Hey, welcome everybody to Fred and the Fantastic today because it’s just Art Sorce and Fred and you can email us at sportsfred@aol.com, sportsfred@aol.com
We’re heard of course on PodClips and, and BLEAV. I don’t believe
Russell Westbrook is playing for four million dollars now with the Denver Nuggets. What do you think is going on with him?
I gotta tell you I think it’s a great pickup by Denver
I mean, I love the guy. I mean, if he could give you in like an NHL type of a shift, maybe
a four-minute run in the first quarter, second quarter, play 16 to 20 minutes and get out
there and move the ball and deal the ball the way he’s capable of doing, I think it’s
nothing but a positive for them. And I mean, that’s not a whole lot of money, Fred,
you know, to get a player. I mean, if he still has, I’m not, I don’t know anything
about his physical condition, I didn’t watch him a lot last year, but if he’s 70% of what
he was five years ago, I’m all good with that.
When they signed James Harden, I said, this cannot be good for Westbrook. And then they
said, Westbrook is quite happy coming off the bench. Of course, he’s not and wasn’t.
I think that’s the reason that his days with the Clippers are over.
Westbrook hustles when he’s out on the court. He gets rebounds, he gives assists, you know, if he
could shoot the ball 20% better than he shoots the ball, he would go down in as one of
my top all-time 25 basketball players. What he did those three years, where he obliterated,
you know, the, the, the threes, you know, the assists, rebounds and scoring. That’s
was an incredible thing. The triple doubles. I mean, the guy was, the guy was amazing. And
I think he’s got a great attitude. I think he treats people right. I think he’s great
for the community. He brings a lot of positives off the court, as well as on the court.
He gave about three quarters of a million dollars to UCLA, which was a nice thing.
People will say, well, he was making 30 and 40 million. Still, three quarters of
a million dollars is a lot of money. That’s not chump change. You know what? He believes
in his college and if they all did that kind of stuff and gave back, you know, I think
there’d be a lot more sports fans in the world because, hey, you know, this me, me,
me society we live in right now is not what it’s all about. We got to get back
to being a team. We got to get back to having civil discourse. We have to get back
to really like thinking about what we say before we say it.
We don’t need to be as divisive as we are
in all aspects of life.
Okay, so we just had the Homerun hitting contest
and the All-Star game
with the American League winning five to three.
So, you know, when I was growing up,
I was a Dodger fan.
So of course I was a National League fan
in the All-Star game.
National League dominated in those years.
But also I was a National League fan
because the National League had more African-Americans
than the American, they’re gonna add them first.
How about you when you were growing up?
I was too, honest to God I was.
And you know, I remember the great outfield
that the National League had, you know,
with Clemente and Aaron and I mean,
even Frank Robinson before he got traded to the Orioles.
And I mean, they had six, seven different players,
incredible, incredible ballplayers.
And Willie Mays, you know, how do you forget Willie Mays, right?
But yeah, I was a National League fan.
Plus the National League played baseball the way I loved it,
which was pitching, defense.
You know, pitchers learning how to bunt to move guys over.
They played a different game.
I mean, yeah, there were great players there,
but they played baseball fundamentally
the way I was taught to play the game.
The DH yeah, that was great to bring the power hitters who were getting a little old back into the game
You know and, but it, it also took away from the game to see if a pitcher had to come to the plate
He wasn’t so sure he wanted to dust somebody off,
Okay, because he had to come to the plate and face the music if you’re in a DH situation that you’re a pitcher
You want to you know throw one at someone’s head?
What’s the what’s the retribution at that point in time?
You know, we’re talking about the DH and pitchers, Max Freed from San Diego, who was going to
go to UCLA, but of course signed with the Padres, now with the Braves, was a very good
hitting pitcher.
So in actuality, the Braves are at a disadvantage because – they had the same with the Pirates
and Paul Skenes.
They say Paul Skenes takes batting practice and hits them in the upper deck.
I mean, I’m like, wow.
You know, I got to tell you, Fred, I’m getting a little tired of the way they’re changing
the game of baseball with the pizza box bases that are bigger.
You know, the fact that, okay, you come out there and your pitcher’s on the mound and
he goes 3-0 and walks the guy and he’s got nothing, and we got to have him wade
his way through more batters.
If I’m the manager, I want to go out and get him, I want to go out and get him.
I’d even say to the point, if I was manager of the team, you know, just grab your left
elbow, oooh, then I can at least come out and get you. I mean, I feel sorry
for Steve Stone now 77 years of age and of course fine pitcher for the White
Sox and the Orioles and of course he does the White Sox games. How many
games you think they end up winning? 47 it’s about the number they’re gonna
give the best. My wife and I looked up the worst all-time baseball teams I
I didn’t realize prior to the Mets back in the you know the, the 1800s and 1900s there were some
really bad teams in the leagues back in those years and but you know I think of the old Casey
Stengel Mets you know in the early 60s which you know they actually had some decent arms from
Barry and and you know your boy in right field they had some good players but they were at
end of their careers, you know, Roger Craig. And I mean, you know, I look at the White Sox and the
Pirates right before the All-Star break went there and didn’t play great baseball, but swept them
like it was, you know, nothing, nothing big. And I was thinking to myself that, you know,
Jason Benetti and Steve Stone are going to be doing 162 White Sox games this year. That’s
a pitcher though, Garrett Crochet, who throws 100 miles an hour. And if you saw him, you
saw him in the.
Yeah, I saw him for two innings and then they had to save him for the All-Star game, which
that’s another thing.
Do you think, do you think they’ll trade him?
You know, with, with the amount of talent that’s out there in the draft and I, and
I watched a little bit of the draft this year and there’s some great players, college
baseball, you know, and there’s always that question with hitters in college baseball.
You know, can a guy hit with real wood?
Can he hit, you know, without having his aluminum bat?
That’s always been a big question.
But I think you have to at this point in time, unless you’re going to use him as
the guy you’re going to build around.
But you know, what’s Jerry Reinsdorf doing?
I mean, he’s got all the capital in the world.
Um, they got to, they’re, they’re, they’re trying to negotiate to get a new stadium,
I guess.
But I don’t think there’s anything wrong, wrong with, you know, with Guaranteed field, but
it’s just really sad.
You know, they pay a lot of money for first, they have basically three ballplayers on
that team.
Basically.
Oh, I mean, what I would call starting major league top, you know, top type ball
club.
Luis, Luis Jr.
Yeah.
I think, I think that the other outfielder, uh, Oh, what’s his name?
Uh, Roberts or Robert, Robert.
Luis Robert Jr.
Yeah, that’s one.
That’s one you’re going to make me come out.
They got a first baseman.
They can’t feel, but his name is Vaughn.
He’s, he’s pretty good, right, a power hitter.
But boy, if he gets a ground ball hit to him, it’s like, it’s like, uh,
the A’s movie, please don’t hit the ball to me because when he has to
second base it’s like watching Garvey in the old Dodger days. Alright folks this is Fred and the
Fantastic, Art Sorce is the Fantastic. You can email us sportsfred@aol.com or on BLEAV on PodClips
and finally I’ve got USA Today in front of me and they have rated the major league power ratings
as of the All-Star break. Philadelphia, Cleveland, Baltimore, the Yankees, the Dodgers,
In the sixth slot, the Braves,
in the seventh slot, the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Braves, of course, doing it without Spencer Strider,
the Dodgers 14 starters so far this year.
Of the ones I’ve listed,
who wins the whole thing come October?
I’m leaning toward the Phillies as of the moment.
They really, and they got that staff they have
with Ranger Suarez and Nola and Wheeler,
and they’re getting some good bullpen work.
They’ve got power.
They’ve got Trea Turner who can run, you know, they played, they played decent defense.
They came real close two years ago to winning it all.
And if they if the, and I’m going to tell you somebody’s got to talk a little bit
about the Cleveland Indians, excuse me, the Cleveland Guardians.
They’ve just done wonderful things.
I mean that ball club in Kwan leading off, and, you know, the power hitting Ramirez,
they really have stepped their game up
and so have the Kansas City Royals.
I think this could be the year where somebody
who’s under the radar, who gets hot late in the year,
and I’m still, you know, I know Mark Mancini
would love me saying this.
He’s usually one of our co-hosts.
The Pirates are not far from being a ball club
to be reckoned with based on the fact
that they have three real good arms
at the top of the rotation.
And the way they’ve set up the Major League Baseball postseason playoffs, if you’ve got
three real good starters and they’re all healthy at the right time with a cup with
a closer and you know Chapman, Chapman’s a little scary, he can be incredible throw
104 in one game and the next game, you know, gets shelled.
But as a setup man, they’ve got him and Holderman and then they have the big kid,
you know, in the bullpen. I think they could run for it. I think the Brewers have an outside
chance at it. I think this is the first year in a long time that there’s not a predestined
favorite to win the World Series.
All right. Finally, Clayton Kershaw, based on Dodger record and luck with pitching.
Does he come back this year? How many starts does he make?
I’d love to see him come back late August, so he gets five, six, maybe seven starts in,
but I’m looking at it through my Dodger blue sunglasses here.
I guess I still like the Dodgers.
I enjoy watching them play.
I just, there’s something, you know, and I know Mark Pryor pretty well, the pitching
coach, and I haven’t had the, the, uh, temerity to ask him point blank what
really he thinks is going on on this one.
But there’s something fundamentally wrong with the way they’re training and we’ve discussed this Fred.
I mean the old pitchers in baseball used to really run a lot. They used to throw a lot and
And I’m wondering if this this balls-to-the-wall
Concept of throw one hard going at it full speed for five six innings
Is it tearing down pitchers as opposed to learning how to pitch?
Take a little off, put a little on, inside, outside, up and down in the strike zone, being
a true pitcher. I mean, I always think of guys like Mel Stottlemeyer, guys like Claude
Osteen who didn’t have the greatest stuff in the world, but boy, they were tough to
hit because they kept you off balance, changing speeds, doing all the things that
real great pitchers have always done. Now the game has become a power game and
the people who are making all the money are the guys that are doing all the surgeries
for you know for uh the elbow. All right in 30 seconds off sports if you were a betting man
as the President of the United States stay or go. He’s still he’s still you know the only one
that matches up head to head against uh DJT pretty well. I mean that I wasn’t real excited about
him going up the plane leaving Las Vegas. Um, I don’t know. That’s so tough, Fred. What do you do? Do you open up the convention and just say, Hey, if you want to run for president, we’re going to be we have one ballot, two ballot, three ballot, four ballot and come up with all new. And the other thing is that $275 million. You know, do you overlook Kamala Harris?
I mean, I know my personal opinion. I don’t want to get into that right
but I’m not quite sure she’s prepared to be president, but she is the Vice President.
She deserves a chance. I don’t know. That’s Fred and the Fantastics with Art and
Mario. Thank you very much. And we’ll see you around the corner for more of Fred and the Fantastics. Bye, everybody.