Anaheim Ducks extend Jackson LaCombe & Mason McTavish, LA Angels in search of a new manager

Anaheim Ducks extend Jackson LaCombe & Mason McTavish, LA Angels in search of a new manager

[Music] Hopefully with the new mic, our audio will be fixed so the editor won’t have music that’s like five times louder than my voice. Hey everybody, welcome to Wings on Catella episode 21. Our episodes can Our Wings on Catella can start drinking. Hell yeah. In the United States. How about it? That’s man. We are uh Wings on Catella. We represent the Sporting Tribune of different likes and cover Orange County sports to some degree or another. Um it is our usualish cast and panel tonight uh today, tonight depending on when you’re listening. I am Taylor Blake Ward, senior uh editor for the Sporting Tribune cover the uh Angels of Anaheim of Los Angeles. Los Angeles Angels. I mix that up every time. I’ve always called them the Anaheim Angels. I’ve never called them the Los Angeles Angels. It’s a market inefficiency. I mean, they’re usually Anaheim Angels. I’ve only been at this for 15 years and still call them the Anaheim Angels. I could call them the California Angels. Either way, uh, on that note, we do have we do have Thomas Murray with us. Uh, you guys can follow him on socials at Thomas_L_Murray. He covers the Anaheim Ang Damn it, I did it again. There you go. He covers the LA Angels and the Anaheim Ducks. uh for the Sports Tribune. Tommy Lee Murray, what’s going on, my man? Not much, man. Got back from my trip uh Tuesday night and getting settled back to being home, cleaning up and all that good stuff. Serious question. You were an Eagles fan, right? Okay. Name three of their albums. The band Eagles. Sheesh. Is Hotel California even an album or is that just like No, it’s just a song. Yeah. I was like, I know the song. I I never really liked that that band. Oh god. I like I like a lot of like I like a lot of classic music like that. There’s so many things wrong with you that we’re going to fix. Zack Kavanaaugh is also with us. Zack Kavanaaugh covers the Anaheim Ducks for the Sport Tribune. Zack Cav before telling us about how busy today was for you. How are you doing? I’m I’m good, man. I’m I’m full of adrenaline and uh you know working while we’re talking. So, uh, yeah, it’s it’s been one of those days, but those are the fun days on this beat. So, happy to be here. Absolutely. Good to have you on, man. And, uh, joining us also is Mr. We replaced one Jack with another. Mr. Jack James is, uh, out being an adult, so we brought in a child for us. Uh, Jack Hasslet. What’s up, man? You guys, what’s going on, dude? What’s going on? Happy to be here. Yeah, you guys can follow Jack as I pull it up. Uh you guys can follow Jack at Jackmagic0ero on socials. Jack is a master of all trades. He covers just about everything for us. UCLA football, he covers uh the LA Kings, which we will not get into today, Jack. So stay stay hush- hush on that. And also the Los Angeles Angels. So um I’ll tell you what, guys, this morning I did not wake up feeling like P. Diddy, which is a good thing. Uh, but I also did not expect um Pat Verbique to throw out an 8-year contract at $9 million AAV. Uh, on that note, Jackson Lome um is going to be staying in Anaheim at $9 million a year for eight years. Um, if you’re unaware of the housing market, Balo Island is 4.4 million on the average house. So, he can go buy two houses a year if he wants. Um, probably not with the interest rates, but whatever. Uh, let’s go to the obvious man here, Zack Kavanaaugh. Um, I don’t think you were waking up expecting this to happen either. No, but you know, I in in after it happened in retrospect, I should have known the the most in or the most uh informative insider in all of Duck’s internet is Pat Verbig’s son, Pat Verbig, uh, or Kyle Kyle Verbigek. Yeah, he he tweeted out a Ron uh Swanson gift from Parks and Wreck of him just kind of making a face. And usually when he does that, that means like something’s happening with the Ducks that day. And um you know, I didn’t think anything of it really. I just like what what could this be? This could be anything. Like he could have watched the highlights of the game last night. He could have whatever. Uh so go about my morning, nothing different. Show up to the rink. I’m in in the parking lot and I get the text of uh hey check our Twitter account in 30 seconds and sure enough Jackson Lome richest deal in team in franchise history in terms of overall money fourth highest per season uh salary figure in franchise history following only Ryan gets laughy Perry Paul Korea ever heard of him um this is huge like we had obviously we were going to get to the Mason Matavish of it all that started off the week and that then open once that book closed the book on this offseason we looked ahead to say okay there’s five guys that are up as RFAS next year Leo Carlson Jackson Lome chief among them are they going to get any of these done early Pat Verbique told us when we were talking about Mason that yeah we’re kicking it around we’re talking about it we’re we’re thinking that we can usually verbique kind of says a lot of fluff and I didn’t take it to mean other than like giving us a satisfactory answer in the moment uh I did not expect this to come Uh, but it seemed like there was some push from Jackson Lome’s side of things to Yeah. Hey, if you have a number, I’m willing to talk about it right now. And as Pat Verbique said, when somebody offers you $72 million, you’re uh you’re more readily available to take it. So, a huge day for for Lome, a huge day for the Ducks to kind of get this bit of business out of the way early. Yeah, this surprise, not surprise in a sense. We we’ve been talking about this for how long, Zach is is the whole McTavish thing, which we have not talked since Mason signed. So, we will talk about uh we will talk about the Mason McTavish extension. We will talk about the Angels managerial search today. We’ll go in length about that stuff. But, um Zach, you saw the notes. Um I’m going to go to the other guys real quick here. Is the the notebook that I sent out this morning before the news was how does the Mason McTavish uh extension alter the roster? How long does it take for him to catch up? But also financially, does it set them back for and I put I literally put Jackson Lome uh because Jackson has has proven that he is uh you know he’s maybe not proven but last year he was a top 10 defenseman in the league uh in in just about every metric. Um analytics standardized stuff. Um Thomas seeing Jackson locked up here for eight years. Um, I think the thing that stood out to me with the the Pat Forbake video is he just said just just go play. You don’t have to worry about any of this stuff for the next year. The Ducks don’t have to worry about this contract. They they have a few more coming up here. They got Cutter. They got Leo, but they don’t have to worry about this contract. Uh, what do you think it’s going to do for Jackson and the team in general? Yeah. I mean, well, one thing that I really thought right away is just, you know, gosh, what a what a what a pain that Mason McTavish whole thing was and how it went down, right? Like it it really didn’t need to go down the way it did, but it it did. And then you go ahead and just a few days after you give him his extension, you go and resign somebody like Lcom and you lock him up and you’re That was the one thing we all kind of talked about with the Ducks during the summer too is like why they weren’t, you know, yeah, they we were all expecting them to be big spenders during free agency. Missed out on the Mitch Martin sweest sakes. And then one thing that we talked about is well they do need to lock up some of these key young guys if they actually want to have this core for the future. and you go ahead and do that today. And I mean, that’s just such a big move for this team moving forward and setting the foundation of where they are right now and where they’re going to be. And you know, it’s just really important in sports. You got to keep the main core of guys together. And I believe that you after seeing the the step forward that Jackson took last season, you know, 43 points uh player for the team and you know, he just really took a step forward last season. So you by doing that you’re getting Jackson locked up and you’re getting a foundation to stay together and yeah let’s let’s make this thing competitive though. I definitely, you know, I think that’s where this roster is headed. And Jack, it we’ve been touching on it for a while and just to catch you up financially. Cutter Goautier has to sign. He’s an RFA. Leo Carlson’s going to have to sign. We had to worry about, you know, McTavish already, Lome. There was a lot of names on this list. There is we we talked about how if the Ducks had signed Mitch Martyr, right, a lot of things wouldn’t have mattered financially because Mitch Martyr is a 100 point player, right? And it’s hard to attain that. Leo Carlson has a chance. Cutter Goate has a chance. Um, I’m not going to say Jackson Lome has a chance because he plays a different position. It’s not a point giving position necessarily, but the fact that they did were able to move this money towards internal guys. There is a big free agent next year, massive free agent that I’m sure would love to live in Baloa Park. I don’t know if he’d love to play in Anaheim, but he’d love to live in Baloa Park as a lot of people would. I’m not going to sit here and say that the Ducks are out of the Conor McDavid sweep stakes because of the finances, but but where the Ducks are financially trading something like a Mitch Marner and in particular, not in particular Conor McDavid, but you know, Conor McDavid to a degree, something just fell. I don’t know what it was. Sorry, boys. Um, scared the crap out of me. Putting the Ducks financially going into next summer, right? Where where do you see the Ducks? Obviously, you’re covering the Kings at this point, but where do you see the Ducks going financially next summer? Is it focusing trying to even get car Leo and Cutter go or goier locked in before we even get to the summer, or are we going to get to the summer and see what the how adventurous this could be for Anaheim? I mean, I think at this point, I mean, the Ducks have put so much investment in lock in having in getting so many young players in the first place and the fact that they’re in sort of like the midst of a rebuild and kind of maybe in the position where they can see the other side of that. I think at this point like obviously you go in and you if you can make a splash like a if it’s a Conor McDavid sideized splash or something else like that’s like adding the star on top of what a bunch of young players that can be stars is but at the same time if you are in the position where you have to like sacrifice between those two I think you you have to stay with like with the youth I mean they’ve put they’ve suffered long enough to be in the position where they can have drafted like enough players where their buildup’s kind of a young base. I think I mean if you want to have gone through the last five or so seasons of just pain then I think you want to you know maintain that investment and I think that’s like the youth is the focus in that in that point. Zach I see you biting your tongue here. Go ahead. It’s a good problem to have, right? Like the I think I mean the the talk about Conor McDavid is kind of crazy in terms of trying to get him to Anaheim, I think. But it’s also not because even with this deal done and yes, you still have to sign Leo, you still have to sign Cutter, etc., etc., the Ducks have $40 million of salary cap space going in next summer. Like right now they’re I think they’re 13 under the cap right now for this season, but next summer it’ll be 40 million. So in the event that they want to throw a number at Connor, they can. Now that number is going to be astronomical based on Carrill Capri off signing his what was it $17 million deal earlier in the week. Uh resetting the entire market. That’s the most expensive contract in NHL history. Not even you know Ducks history, NHL history. So, I don’t know about the McDavid part, but when it comes to like just think about what they’ve done this summer, locking up Lucas Dstall for five years, locking up Mason McTavish for six years, locking up Jackson Lome for eight. That’s your number one goalender, your number one defenseman, and your number two center all locked up for a considerable amount of time. And now you’re going to lock up your number one center and your number one winger with Carlson and Cutter. That’s where your money goes to. And that’s all these guys assuming that you know Cutter takes a second year leap and Leo continues to improve this year. Everybody’s going to be on that track. So if they can get that done now while the salary cap is still going up, it all plays into the Ducks hands ultimately to get these things done quicker and that’s why getting a move done like Jackson’s today because here’s the thing. What happens if Jackson Lome somehow improves on his uh offensive numbers from last season? What’s happens if Jackson Lo makes the Olympic team this year? What happens if you know if the Ducks make the playoffs because of his shutdown D? That number is not a $9 million number anymore. It it starts to go up. So getting this done now was such a key thing for I mean again Lome pushed for it supposedly to make everybody happy. Pat Rebique says absolutely we’ll lock you up now and it gives you more flexibility down the road because of getting this this business done now. Well, and I I I’m I’m going back in in my own mind here, is is we’ve switched gears entirely, which I think we should just rename the show. We’re switching gears here. Uh or going a different way, but Conor McDavid, getting it out of the way, you know, show Otani is the only comparable modern-day free agent to a degree. Like I’m I’m thinking I I remember when Alex Rodriguez signed for $30 million here with his Yankees contract and it was like this is triple what anyone else has in the league. Everything like that. That’s what we’re going towards. You know, show Otani. It was funny. It was oh maybe he’ll sign a half billion dollar contract. No, he’s getting $700 million. That’s where Conor’s going to go. At the same time, as much as Leo Carlson’s an important aspect, as much as Cutter Goate is an important aspect, as much as everyone’s an important aspect to the team, you’re going to take Conor McDavid over those any pair or trio to a degree. I I I don’t think I I see you nodding your head and and Jack Thomas, maybe you guys are with me on this, but I think you sit there and you say if you could have uh Max Freed and and uh Ronald Akuna or you can have one show Hotani, you’re probably taking one show. So in this case, if you can have one Leo and one cutter, instead you get a Connor, I think it’s worth taking. And it’s a different scenario. Doesn’t have a salary cap though. That’s true. That’s the Well, you know what? But the key is worth it. There’s already a Max Freed and Ronald Akuna caliber player on the Dodgers. So, but that’s what I’m saying is you would have traded you would have traded uh Maxy and Yoshinobu Yamamoto together for a show in a heartbeat. Same age, whatever. Um I don’t know. I I mean look I think ultimately I don’t think it matters because he’s think about how bad that Edmonson think about how bad is it would be great for the Ducks to have Conor McDavid somebody who’s you know he’s different when he’s on the ice right like there’s always that guy in every sport you play he’s different on the field he’s tone setter he’s clutch um and es especially with him you know experience they need that guy to lead the team so I mean yeah Like it makes sense because it’s like you wanted to get Mitch Mner this year and you couldn’t do it. But if you’re able to get someone like Conor McDavid who is argu you could argue he’s you know I mean he is better than Mitch Mner you know he’s he’s an alltime he’s this generation’s like top player in NHL and so yeah you would want it. Yeah of course you would want him on your team. No doubt about it. I I just think outside of McDavid dry, right? Look at that Edmonton team, they have a few guys, Ev Bousard every now and then is good. Ethan Bear was good for a bit. They’re a bad team. They’re not a good team. They made the Stanley Cup and it’s because of two guys and and one of one half of those guys is better than the other half. So, I don’t know. That’s where I sit there and say this this alters your entire team. This is so far a field from where the Ducks are, though. They’re not going to be on a McDavid. They’re just not. Well, he’s going to Toronto according to everyone in Toronto. Yay. Toronto, LA, Chicago, like the he’ll go to he’ll go to a big market and uh somebody that’s a little bit closer to winning a like I think Conor McDavid would certainly push the Ducks like into cup contention territory like immediately, but I just I the way that Pat Verbique has been managing the cap, I don’t think that he’s going to be in the business of offering what McDavid wants. The other thing I I don’t know that McDavid’s going to go as high as like he could command if Carrill Capri is getting 17. McDavid could easily get 20 22 23. Uh but I but I don’t think he’s he’s he’s specifically taken less in Edmonton. Carter McDavid’s taken less or Conor sorry Sydney Crosby has been taken less in Pittsburgh all these years because you again with a salary cap you kind of need to manage things more. Um, and I just think that yes, he’s a game changer, but then if you’re doing that and you’re not and then you’re if you’re also going to be signing Leo and Cutter in addition or in in scrap it. They’re not. No, that’s not going to happen. No, if you’re getting Connor, you’re I mean, like, yeah, if you have the finances, but if you don’t if if the choice that’s what that’s what my point was. If your choice is Leo and Cutter or Connor, you’re going to Connor. I don’t think it’s an eitheror, I I don’t that’s it’s just not something that’s going to be in the calculus for what the are doing because he’s going to Toronto according to everyone Toronto. Um they don’t have the space for it. Sure. And that just like I mean if like in the world where they where the Ducks signed Conor McDavid like that, how much does that change just like the perception of the Ducks like league like leaguewide as well? Like I mean it it you when Gretzky got traded to LA it’s not a trade it’s not a trade but when Gretzky got traded to LA it changed West Coast hockey entirely. Well I think here’s the thing too. If if McDavid doesn’t sign in Ed, if he’s not going to sign in Edmonton, he’s going to do a signin trade. Like I think what you saw with like the Edmonton Oilers simply cannot like in the same way that the Angels did because you mentioned Otani, you cannot walk away with nothing for having Conor McDavid or losing Conor McDavid. So I I think that’s uh Yeah, it’s Yeah. Yeah. Uh, switching gears, talking about the Angels. Uh, put a penny in the nickel jar for uh, switching gears. Um, Angels are in the middle of a managerial search. Uh, Ray Montgomery was not retained. Ron Washington was not retained. Uh, the club announced um, I, this was pretty well expected. I mean, we were talking about last week or two weeks ago is is like we were already talking about who the next manager is going to be cuz it wasn’t going to be Ron Ray. Um, I want to make a note. Ray Montgomery impressed me with how much of a baseball guy he was. Um, and how much better he was than I thought he’d be. That’s not saying he was good at his job, but he was better than I thought he’d be. So, um, and you know, I I think Thomas, Jack, you guys talked to him. Um, I liked Ray. Ray was a good guy. It’s nothing personal on any of this means. You know, he was a nice guy. He was a good guy, but he just was not a good manager. and I don’t know if he’s ever going to get another shot at at managing at the big league level, but I think he has proven why he should be a bench coach, why he should be on a coaching staff to a degree. Um, I was impressed with what maybe it was my own personal mindset because I thought he would just be awful, like really bad at his job and he wasn’t the worst at his job is the way I would put it. Um, with Ray leaving, any thoughts here? Uh Thomas thoughts on on Ry and Ron going uh Ron Washington another we talked about it in the last show. Um Ron very likable. Uh obviously baseball histo history history guy. Um you know I had my own thoughts, you guys have your own thoughts, but these two guys out of out of here in Anaheim. Yeah. Uh I mean you said you nailed it right on the coffin. I mean I mean Ray was great to work with by all means, you know, like was super super transparent with us. Like you could ask him any question. He he’ll give you the information that you know that you needed. Um I mean all year regardless what was going to happen or not unless the Angels made it to the postseason, I really didn’t think Ray was going to be retained as a manager even if they had a winning record this season. I I just never got the vibe that Ry was ever going to be the manager moving forward. I mean, it for the most part it it kind of did at times kind of feel like he was limited in what he could do on his job, if that makes sense. You know, I think there was definitely a lot of uh input from a higher up that was just going to say he was a he was a puppet to a degree. I just think he was less he was less of a puppet than I thought he’d be is the way I would put it. Yeah, he he made some decisions. I thought he’d make zero decisions. He made some. And some were good, most were not. Yeah, I Yeah, I agree. I mean, he did the best that he could in that situation. Uh, you know, and I I’ll I’ll miss Ray. I mean, he was he was a great guy to work with. You know, Ron was just as great of a person to work with, too. Um, I could say when you have to ask those harder questions, Ron would be a little bit more snappier versus Ray would, you know, be like, “Yeah, you’re you’re right.” Like what you said is correct. And he’d give you a good answer for it. So, you know, I appreciate them all to both of them to their certain level, you know, different different ways, I would say. Jack, you got to work with Ray a little bit too when you were covering the Angels. Um, thoughts here on both Ron. Jack, did you come in when Ron was still around or or would you were you after that? I came in I want to say maybe like two days after he had he had stepped away like the first That’s right. Cuz well Zach was there the day that he got. So I guess that’s the wrong one to ask about Ron. But uh your thoughts on Ray? Your thoughts on Ray? Yeah, Ry I mean I mean like Thomas said, I think I thought Ry was, you know, super transparent. I think he always was very willing to talk about the things that were going wrong and I mean you can tell that he like from like a technical standpoint like he he knows a lot about baseball for sure and you know that’s coming in he was a front office guy for a long time before he was you know a bench coach and from that sort of from a technical standpoint I think you know he he would know a lot but I mean the thing is is like being like anyone being the Angels manager is like coming in with not a good hand. Like just the roster as it is, it’s getting it’s getting better, but it’s not it’s still, you know, two or steps away, however big those steps are, from being a serious contender, the farm is gets thinner by the day, you know, and then with how often they they call up young players, you know, gets thinner by the day. So like the the basis that anyone in that job has to work with is not huge. And yeah, like you like you said, I think Ry I mean having to come in as an interim, you know, it’s pressure from the top like non-stop. And I mean, they contended for a moment. You know, there was there was a minute where there was like real faith that the Angels could do something and that kind of went away as fast as it like came about in August and September. But um yeah, it’s just yeah, like Ra Le was Ray was a great guy and I think he maybe didn’t always make like the most the best decisions. I think the bullpen management in general, I think, is like the biggest question mark with what he was doing. But I mean just yeah like the basis of it is like working under the angel’s ownership as it is like kind of it sets it’s really sets like anybody in that job back and you know how much that informs anyone’s decision on the job hunt now to like to come to to Anaheim you know is kind of like its own question. And going on that we’re going to return to some ducks chat. Um, Zach, anything real quick on uh on Ray uh before we we jump into the next segment? Uh, not particularly, only because like you said, I I only went up there the one time and it was his first day on the job. Um, so I think it’s just the thing I as an interim guy, if you don’t if there’s not some sort of big rally under your watch, then I think you’re sort of, you know, walking towards the end of the plank anyway. um in terms of being the the manager, like maybe you come back as the bench coach or something, but uh you know, good luck to him. But it obviously as as we’ll talk about, I’m sure when we get to the rumors of who’s in line here that there’s there was always going to be uh the other shoe to drop, so to speak, in terms of who’s making the decisions around there. Well, let’s drop the other shoe. Uh there are some rumors going on. Uh Jack, you were on top of this. Um, Angel’s obviously in managerial search. There were two guys a month and a half ago that were the favorites for this job and and Ray Montgomery was not one of those guys when he was holding down four. Uh, Albert Puhol, Tory Hunter. Um, it was well known. Tori’s been in the dugout for the last month and a half. Um, I think I was telling Thomas on yesterday, was it yesterday I called you and I said I’ I’d put it was yesterday. I’d put Tory at 5 to2 watts. like it’s Tori’s job to lose if if he doesn’t want it. And then uh story came out from the Athletic uh Sam Blum again who has been on top a lot this uh early off seasonason. Um Albert Puhol is the front runner when it comes to ownership and as we know this organization ownership is going to drive all the decisions, right? Um, I I think the funny thing about this is you when you’re in this industry, you’re trying to confirm other stories. Uh, you’re you’re trying to confirm someone’s story. This was one that I don’t think anyone had to confirm. It was like, no, that that’s that’s 100% true. It’s Albert is going to be uh Arty’s number one guy as long as he wants it. So, uh, Arty will be or Albert will be interviewed for the managerial job. Uh, Tori will as well. Um, Jack, you wrote it up, so I’ll go to you. Albert Pulse as the potential uh next Angels manager and in some form the likely manager of the Angels next. Uh, what are your thoughts on on Albert Pulse as a potential manager? Yeah, I mean, I want to say for it’s nothing is surprising about him being Arie Moreno’s choice. I think I mean, for the same reason I think that he that they signed him to the contract that they signed him as a player in 2012. I mean, Arty Moreno trends towards kind of flashier big names in solitary roles. How much there’s less investment towards building like a whole team around something, but if he can have if there’s like a big name splash that they can make like that is that always that is the move that Angel is going to make with Albert as a manager. I mean, I’m not 100 like where that would go for the Angels. I’m not like 100% on that. I think between the two, I think Tory Hunter overall would I think mesh better with that clubhouse, but I mean Albert obviously it’s the name. I mean, he’s it’s the idea of the all-time great player being a manager. It’s he would connect obviously with a lot of players, a lot of players who grew up watching him. I mean, there’s like an obvious connection with he that would connect with a lot of like Latin American players that are on that in that clubhouse. I mean, and I know he’s had some the little bit of success that he’s had already. I mean, doing managing the Dominican Winter Leagues. I think in that sense, he I mean, he is a he’s a like there’s no question that he’s a baseball guy. It’s I mean between these these two like top candidates, it would be a first-time manager. Either way, I’m I mean I’m on the fence about it. It’s like the question with having someone like Albert is if his presence dominates the clubhouse as a whole and if that’s something that you want from a managing standpoint. I don’t think it is. Especially when you have like the Angels finally do have young players kind of coming about and you have like the Zack Netos and the Joe Adells and if I don’t know if you want your manager to be overshadowing the players in that sense when when some of them are still trying to find their footing. So that’s kind of like that’s my biggest question mark with the idea of Puhol’s being the manager is just like if he not maybe not even a distraction but if he just sort of if it’s like if there’s a higher potential for like friction in the clubhouse in that way. That’s fair. Um I mean I was around when Albert was on this team. Um and the I want to go back to something he said about the the flashy stuff. Um, Albert Puhol made Arty Marino about $250 million. He’s signed a $250 million contract that got Arty a half billion dollar TV deal. So, uh, Albert and Arty are on good terms financially. Um, no, I mean Albert was Albert is was at the time the biggest talent in baseball. He was an insane hitter. You know, it was Derek Jeter, Miguel Cabrera, and Albert Puhol, right, are the stars of baseball. And then it’s the dwindling part of his career. And Mike Trout, this this some kid named Mike Trout is rising in the clubhouse right next to him. Um him and Mike had a a outstanding relationship still to still do to this day. Um and like you said, the international part of this he’s a Greek god. I mean in all I’ll even go as far as saying he’s a Dominican god. you know, he’s he’s an incredible asset to have when it comes to possibly attaining free agents, um, international players, bringing in and connecting with international players and and having this guy that that came from, you know, obviously he came states for college and and was drafted and everything like that, but this is a guy that came from a small town in the Dominican Republic, had success to the highest degree. He’s one of the greatest baseball players ever lived. U, especially when it comes to the hitting side. As a manager, we don’t know. Yeah, I mean I watched the I watched the winter league. I love the winter league, but I don’t know what decisions he made that really altered Li. Lease is going to win the Dominican league or winter league championship every year anyways. Um I think I just don’t know what to think about it. It’s a tough thing to fathom because you there’s just not a track record of having Albert or Tori. And I want to bring Thomas, I’m going to kind of go to you for Tori a little bit, but when it comes to Albert and Tori here, I I just there’s not a track record of game planning. There’s not a track record of decisionmaking. It is in a way just a face, right? So, we have to see what the decision-m process is going to be. And and that’s what I would hope I would hope the interview process brings a response to that. and and if there is a response and Albert has decision-making skills that are proven in the interview or Tori does, then it’s better. But right now, there is just no track record of managerial decision-m and that’s an important factor if I’m looking into the interview process. Thomas, your thoughts on on Tori or um Tori or uh Albert? You know, funny enough, I think both of them it’s probably going to go down a similar way for both for both as you know, if they’re managers. Both of them don’t have experience for the job. And where the Angels are at right now, I you need all the experience you can. You know, I know I know like their record wasn’t great with Ron Washington, they were like 135 and 189 or something like that, but they really before he left the team, they really were turning the corner this year. And I think a lot of that was due to the experience that he brought to the table. And you saw guys start to kind of elevate their game. Joe Adele is one guy in particular. Last year it was first year under Ron it was the defense got fixed finally, right? He was a finalist for a gold glove out in right field. Then this year um you know a couple homers shy of 40 home runs and then got over 100 RBI’s. That’s that’s huge, right? So when you look at the Angels right now and just seeing where experience has taken them, that’s the train that I’m trying that’s the train I would ride if I was them. I I really wouldn’t go after Tory Hunter or Albert to be honest with you. I think both of them will come into the locker room and they’ll command a lot of respect because the guys know them already. You know, Albert has been around during spring training working as a special adviser to the team. Uh, you know, I remember seeing them on like MLB Network doing drills with the team and all that fun stuff. And we’ve seen Tory Hunter around too. We even earlier in the season before Ron was out, I remember watching one of the first games in Texas and he was chilling out in the dugout with them. and I think he lives around the Dallas area or something like that. So, it makes sense, you know, that he’s around the team. But then once Ron left later in the year and it was becoming more and more apparent that Perry or that um Ray wasn’t going to be the manager, you know, next season, we started to see Tory Hunter around the team a lot more. We started he started to be a lot more engaging with us as reporters, saying hi to us a lot more frequently. And that’s when I immediately was like, “Oh, okay. This is happening, huh? this is, you know, Tori’s gonna be the manager. I really thought that. And then, uh, I remember one of the games I was covering. It was in, uh, it was in August this year. It was after the trade deadline was when things really started to get bad for the Angels. I I can’t put a name to who they were playing, but I remember they committed a bunch of errors that night. And there was a meme on the internet going around Angels Twitter where it was like Tory Hunter just looking at the team like like, “What the hell is this?” You know, what what are you guys doing out here? Um, so you know, and I’m pretty I’m pretty sure Tori has not been afraid to ever get into anybody and you know, tell him no, he’s he’s not, you know, he’s one of he’s one of the greatest he’s one of the best defensive players I’ve ever seen in my life. Well, he’s he’s a leader. He’s a leader. Yeah, he totally is. If you ask anyone that played with him, the first thing that’s going to come up is he was a mentor. He was a friend. He was a leader. He was a clubhouse guy. That’s why I would say not that Albert was. Albert absolutely was 100%. But the first thing you’d ask Albert was I think the first thing because Albert would say this all the time is he’d say uh Chris Carpenter and and Matt Adams were the guys that brought me along or I can’t remember the guys that I’m trying to think of guys that were on the 2000 2003 Cardinals but Matt you know he was talking about these guys Matt Carpenter right and guys like that that helped him along the way. other guys are talking about Tori in that way. And that’s why I would lean to Tori on this if I was of that pairing, right? If I’m strictly isolating myself to these two guys, it’s not the guy that told me about his mentors. It’s about the guy that’s being called the mentor. That’s where I would go with it. Maybe I’m not hearing it right from other guys about Albert because guys like Eric Ivar would probably talk about Albert, right? And that’s fine. Um well I remember when Albert was uh playing you know he was a big mentor to Luis Rangifo especially a lot in his rookie year. I remember it Rangifo unfortunately glove has just always been kind of so so uh sometimes he’ll make some incredible plays and then sometimes he just makes like the you’re like you look at then you’re just scratching your head like how’d you make a mistake on that? But I I remember watching Albert, you know, take guys like that and mentor them and, you know, all that good stuff. Both of them were good mentors to Trout early in his career, though. I mean, they were definitely both guys that, you know, he could lean on. But I do think that with Tori, you do kind of get somebody who’s very who’s already been very present in the locker room. You know, the guys are very familiar with him. Um, I I just really think at the end of the day, this is going to come down to is this if if it’s Tory Hunter, Barry Manassian keeps his job. If it’s Albert Pooh’s, Angels are getting a new GM. That’s what it that’s what it says to me at the end of this. That was a direction I was going to go with it as well. Um, I don’t know if I’d go as extreme as that, but this pairing, right, I I think it’s been mentioned the last couple days since the whole Albert thing came forward is the pairing of Albert and Perry perceptionwise, we don’t know. We don’t know, but perception-wise would not go very well and as opposed to Tori and and Perry or anyone anyone else, right? I mean, you have to keep in mind that Perry was the guy who did release Albert when he during his final year with the Angels. Well, and Arty’s the guy that chose Albert over Tory, but that was also a financial decision as well. Um, something I would I would go here with, and we’ve talked about it, is Thomas, you mentioned experience. I liked your I liked your your argument. Jack, you mentioned the connection with players, which um I don’t want to get into this deeply, but it’s something that is it’s a thing. Ron Washington was a black man. Joe Adele is black. There there’s cultural things, right, between Latin American guys are going to connect with Albert, right? Black guys are going to connect with Tori. It’s I’m not trying to be weird. I’m not trying to be racial about it, but that is part of humanity, right? Um, and that’s where I would say there there is a a thing to that is that some guys are going to read better because they’ve gone through similar lifestyles is the way I would put it is is culturally they have very similar traits. Yeah. Um, so you have to make a decision in that light as well, right? Look at Ron and Joe, right? Great relationship. And I’m not saying that Ron had a different relationship with anyone else, but it was very prominent that you saw that. It was very prominent that you saw that. So that’s where I would lean to it a little bit as well. The thing I wanted to argue with, not argue with, but but counter Thomas is this is a young team, Christian Moore, uh, Zach Neto, um, Logan Oppoy, etc., etc., etc., right? I want someone that can continue to develop at the younger aspect now. Uh, the biggest candidate that you’re going to hear this year for managerial spots is going to be Craig Albernos. Um, he is the, uh, associate manager for the Guardians. But the way the Guardians do this, Kai Korea is also going to be a guy, another guy that’s with the Guardians. The Guardians do it this way is Steven Vote is the decision maker, but prior to the game, you have different game plan specialist. And that’s what Auburn is the offensive, no defensive game plan specialist. Kai Koreah is the base running specialist. I can’t remember who their uh offensive specialist is, but either way, what if you had it where Ray Montgomery is a specialist for let’s say base running, right? I I whatever it is, right? You bring in Tori as your defensive specialist. You bring in Albert to be the decision maker. You bring in these guys, right? That’s the way I would like to see the Angels go is yes, you have a manager and yes, he’s the face of your organization, but realistically your coaching staff as a collective group is the manager that’s that’s in place. Your coaching staff is of dramatic importance and keep Barry Enright as pitching coach. Maybe he fits this system, but you have to find a group of guys that are going to fit to where each team and game plan for the team for the day. Go day by day. Baseball is a 1062 games. You have to still look at it day by day. So, I’m sitting there saying Craig Albernaz already has a step up. That’s the way I would love to see the Angels go is take it as a game plan specialist. Maybe there’s a manager at the forefront, right? Maybe he’s the one that makes the decisions based on the game plan that the collective coaching staff came together with. And you know what? Add Perry in the front office to the group because you’re going to need that information. utilize every source of information that you have. Your analytics department, your old school department, etc. I was going to go to Zack for this, but Zach just turned off his camera. So, um, there he is. So, hi. Hey, buddy. So, I don’t know. What are your thoughts? Univited attention now, by the way. That’s fine. What are your thoughts on what I was just going with when you’re coaching? Yes, you have a manager, you have a face, but your coaching staff is what drives the roster. I think especially when you have a younger team like just from the experience of watching the the Ducks for example, I think that’s very important. Um you like there has to be so we we we watch the games, right? And we see what happens in the games, but you know, maybe maybe less so in baseball. I I’m just not as familiar with how the practice structure goes. But when you’re in spring training, when you’re when you’re doing these workouts, if you’re spending time with these position coaches and the manager, as important as he can be to how the overall direction of things are going, it is about these position coaches. It is about these uh skills coaches that really work some of these guys into particular things. Like for example, with with when I’m watching the Ducks. Yes. Dol Quinnville is running systems and yes, they’re running a power play, but when they’re not doing the team drills, I wanted to go for you for that reason particularly is because you have Jay Woodcraftoft and if the Angels had a version of Jay Woodraftoft running that department of their team, running the power play of the Angels, right? And that’s Sorry, I I know I jumped at that, but that’s that’s exactly where I wanted you to go. But when you when you see like yes, they’re doing team drills, but when when that’s over, you’ll see Jay Woodraftoft pull some of the forwards into the corner and be like, “Hey, when you’re doing this, we wanted you to kind of be here instead of over here.” Or the same with the defenseman, they go to the other side. And Quenville has done a lot of one-on-one talk. That is the stuff where schemes and um styles of play and whatever all that’s important for a coach, but the but when you’re talking about a full staff, particularly about a young team, you need guys that are able to teach. And you know, for all of the negatives of the great the Greg Cronin era in Anaheim, there was a lot of individual talk of skills and skating and stick work and things like that. that is the stuff that gets lost when you are focused on the the long term like in terms of your your wins and losses. Um, and frankly like the the Angels managerial or front office wise may have these bigger dreams in mind of competing right away, but they have to build the foundations. And I think the coaching staff in in terms of what you’re saying would be so important to making all of these guys better on a daily basis that will add up to wins and losses by the end of the season. And that’s where so bigger stronger point at this point is based on the way I I process this right because I want to ask you guys who are other guys you’d like to see take the position which Thomas you can finally give an answer after your copout two weeks ago. Come on man. What are you new? Um I see him going he’s straight on mute. Straight on mute. He’s in it. Um, I’m just thinking, does it matter who the does it ma if if you go through the process of what Cleveland’s going through, does it matter who your manager is? He’s making the decisions and you hope he is and not the front office, but if he’s making the decisions, does it matter who it is that’s making those decisions? As long as your coaching staff is completely together and you have a game plan strategy for every game. I mean with the angels the reality is they have bigger problems than the manager at the end of the day. The problems that they hand extend above into the front office. But if you want my answer and you know I talked to on the phone about the person that I would want them to go target and I wanted them to try to get him I think I think he was available after Phil Nevin was Bob Melvin. Uh you know three-time manager of the year winner. did it all with the A’s during that time. Uh, you know, he’s reached the postseason eight times in his career. He has a 514 winning percentage. He’s won over a thous you know, 1678 games and he’s lost 1588. I mean, he’s plenty of baseball knowledge, right? And just seeing what he’s done with a team who front office is probably even more insane than the Angels with the with the A’s at the time. It gives it gives you some light that like, okay, hey, maybe this can work out in a way. I I know it wasn’t great in SF the last two years. It was very just middle of the pack 80 and 82 his first year and then last year he finished 81 and 81. Um, but you know, when you play in a division with the Padres’s and the Dodgers, it really is hard to compete versus I think being in the American League West, hey, that’s very obtainable. Uh Texas just fired their coach uh Bochi the other day or manager. They fired Bochi the other day. So I don’t think they’re the same Rangers from a two from like two years ago and they won the World Series. Um Seattle they’re always just going to be Seattle in my opinion. I I think they’re still going to be a team that’s going to find a way to choke in the playoffs like they have. They got to make it there first. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, they just snuck in. They didn’t do that for like 25 years. So, yeah, they they were kind of in the position the Angels were in. Big dumper. I I do love the big dumper, don’t get me wrong. I love the big dumper. Um he’s my he’s my MVP. If we want to get into that, have Bob Melvin go full circle. Valuable pants. Yeah. Yeah. So, if if I’m looking at anyone that can really fix this mess, I I think Bob Melvin’s the guy, especially, you know, he’s so caught up in today’s modern era of analytic baseball. Yeah, Bob Melvin. Um, he can make the the full California full circle, man. He could do uh San Diego and and and Oakland and and San Francisco and just wait for Dave Roberts to get fired whenever that day comes. That’s not happening. Dave’s awesome. Dave, I I really like Dave. So, um I I like Hey, Dave would be great for the Angels if he’d be great for anybody. Dave would be great. It’d be great for everyone. I don’t think the Dodgers fans realize how good they have it with them. Uh Jack made some bonehead moves, but Jack Hlett um maybe a name we haven’t thought of yet or haven’t mentioned yet. And I I want to get one out of the way. I think a lot of people in Southern California would love to see Scoop Shoeacher is as the manager for the Angels. Um I think a lot of people would. I’m not going to say he’s not, but if that job in Texas is not already claimed by Skip, uh I don’t know what Chris Young is doing over in in in Dallas Arlington. So, uh, Jack, sorry, man. Go ahead. Yeah, no, no worries. Um, I think I mean, honestly, I mean, Melvin is like Melvin’s a great great pick. I I fully agree with that’s what I would have said too with in terms of dealing with front office like tumult like navigating that and still being just a baseball guy and getting having to like tread tread the waters that way of like a revolving door of players. I think Melvin is a solid pick in that way. I I feel like this will be controversial, but I do like I don’t I wouldn’t mind Bochi in the Angel spot. Like I think No, I think we all agree. I think it’s I think we all agree. Yeah, I think Bruce Bochi’s proven, but do you think Bruce Bochi is ever going to manage a game again? See, that’s the issue. I think at this point, like he’s old and he’s like I like if I was him, I would be satisfied with what I’ve done with you coming to Texas. you win your first year and whatever whatever else happens after that is whatever else like if I was him I’d be satisfied if he was willing to stick around and come back and live in Newport Coast then I would not hate him like as the Angels manager I think again just the experience side of it like I think he’s the one who could I think he could interface between players in front office like well enough at least with Perry Again, Arty Moreno is still the biggest wild card of the whole organization, but I mean, I think Perry and him would get along in that way. I think he could like marry the sort of the old school idea with what Perry’s trying to do analytically with the Angels. Um, yeah, I really I wouldn’t mind it. And again, it’s one of those things where he like it’s that’s the name that kind of like people connect with it. It’s like he’s been around old school baseball people just love Bruce Bochi. I mean I think he would be like a steady presence for the Angels and I do think that’s something they could benefit for. I mean like Tory and Albert are both I I was thinking of this earlier but I remember after they didn’t do anything at the trade deadline this season and I think Sam Blum reported this what Perry said essentially this like we love we like the clubhouse. We like everyone that’s here. Like essentially like the vibes are up and I think Tori and Albert are both like vibes based decisions in that sense. They’re just like good character players would like them type managers. And I agree like the decision-m is a question mark. I wouldn’t hate the idea of like having yeah like incorporating more of the overall coaching staff in working with everyone. I think that’s what players would respond to most. And I think to that extent, if Bochi were were willing, I think that’s something he could do, too. I think if he had any input on bringing in some of his own staff or making any moves in that way, I think he would make the right decisions. And I think overall like a I think he could slot into a more stable system that the Angels could like benefit from. So, quick show of hands. Um, Bruce Boji, if he’s willing to be a manager and willing to manage the Angels, show hands 100%. Um, yeah. What the hell is that? Yeah, let’s do it. I mean, maybe I think I think one thing you would do is if you have Bochi, you try to you know who how many years does he have left to manage, right? Maybe you talk you have that discussion. Hey, we want you for this amount of years, but we want you to manage to mentor our manager of the future. I’m I’m all for it. I when I saw I would love it. When I saw Boi get let go, I was gonna bring him up the next time that we talked and but the more I thought about it, as we sort of said with does he feel satisfied by what he’s done in, you know, with the Rangers and Giants and everywhere else, why in the world would he want to come deal with this? Yeah. Like even even if even if everything was level, like unless the Angels were ready to win a World Series like tomorrow, why would Bruce Bochi want to deal with any of this? No, I that’s why I said if he was willing, man, that’s raise show of hands if he’s willing. I mean, like, but like between between not only dealing with Arty and Perry and whatever, but I just is he a guy that’s at this point in his career wanting to come in and build up a team all over again, or does he want to come somewhere that where they’re like, “We’re ready to go. We just need somebody to push the buttons correctly.” Yeah. Walking into the Texas situation with Cory Seager and Marcus Seamian was was a decent and about 20 starting pitching prospects. Yeah. Yeah. and none of them could relieve and that’s why the Rangers are where they are. But still, you know, he got he got his he got his one. He got his chip. I got one guy that I I really want to mention and it’s it’s maybe totally off the rail psychotic, but um I would love to see Tony Vitello in a uh big league managerial position. If you guys don’t know, he is the head baseball coach at the University of Tennessee. Um, and off the rails is a term that we use for this show and me in particular. And that’s why I think I love Tony Vital because he is off the rails in the best way. Uh, he would lead the league in ejections. He would also make some of the wildest decisions, but it’d be awesome. So big on the It’s never going to happen. Tony Battel is making stupid money at the Volunteers. He’s a I mean, I think Morgan Wallen’s rapping about him. He’s that big of a deal. So, I mean, he’s familiar with the roster. You can give him that. Yeah. He’s got big Benny Joyce and and Christian Moore. So, um Yeah. But but again, would a guy that has the amount of control that you do at a college baseball program want to come deal with? No. No. No. A big league job is not as cool as going and coaching in the SEC for what he’s doing. So, I’m assuming you probably at least it’s this way with college football to the NFL. So, you probably make more in college baseball than you do in major league. I bet you I bet you he does. Especially in the SEC. Yeah, I bet you he does. Probably just stay put. Uh, I wanted to keep this show under an hour. We’re at 55 minutes and we got a lot to talk about. So, we’re going to switch gears again unless you guys have anything else on Angel stuff. Um, we’re going to save anything for the trial coming up. Uh, I could touch quick hits at the end here on the trial, but uh, just for those that listen for for stuff like prospects, uh, I just had a long chat with someone in the organization going to have some international stuff coming. Um, that’s, you know, you won’t have to worry about it for 10 years, but international stuff coming. Um, also instructional league closing out uh, coming in the next two weeks here. So, uh, we’ll have some stuff, but I mean, I I get fired up for the instructional league, Taylor. Dude, don’t even joke with me about that stuff. That’s what I want to know about. I live for instructional league, so don’t joke about. Come on, man. Come on, man. You were at the rookie face off for the Ducks. Let’s go. They But if they had called it the instructional face off, they did. It’s called rookie camp. You We You and Jack James were both there for three days. Well, that that was development. You’re talking about at the opening of free agency. Come on. development cam. Come on, man. They’re not instructing them, they’re developing them. It’s the same damn thing. One one sounds like a classroom and one sounds like you’re building up young men into uh outstanding members of society. Thank you, Zachary. Godamn. Um, all right. So, we’re done with Angel. Any anything angels, guys? Anything. Close out Angels. We’re going going back to Ducks, but Tori Tori and Albert and whatever. Just whatever. It’s It’s so whatever to me at this point. Go watch development. Don’t act like a normal organization there. No, no, Jack. Anything any No, that’s I mean Thomas says it I mean any what is a good decision for the Angels is or is not the decision that they will make nine 99 times out of 100 and it’s like their problems they should have started working on their problems five years ago at the minimum and they have decided to try and push every single season since and it just drives them further and further down. And I think we we mentioned it last show is just like everyone in the organization is tired of the same thing. It it’s it’s insanity and and you talk to people in the organization and they’re sick of hearing about it and they’re trying to do what they can to not be sick of hearing about it to not be in that position and and Perry Manassian included. Perry Manassian does not want to be in the position he’s in. But it’s a job. He’s got to do his job. Now, when the boss doesn’t let you do your job, you get frustrated, you get pissed, but you still got to do the job. So, when I sit here and say that Perry Manassian has a job to do and it’s his responsibility, he still has a boss that doesn’t let him do jack crap, you know, and that’s a lot of it falls on him. A lot of it doesn’t fall on him. And then they, you know, counter all the way down to the bottom, right? Managerial interviews. Who’s going to be running those managerial interviews? Is it the general manager or is it the owner and his president of uh team? Not baseball operations but president of the team. It’s going to be already in Carpino in those offices talking to manager managerial candidates. It’s and Perry will be in there but you know it. Let your employees do their job. That’s the easiest way to freaking do this, man. It’s easy baseball. Uh speaking of uh all the Guardians coaches are now officially uh free agents. They can go talk. AJ Hinch still has a job for at least another week. Uh, Tigers take it 6-23. Have a five run, six inning. So, uh, baseball done. We’re done. It’s over. Uh, let’s talk Ducks. Um, last time we were on this show and the last like 20 times we’ve been on this show, uh, we’ve been looking for a Mason McTavish update. Um, Zack, you finally glorified to the text thread that there was an update on Mason McTavish and now we’re a couple days behind because Mr. Thomas Murray was in New York and couldn’t talk and all that stuff. You know, Mr. Cool Guy out there. Uh Thomas, you’re an Eagles fan. I’m chilling in the Bronx. I am. Can you name three of their songs? Change it from albums to songs. I’ll make it easier on you. Hotel California. There you go. Um so, it’s the length of three songs. My god. Zack, uh give us an update on Mr. Mason McTavish because there is one finally. There is. There is a Mason McTavish update and he has signed uh a a health a healthy deal, a six-year, seven-year deal. Uh they signed it on Saturday. Uh as the team was on its way up to Bakersfield, so Pat Verbique had to do a Zoom call from the bowels of the Bakersfield arena where they shoved him into an electrical closet and they didn’t do video with us. Real quick, real quick, way off topic, do you know what that arena used to be called? Uh Rabbo Bank. Raba Bank. Yeah. The company was called the bank itself was called Rob a Bank. Yeah. Yeah. So on that note, now Dignity Health, I think. Yeah. Dignity Health Park or whatever. That’s the No, no free ads. No free ads. Um yeah, it’s a deal that ultimately it’s a good deal for the Ducks. I think it’s a really good deal for Mace Mcavish. I go in depth on this on the Sporting YouTube channel, Ducks and Deep, and on the website theoretributing.com. Um, but the thing that it still is lingering for me like days afterwards and and now having Jackson Lome get this thing done instantaneously this morning is why the hell it took so long to get to a deal that everyone could have done five months ago. And it’s not even like a oh, they really kind of went back and forth and this is the compromise. This is what most people thought was sort of the middle ground they were always going to get to. Um Mason himself even said, “I still don’t know why it takes this long when he talked to us the other day.” Uh and then Mason kind of followed it up a little bit saying that at a certain point the the the ball was in his court. The puck was in his zone, if you will, in terms of just saying, “I’m ready to go. Let’s do this.” Um with like the number’s good enough. I’m good with this. Let’s go. Um so he’s in he’s been practicing the last couple days. He’s expected to play on Saturday in Los Angeles for the last preseason game and then uh he’ll be off and running. Quenville said yesterday when we talked to him that he uh when you know he and when he got to Ducks camp, he was not behind necessarily, but he is where he would be fitness-wise if he had come into the first day of camp, which makes him behind everybody else. So, uh a hard catchup, but he’s happy. He’s good. You know, he’s not the only one in the room with a big contract. other people can buy dinner now and uh everyone’s just happy for him to to be around. Like the room was in much better spirits the last couple days, particularly today. Uh just good news being spread. Mason can only get one house per year. Only one. Only one. He’s going to have to settle for Anaheim Hills or something. Uh Tribuko Canyon or or Cotto have to go live in Cotto. Um and and before we go too much further, Taylor, just to remind everyone, yes, 67. Oh god. God damn, man. 67. I wanted so badly to get through this show without that. You’re just lucky that 89 isn’t a thing. So, it is a thing. Yeah. Who was born in ’89, Mr. Zack Kavanagh? Uh, Queen Taylor Swift. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. 89 matters. Um, we’re going to have to touch on that too, Jack. That Jack, welcome to the show. This is where we talk about Taylor Swift mostly and then some sports. Um, and then I actually had thought I should I should definitely include that in the story that I write this afternoon. Oh my god. I already did a Taylor Swift reference in my I give you guys creative full transparency here guys as the managing editor and everything when I give ideas I say hey you guys live on your own creative freedoms. I’m going to start taking those away. I’m going to I’m going to pull a full camel Zack. You’re not getting anything. So um did not want to go there. Uh what I want to go here with Jack and and Thomas is with Mason here. Uh Zach kind of touched on it is it’s not going to take him an extended period of time to catch up. Um a little bit of time, but he will be ready for the season. So how does this alter the Ducks roster? Um you had to I think you had to plan for him to be on the roster. That was a hopeful plan, but you also kind of had to plan for him to not be on the roster for opening night to some degree during this process. Um, Jack, how does Mason McTavish kind of alter the roster moving forward into the start of the year? I mean, I do I I mean, it gives the Ducks I think more I think it gives them more flexibility than less flexibility. I think being able to just to be to rely on to be able to rely on one of their stars in that way like I mean I don’t know how much that pushes back any like any younger players sort of development or opportunities in that way. I I mean it seems like the Ducks are closer to a win now kind of position than they’ve been before where like maybe like a playoff run is like closer in sight. So, I think I mean I think it leads to him being deferred to a lot more often than like some of than some of the other players are trying to like bring into the fold. So, I think that’s just sort of only the biggest thing. I mean, it seems like it incentivizes the Ducks to push more for like a win now type of thing than kind of then taking it slow and figuring it out. So, I didn’t I mean, I think it’s just more urgency in like the ro in the roster overall. Something I was noticing on this is you had to figure out what you were going to do with with your second center. You had Male Granlin there. Granted, he he’s ready to fill in at any given time on on your second line center or, you know, your top six, right? Your top six center. You get to swing some guys around now because I think the top line and and we’ll touch on this a little bit, but the top line seems to be solidified. Troy Terry on the wing, Chris Cried opposite wing, and Leo Carlson Manning in the center. But right now, the only thing you have to worry about about that second line is Cutter Goate and Mason McTavish because of their chemistry. You know, that may fall apart and you have to change it. But realistically, you can switch Vano, Color, Granland. Um, I don’t know if you’d throw Ryan Strowman into that, but you have options to to make this roster flexible with your top six and your top nine. Becket Senica maybe. Uh, well, we’ll get into that. We’ll get into that. Um, Thomas Murray, your thoughts on I just basic returning to this Ducks lineup. Yeah, I mean, the team is what we thought they were going to look like and before before this contract stuff really kind of created some awareness. Uh, so I mean they’re looking like who we thought they were going to look like by the time say July rolled around. So the good thing is he’s going to be there. Thomas used his expression so we got to go for it. Everyone’s using their own lines. Sorry I jumped in. I’m sorry. Go ahead. Something. I I I didn’t swear. I promise. But Jack, if you didn’t know, I’m the king of swearing on this show apparently. Are you? Anyway. Yeah. Anyway, you should take a phone call with Taylor Blake Ward sometime. It’s pretty great. [Laughter] Exposed. Oh, man. Yeah. Um, no. I Whoa. Now you’re Now you’re swearing at I got to do my uh stretches, guys. Oh, boy. All right. So, what about the roster? What What about flexibility? What? I mean I mean look I don’t think you I think the thing that you were worried about that was that he wasn’t going to be there opening night but the good thing is he’s going to be there and he’s going to be playing and sure we could worry a little bit about chemistry between him and Cutter. But the other good thing is they played together a lot last season. I I forgot how you know if they were on the same line often with each other or not. It switched gears for the for the team. the fact that those two were playing together for a while. They they were playing night and day different through the season once they were paired. So that’s why I’m saying you you keep them collectively together, but it doesn’t matter. You you put Mason at center, you put Cutter probably left wing, but you can navigate the wing of whoever is playing with that pair. Sure. Definitely. But yeah, no, I think I think as long as you just have him there, like you’re going to benefit you’re going to benefit more from having him than you are from not having him. And you know, I don’t think he really chemistry might be off to begin the season a little bit, but that’s why they got a new head coach, so things will get fixed. Um, this fixes some of your roster decisions going into the start of the season. Roster battles are going to continue. Um, correct me if I’m wrong. I I think the top nine forwards are pretty solidified. Crider, Carlson, Terry, Cutter, Mason, Muel, Granland, Alex Khorn, Stro, and Vrono. Right. There’s your top nine. And you can navigate that third. Yeah. Yeah. It’s a fair. I’m going to stick with the forwards here just to start on the forwards. Your fourth line, I think Nester Reno has a spot. Whether he’s on the wing or at center, it doesn’t matter. He I think he’s got a clear spot. And then I would say I think Sam Kangelo has a spot on the wing, which gives you I’m saying I think he makes this roster all right, but at some point you’re looking at forward 12, 13, 14. And I want to see what you guys we talk about this every show about who it’s going to be. But I’m trying to figure out who the 12 134 is going to be. And obviously there’s one that’s a very big standout. Um, but I think we’re talking about Nathan Goce, Ryan Paling, Tim Washi, Ross Johnston. Maybe I’m still going to include Igor Cedarov because I think he’s got a shot. And of course, we do have Beck Senica. So, I guess what I would say is is who would you guys pick as your 12? And then who would you pick as your 13 and maybe 14? Cuz I’m I’m I’m going to rule out straight here. I think Nestero has a spot no matter what. And I think Kangelo has a spot even if he is number 13 in there, but I think he’s guaranteed that spot. Uh, Zack, go ahead. It’s It’s been interesting to track this like daily in terms of what the line combinations have been in practice and even just talking to some of the guys. So, my impression from like I talked to Ross Johnston the other day and I think in my perfect NHL lineup, I don’t think that Ross Johnston is needed anymore. But he was seemingly quite confident. Like I kind of asked him like, “Hey, has your role changed with a new coaching staff?” And he’s kind of said, “No, not at all.” Like, okay. And it it felt very much like after coming out of the conversation with him, like he felt locked in, like he’s a guy that will be on the roster one way or the other. Every time I talked to Sam Kangelo, I I came into camp kind of assuming that he had done so well with Cutter and and Mason last season that he showed his ability to play in the top six. He showed his ability to be a versatile winger. I figured he’d be pretty locked in there, too. But it’s all of a sudden you start doing this math that we’re talking about and you’re kind of wondering, well, where does he actually go? Um, because Ross Johnson’s going to be part of it. Ryan Paling is certainly going to be part of it because he’s uh, you know, the the the other side of the Trevor Zagers trade. Um, and uh, so I my my fourth line personally is Nestero, Paling, Kangelo. Um, but you know, Harkkins being injured, we’ll throw a wrench into that when he’s back in 8 weeks. Uh, Ross Johnson’s there and then I I just don’t know what they’re going to do with Mecca. Um, I think I the every every passing day I’m more convinced that they’re going to do the Shane Wright thing that they did in Seattle where he will be on the team, play occasionally, he’ll get scratched more often than not, he’ll get an AHL conditioning st at some point. and then after the World Juniors, they’ll send him back to the OHL. Um because he’s sort of he’s too too much of a tweener. He’s he’s just simply not strong enough to play every day in the NHL. And obviously, they can’t send he’s too good to be playing in juniors. So, I think he’s going to get the kind of halfway treatment by the end of the the calendar year. Jack, you you mentioned something that the Ducks seem like they’re almost in a win now, right? They’re getting to that point of they they’ve still got some window after this year, but if a win now, if a playoff scenario is what’s going to save a job for Patique or or Joel Quinnville or whoever, right? It doesn’t matter if it’s going to save a job. I don’t think you can run Becket Senica as a liability on I don’t think you can have liabilities on your roster. Becca Senica is obviously the future of the Ducks plans. He’s their top prospect. He’s the future of their plans. But at the same time, if you put him on for the first nine games or what kind of what Zach was saying, you know, he’s he’s here all the way until like the start of like 2026, the calendar year, right? That’s almost a liability to a degree unless you see something substantial at the end of this uh preseason. Um I don’t know if what your thoughts are because it you can’t have a liability if you’re going to win now. You you you can’t push yourself in that situation. So I don’t know. and and thoughts also on on the 12 through 14 forwards if you have any. Yeah, I mean I mean kind of like you said it’s Senaki is in a weird spot himself. He puts the Ducks in a weird spot in that sense where yeah I don’t know if he is like yeah he is lined up to be the future of the Ducks in that way but I yeah I don’t know if they have the time or the inclination to invest as like as fully in his development right now as they would want to win games. So, it’s Yeah, it really is. It’s a weird spot. Like what Zach said about kind of keeping him sort of around just so he’s in the atmosphere and he kind of gets a sense of what will be needed from him. I don’t know how necessarily beneficial that is to him rather than him being getting to play consistently in the OHL or anything else, but it is sort of the middle option that they would have to take in that sense where he’s Yeah, he’s too good to not have around, but he’s also not at the place where they need to consistently compete. If this was last if this was last year, it’s different, right? Just to build on it real quick. So the the team actually did just make some some cuts literally a second ago. Okay. Um so when it comes well it’s the defenseman is something we’ll get to but the to stick stick with the forwards the aside from that top nine your forwards rem because Jansen Harkkins is officially on the IR uh it’s you have five or you have six guys for ultimately what would be five spots. Okay. the the bottom three spots in the fourth line and the two extra forwards. So really your your decision now is do you keep Beck at Senica as we’re talking about like if you’re trying to be competitive do you use a roster spot on him or I think what the decision ultimately is going to be is do you want Tim Washi to be that Jason Harkkins type as a utility center because he he can play center obviously he’s good he’s was center in college he’s center uh he’s pretty decent on faceoffs Um I think like looking at it more clearly now I think I think Kangelo, Neestor, Paling are in. I think Johnson is in and I think your decision is do you keep Beckett or do you keep your utility center for Tim Washi? Yeah, as of the roster changes that uh I mean I don’t think Nathan Goce was going to make this team. I I did keep Yigor Sedarov in this category because I want to see him in it, but that’s a me thing a little bit. But, uh, yeah, the defense, um, throws a small little wrench into what was going to be in the script. Um, the defense is done. Yeah, it is. So, Thomas, real quick. Um, oh, wait, is it done? Done. No, no, no, no, no. That Yeah, it’s that’s seven guys left. Uh, okay. Um, oh, it does. Okay, so Thomas, uh, thoughts on the forward? What are you thinking here? Take Nathan Goi out of the mix. I guess we’re I guess we’re here. I guess this is pretty much a finalized roster almost. Yeah. To to give you an idea here, Thomas. Um, yeah, you have your top nine that we have and then we mentioned Nester Rano, we mentioned Kangelo, Ryan Paling still with the team, Tim Washi still with the team, Ross Johnson still with the team, and Becket Senica still with the team. So, right now there are uh that’s eight. No, that’s 11 plus five. That’s 16. So there’s 16 guys for 13, 14, 15 spots. So you’re looking at at a cut between Paling, Washi, Johnston, Senica, and probably two cuts. Probably two cuts here. Yeah. I mean, thing I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is just in terms of development for Becky Senica, I I’m kind of switching up to him being on the roster come opening night. And it’s just I think he has more to gain being around the team versus, you know, actually playing in, you know, these NHL type of games versus playing with a bunch of kids. At the end of the day, I think, you know, he’s already he did so much last year. He was already so good. And I think I like the idea of like, okay, you put him on the Leo Carlson treatment as we’re Jack and uh Jack and Zach were telling me last, you know, our last episode last week where play him every couple days, you have him like work out like crazy, you start to bulk up. I mean, I think it it worked out for Leo. I don’t see why that wouldn’t work out for Becket. So, you know, I think that’s someone that I would like to see kind of mix around in that fourth line and just really get experience being around the team. And sure, it might be a little bit of a liability at first, but I think in the long run it will pay itself off. And I I don’t think it’ll be too detrimental to the team and their success this year. You know, even even I know I know the Ducks are they should make the playoffs this year, but even if they finish with a winning record, I think that’s still a big step forward for them. Yeah, I feel like that was last year’s goal. I I think you mentioned it, Thomas. This this is a playoff team. This needs to be a playoff team. You need to get at least be sniffing it. It does. You got to sniff it. And I think I mentioned it last episode. If the Kings finished second in the division, I wouldn’t be surprised. If they finish seventh in the division, I wouldn’t be surprised. I think the Pacific is a wide open net. I I really do. I think the I think the Pacific is completely wide open outside of the number one spot. And I throw Edmonton in there. I don’t think Edmonton is very good at all. I know that they have the best player on to ever exist, but and and also like a top 10 behind him with him, but still I just I think the West or the Pacific is wide open and I don’t see why the Ducks can’t make that push. And if I’m the if I’m Verbique, I’m saying no liabilities. Um you mentioned something else is Beckett on the fourth line. I think you have to switch him around on I think you have to put him on that second line wing at one point. You have to put him on the third line. You’ve got to give him a goal on the fourth on that fourth line last night. He did. He did. So, um, moving on to the defense, we already knew what the top six, you know, that the three defensive pairings are going to be. Lome, Gudas, Zwiger, and Trouba, Mikov, and Helison. It was about who the seventh guy was. Um, Zach, you wrote a really nice article about Tyson Hines. I I I just wanted to kind of give you a little bit of shout out about Tyson because you obviously said he was making waves, but he’s heading he’s he’s not in camp. He’s no longer a camp and neither is Tristan Luno of all guys. That was surprising. Uh but that’s going to mean that Mr. Salt Lake City himself Oh, Stein Sberg al Soulberg also the Vikinger also sent down. So that means that Salt Lake City Salt Lake City’s own Ian Moore is going to be your swingman seventh defenseman. Brad, any thoughts, guys? I don’t know. Any thoughts? I I I was ready for the debate and I think this is it. I I love you more. I’m surprised. I’m surprised that the decision to choose more uh because it seemed to me like I like Luno and Soulberg need the minutes. They need to be playing minutes. Like Luno is ready to go. I think Luno is ready to be an NHL defenseman. Yeah. I I don’t think Soulberg was ready. I I I didn’t expect Soulberg in this conversation. No. Soulberg Soulberg needs more time to cook. Luno is ready to go, but you want him to be playing regular big NHL minutes. And if and you don’t want him to be the guy sitting in the press box doing that. So he you you send him down simply to play, not not because it’s a demotion necessarily. Uh Tyson Hines, like I wrote about, he made some good moves. Joel Quinnville had a lot of good things to say about him. I think he had a little bit of an up and down defensive game last night in San Jose, and I wonder if that might have turned the tide in determining if he was your press box guy or not. Um, but I also thought Ian Moore, similar to Tristan Luno, was somebody that that they wanted to play minutes. So to have him be the press box guy, uh, or at least the swingman if he’s coming in and out. Would he counter with Drew Allison? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because they’re both right-handed. U, they I mean that would be the the easy flip-flop. Um, I think but I think they’ve also done something now that I think about it, they’ve done something with Ian Moore during camp that kind of stands out to me now in retrospect. They have been playing him a lot on his off side uh as a right-hander playing him on the left. And I think Pavle Mintikov has had kind of an up and down training camp, up and down preseason. He’s a guy that really needs to be showing out this time of year and he’s not necessarily doing that. So, I wonder if because of Moore’s versatility, they keep him up in the event that they want to sit down Pavle. Really, if they want to sit down Olen Zelwagger, uh, and allow him to to rotate through either left or right side, whoever opens up. So, there is some versatility there now that I think about it. That makes sense. Um, Jack Thomas, any thoughts on this? Um, I didn’t realize we’re we’re pushing an hour and a half. We wanted to get it out here in an hour. Anything that you guys are thinking? Final thoughts on the on the Ducks roster battles and and things among those sorts. Yeah, I mean I mean the defense I think the offense and the for and the forwards rather sorry switching sports but like the forwards I think are for the Ducks that’s a bigger conversation and it’s that will continue to be a bigger conversation. It’s what they’ve added to the most over the past I mean two two and a half seasons off seasons. the defenseman I think are more I think that’s a more solid base in a sense. I think that’s they’re able to rely on who they have more. Um I think there’s yeah there’s less questions there. I think it’s it makes sense that that’s locked down sooner. It’s kind of seeing where their forwards go I think is the more is more of the question. What their what their bottom three is going to be. Um exactly. Yeah. I agree. I agree. Thomas, anything thoughts? No, I mean I think Zack and Jack pretty much nailed it right on the money right there. Just kind of looking around that area on that forwards seeing what that fourth line will look like. But yeah, um final thoughts on Ducks, guys. One thing I I Zach, you hinted at real quick, but I wanted to mention just in brief, uh Mason McTavish very transparent in his responses after signing the extension, particularly transparent about uh Trevor Ziggress being on the move. Um and as you mentioned, the the negotiation period was uh much longer than he expected. So, I really liked that Mason was very transparent with his responses. We’ve mentioned it before. Hockey hockey players do not answer questions. Yeah, hockey players are are the most boring people. the minute you put a microphone in front of them. So, uh I was happy to see that. Any other closing thoughts on the Ducks, guys? I mean, we you you mentioned McTavish and Zegris. Uh obviously, we’re we’re getting off here, but if you have a chance, uh go read Greg Washinsk’s story on ESPN about Trevor Ziggress. Uh talk to him in Flyers Camp about how the last couple years in Anaheim affected him. And uh it’s it’s it’s kind of sad to read and it’s kind of he was a guy that sort of felt like the team had lost confidence in him. Um despite doing everything he asked for or was asked of him, despite really working on some of these things that people criticized him for over the years and we saw that if you if you were like any of us that were in the locker room every day, you saw these things. But on a national level, that stuff gets dismissed. And so he’s always included in these trade rumors and whatever. And that ultimately not a verbique guy. Verbique, you know, obviously had soured on him at some point and he moved out. So, I think it’s a it’s a great read into his his psyche and just sort of a re-evaluation of uh the Ducks and under Rubik’s tenure. Um, so we I don’t know if it’s something that needs to be dissected all that much, but I think it’s an interesting read nonetheless. Yeah, duck stuff. Undeniably, there were times where Trevor was the only guy on the ice actually playing hockey. I mean, the Ducks were that bad for a period of time where you had one guy out of your 18 skaters that was putting forth any effort and it was Trevor. So, um, Jack Thomas, thoughts good. Nothing I think I think just bouncing off that just saying bouncing off that is just it kind of sucks. Hold on, Thomas. Hold the phone here. Hold the phone. Yeah, hold tight here. Hold on. Jack’s Jack’s pouring his heart out here. You jump out. The delay is killer. I I think there was a delay on my end. I think there was a delay. All right, Jack. Give it one second. We’re going to have closing thoughts in a second here. I I appreciate what you were going with. Thomas, go ahead. It’s all right, Thomas. Sorry. I I didn’t mean to do that to a fellow Long Beach State alumni. Also, I I love that we have three Long Beach guys in here. T Taylor hates Long Beach. I don’t I don’t get it, but you know, whatever. Dirt bag for life. Yeah, he’s yelling on mute. I love it. Uh no, I I just felt bad for uh for Ziggress. Um just because, you know, this guy was like a fan favorite. Everyone really loved him. and just sucks to see the human side of things when they’re not really going too well and how they affect athletes, you know. So that’s all I guess. Yeah. for I was like I mean yeah Ziggris was I mean that was like I mean being in the Orange County area like Ziggris I mean like the Michigan goal like lives on in infamy of like my like young Orange County hockey like memory of that’s when like the Ducks seemed really exciting again for like the first time in a long time and it and new he seemed kind of like the start of like a new era for a long time with the Ducks and it Yeah, it’s tough. It’s tough to see that it didn’t pan out for sure. I I love that you said the young hockey part of Orange County for me and you mentioned Trevor Z’s Michigan. Well, I’m sitting here thinking like, oh yeah, Steve Ruchin was a big uh big one when I was a kid. Like he played five seasons like that’s five years ago. So yeah, no, it’s fine. I just I I I just think it’s funny. He’s like young young and I’m just like oh god like uh Paul Korea save me like no I gota get you and I need to pack it up Taylor I think we’re we’re we’re done we’re done dude we’re toast we’re we’re on the border of uh being just old man I real quick so you’ve got the white like hereish kind of thing mine all packs in right here and also like just brutal yeah brutal hasn’t affected me too much up here yet. A little bit right here, but nothing nothing crazy. No, I’m I’m toast. So, um All right, guys. Let’s call it an episode. Um what do we Anything? Uh no, not anything else. We’re done. We’re done. Uh weekend plans. Let’s go to uh Zack Kavanagh. What do you got going on this weekend, dude? Well, Saturday I’ll be up at uh the Crypto.com Arena for the Ducks Kings preseason finale. Uh, and then of course Taylor. I’ll be listening to Taylor Swift all weekend. So that’s my life of a show girl. Zack Top released an album like like at least 40 days ago and I’m still on that. So I don’t know who that is. You don’t know who Zack Top is? No. Good name. Good name. Don’t know who he is. What the hell is wrong with you? I don’t know. Charles Wesley Godwin released a live album last week. I’m still working on that, too. You you sent me the acronym CWJ or G and I had no idea what you’re talking about. Charles Wesley Godwin. Yeah, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Oh my goodness. So, Jack, you’ll understand this. My wife asked me the other day. She’s like, “Do you know the name of uh Taylor Swift’s upcoming album?” And I was like, “T-13?” Uh TS12. TS12. 13. This is 13. This is number 12. Oh crap. That’s that that’s why this one’s good. But the next one, her 13. You’ll appreciate this, though. You’ll appreciate this. I responded. I said, “I think it’s called The Life of a Showgirl.” And that’s what it’s called, right? I got it right. Oh, good. See, I was like I thought I was like on borderline. I actually got it right. So, uh, Jack Hlett, what are your plans for the weekend? Hopefully, they do not involve binge listening to Taylor Swift. They will. Well, it depends on how long it takes me to get to the Rosebell because I will be up Saturday at UCLA football, I believe, with Thomas. We’ll both be there. We’ll be watching UCLA stare down Penn State for a game that can only go well for the 0 and4 UCLA team with that doesn’t have any of their three coaches. That’s a good one. Are you a Taylor Swift fan, Jack? Like one to 10? I seven if I could split it like everything up to red. Like love it. Love everything through red. I’m I do like 1989. I’m shaky on the rest. It’s my friend, man. It’s my pal. That’s my buddy right there. He’s He’s right here on the screen for me. So hopefully he’s there on the YouTube, too. He’s over here. Oh, yeah. No, he’s that way for you. Um Thomas Murray, what do you got going on this weekend? Yeah. Um, I think I think Jack put it. We are going to be I’m going to meet Jack for the first time in person. So, that’s exciting. Always love meeting a fellow Long Beach State alum. And we are going to go watch UCLA. We’re going to go watch UCLA and cover that game uh against Penn State. So, make sure to follow us along for live updates throughout the game. Check out our stories. Uh, it’s not looking too good for UCLA, I’m going to be honest with you. just they had another coaching change this week. So that is the fifth coaching change I have been around for the teams that I covered this year over the last five months. We got Gray Cronin switching out the offensive coordinator, their head coach and defensive coordinator at UCLA. And I I guess you could kind of count two for the Angels. So that would make it six. So it’s I don’t I don’t know. Maybe I’m bad juju for these teams. Do you have a Do you have an attendance prediction for the Rose Bowl? Uh, it’s going to Well, so the Rose Bowl’s having a blue out, but I I don’t think it’s going to be that UCLA blue. I think it’s going to be a nice dark navy blue. Yeah. Yeah. I think it’s going to be good attendance. I think it’s going to be a great attendance number. I just don’t think it’s going to be people from Westwood. No. Yeah. Uh somewhere somewhere in between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia is going to be the general clientele in that building. Uh and then I’m off to India on Sunday. Going to watch Blink182 perform. Nice. Shout out to the boss man. Appreciate it. Uh and I’m also celebrating my six years uh anniversary with my girlfriend. And we’re going to call that the Devonte Smith year, not the Anthony Rendone. I think that’s for the best. Happy anniversary, man. Go have fun. Congratulations. Appreciate it. Yeah, go have fun. Um, I take off for Pismo like nowish. So, I’m going to be in Pismo. Phone off. Sorry, guys. Take care of things yourself. Um, etc. So, uh, I got to go fish. I need to send you restaurants. That’s right. I’m going to go fishing like fishing, off-roading, whatever. Just going to go. So, when I’m when I’m standing outside Crypto.com Arena and they’re like, “Sorry, we don’t have your name in the the press box here.” I want to read. Let me let me read that text back real quick. Zachary, real quick. Uhhuh. Uh, let’s see. Zack. Zack. Zack. Zack. Here it is. Uh, shut up and go. Spiciness. Yeah. Shut up and go. Oh, no. Dude, dude, shut up. And then I responded shut up and go away. So, if you are toast, that is not on me. No, it’s not. It’s I’m I’ll be fine. I’m a I’m a capable adult. That’s fine. I know. Yeah, I like the shut up, dude. That’s a good one. So um I don’t know that’s it uh for Wings on Catala for the Sports Review Netail Big War that is Jack Hassllet. You can follow him at Jackmagic on Twitter. Zack Cav Zacav and you can follow Thomas Murray at Thomas_L_Murray. Uh Jack James will be back with us eventually. You can follow me at Taylor Blake Ward. Uh that it’s not paper, but we’re going to do whatever it is. And we’re out of here. Go get out of here. Bye. Have a great weekend. See you. art. Go. [Music]

In this week’s Wings on Katella episode, Taylor, Zach, and Thomas are joined by Sporting Tribune Angels, LA Kings & UCLA Football writer Jack Haslett.

The guys discuss the latest moves by the Anaheim Ducks, extending Mason McTavish earlier in the week and Jackson LaCombe today. The guys also dive into the recent manager vacancy of the Los Angeles Angels and discuss the possibility of the team choosing Albert Pujols or Torii Hunter, or will they sign someone else? The episode ends with the guys discussing the final potential fourth line of the Ducks.

Timeline

0:00 – Intro
3:15 – Jackson LaCombe Extension
9:54 – Could the Ducks sign Connor McDavid?
19:21 – Angels in managerial search
26:00 – Who is the next Angels manager, Albert Pujols or Torii Hunter?
37:50 – Other Manager Candidates?
58:16 – Ducks Finally Extend Mason McTavish
1:08:14 – What’s the Ducks’ 4th line looking like
1:28:20 – Weekend Plans

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