it’s uh it is 785 million, which is a substantial mark, but uh I think it’s $400 million in general damages, $385 million in special damages. Um, part of it as well is that the judge sides with the angels, says that Tyler Tyler’s drug use prior to 2014 can be discussed at trial, and the judge rules that Eric Hay’s criminal conviction uh will be presented to the jury. Um, the angels acknowledge paying for Eric’s legal post-defense conviction. Um, there’s a lot involved here. There’s going to be a lot of names that come out during this process. Um, I want to go full transparency. Eric Kay was a friend of mine, uh, prior to all of this. Um, he was a part of the Angels PR and he was someone I I very much well-liked. I I liked Eric a lot. Obviously, opinion changes based on circumstances that he created under his own that he created himself. But there are going to be names that are involved in this process. Do not assume uh guilty until proven innocent. That some of these names are just going to be in court, right? just people that are represent helping the Scaggs family or helping the Angels either way. Uh the lawyers have to do their job. So the Scaggs Tyler Skaggs is going to be presented as a villain. The Angels are going to be presented as a villain. Don’t you know that the lawyers are doing their jobs um and it’s going to be very ugly, very very ugly, very very uh demeaning to people that you care about. Um and some people that you’re going to I don’t know. It’s gonna be very interesting to see how this all plays out. Uh Sam Blum of The Athletic obviously is the one that is covering this and we want to give credit where credit is due. Uh Sam Blum does a great job covering the Angels and is at the forefront of this court case. Um guys, quick thoughts. Anything when it comes to Sky Trial. I mean, you laid it all out. Uh you took all my notes. Okay. Sorry. Uh you’re good. I’m trying to think if there’s anything else that you missed. I I just want to say this too is the K family, right? Eric’s family um is still heavily involved with the baseball world in Orange County. Um his brother’s a head coach at a a premier baseball program. Um his sons and and Brett sons are also playing baseball as well. This is a prominent baseball family in Orange County. Uh, do not let Eric’s decisions um, and whatever comes out in this case about Eric Kay dictate your opinion about the Kay family because Brett and and his kids and and Eric’s kids, they’re good people. They’re very good people. So, I just want to leave it at that as well. Brett Kay has not, you know, nothing great things. I worked with Brett because I covered San Cabron, J Ser. Uh Brett was always great to me and and just a very personable guy and uh I I was covering J Ser a lot right around the time that this happened and it uh obviously devastating for their family but you know uh it’s certainly not aside from the familiar relation it’s not any of their crosses to bear. Um, and as far as it goes for the Skags family, like they’ve they’ve gone through a hell of a lot. And, uh, you know, I just hope that I just hope that some form of justice is served from all of this and whatever the decision ends up being will be the decision. Um, and uh, you know, just it’s it’s awful that we have to go through any of this at all, but uh, you know, as reporters or as just people in in the sports community here, but that uh, you know, it’s tough one way or the other. Yeah. I’ll just reate oh to to Carly and Debbie too this Tyler’s mom, Tyler’s ex wife at this point. Um, you know, just like you said, you want justice to be brought forth and Tyler made his mistakes. No doubt about that. You you cannot deny that Tyler made the mistakes that cost him his life, but that does not reflect, you know, we we say the things about Brett and and the K family. It goes the same for Carly and Debbie. Carly and Debbie did not make these decisions. They are not the bad people in the circumstance for for uh trying to get justice for Tyler. Yeah, I was just going to reiterate uh one thing you quickly hit on about like not assuming stuff or jumping out to conclusions right away. There’s going to be a lot of people called to testify most likely and it’s going to be a lot of names that Angels fans know. Um and just because they’re called on doesn’t mean they’re involved. It doesn’t mean that, you know, anything bad that they did. It just means that they have a perspective on the story that is uh worthy enough that the defense or the prosecution uh feels is necessary to bring to court. So if you see names you recognize uh you know it is what it is. Don’t assume that they’re involved in any way. Thomas, I think you guys pretty much nailed everything on the money. uh just kind of sit back and see what happens and yeah just I don’t want to say enjoy the show but you know just I think that’s a bad way that’s a bad way to put it uh just just watch the facts that are listed to you and uh do we Taylor you you we were talking the other day you have an idea of timelines for people to be aware of uh they are hoping to have a jury by by October. And I think it was October 6. Yeah. And they’re trying to end this trial before Thanksgiving. That’s the goal. I believe from the not the defense, the defense wants it to go on because it can something about California law. They can equate they can eliminate the trial if it continues go on kind of thing. Um so it’s they want to try and end by Thanksgiving I think is what it is. Um yeah. So, I would say weekend plans, but it’s Tuesday. Um, week plans. Let’s go to Thomas Murray. He’s out of here. He’s gone. See you, Sanara, kid. Sayanara. Yeah, I’m off to New York this week, so it’ll be a lot of fun. My girlfriend’s a big My girlfriend’s a big Hamilton fan, so we’re going to go watch that. Uh Leslie ODM Jr.’s performing, one of the original cast members, so cool. She purposely got seats on the mezzanine side where I forgot what song it is, but he like pretty much looks in our direction. And I think that’s going to be worth every penny for her. So, I’ll be doing that on Thursday. Going to a Yankee game either Friday or Saturday night, watching the Jack’s beloved Chargers play the Giants on Sunday, and just enjoying the city. And I’ll be back Tuesday. Should be a great one. When at Yankee Stadium, buy a grub tub. You won’t you won’t regret it. A grub tub is it’s a giant souvenir cup and then on the top of the cup there’s a basically a ring shaped bucket where they put chicken tenders and fries on top of your drink. Yeah, I saw it’s all all of it is in one hand. So you have another friend and another hand free to eat and drink and do whatever. It’s we have we we my girlfriend and I got those. their uh treasured possessions. Jack James, that sounds great. That sounds great for movie nights. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Jack James, what do you got going on, man? Uh school pretty much just school. Uh Friday night there stud. I know. Uh school, watching preseason hockey, watching the last of Angels uh baseball. Uh Friday night they ASU plays TCU in football. That’ll be a good game, but I’m seeing there’s rain on the forecast. So, do I want to really stand out there in the rain and watch the game or just watch it on my TV and sit back and relax? So, in the rain, uh to be determined, but uh I mean, it is a good matchup. It is a good matchup. Sit in the rain. ASU’s played far too many close games for me this season, but you know. Yeah. I was surprised they beat Baylor. I was. Yeah. Zack Kavanagh, what do you got going on, man? Uh we’re obviously in the throws of uh preseason hockey, my man. Tomorrow night, Ducks hosting the Kings. Uh that’ll be a good one. And uh then uh is it a home game on Saturday? No, they’re they’re they’re on the road. That’s right. They’re playing the Kings in Bakersfield on Saturday. No one is going to that game. Not a single person in the media contingent is going to that game. So PR will have a late night uh from from our end of things. And uh just, you know, you’ve already mentioned a couple times, but keep looking on the Sporting Tribune YouTube page for more uh content. All the training camp interviews, morning skate stuff, poke postgame stuff. That’s all going to go on the YouTube page. And uh and uh we’ll see if if I’m feeling up another episode of Ducks in Deep later in the week. See how the rest of the camp goes. Beautiful. Beautiful. Um, and go go watch my viral Chris Krider Tik Tok if you can. Yeah. Um, closing question, uh, for everyone. Uh, which one? You get to only keep one. The Offspring, some 41 or Mike Epical Romance. What do we got? Only keeping one. Only one. Offspring. NCR. I’m keeping them. Offspring for me personally. Orange County Zone. It’s tough because Offspring has more songs that I like, but the songs that I like from some 41 are all better than the songs I like from Offspring. I guess I got to go with Depth. So, I’ll go Offspring. I’m a depth player. Offspring. Easy. Yeah. The inner minations of my mind are an enigma. Let’s get out of here. Thank you, Patrick. Okay, guys. Yeah, I’m a bit more complicated than that. Um, it wasn’t just a phase. Uh, it’s a lifestyle. All right, guys. Let’s get out of here. Call it a week. Uh, get out of here. Have a good one. See you for Zack Kavanagh, Thomas Murray, Jack James. I’m Taylor. That was episode 20. Bye. Get out of here. [Music]

In this week’s episode, Taylor, Thomas, Jack and Zach discuss the Angels implosion during September. They also look ahead at who should manage the Angels next season and discuss what they need to do to turn it around.

On the hockey side, the guys discuss the latest contract updates of Mason McTavish and when will he and the Ducks reach an agreement on a new contract. The guys also discuss whether or not Beckett Sennecke should make the roster after training camp.

The guys wrap up the episode discussing the latest efforts on Arizona trying to bring back a hockey team to the state and provide updates on the current trial of former Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs’ family suing the Angels over his death.

Follow the guys on social media

@ Taylorblakeward
@ JackJanes_
@ Zachcav
@ Thomas_L_Muray
@ Thesportingtribune

Timestamp

0:00 – Intro
2:56 – Angels Implosion
28:52 – Angels Low Minor League
34:15 – Angels Players at Ducks preseason game
37:02 – ABS In baseball
44:35 -What is going on with Mason McTavish?
52:00 – Ducks improving
59:55 – Chances Beckett Sennecke makes the roster?
1:12:25 – Greatest Taylor Swift Album
1:13:09 – Closing Thoughts on Ducks and Angels
1:21:20 – Hockey back to Arizona
1:25:33 – Tyler Skaggs trial
1:32:00 – Week Plans