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Speaker 1: Is the Matt Thomas Show with Ross. Let's spend tennis

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right now with Brian bogus Sevic of s c h

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N joining us here on the program. He's it do

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us every Wednesday on Sports Talk seven. Honey, Brian, we're

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down the home stretch. Tell me how much more your

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detailed look at the box scores. I know you did

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a game on TV that are day. Are we to

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make anything out of the increased offense? Are we making

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anything out of the better lineups we're seeing? Tell me

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what it's like to watch the Astros down the home

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stretch of the final week of spring training.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, the last the last week of spring is interesting

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from a valuation standpoint. I mean, you've got the guys

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who are better in guys, and you know they're going

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to be on the team. You're just looking for them

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to check whatever boxes they feel like they need to check.

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If the guys not feeling great, you get them more

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at bats, get them on a backfield. If guys want

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to get a get a feel for stealing bases or

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doing something, you say, hey, go ahead, force the issue.

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I don't care what the result is on the field.

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The flip side of that is the other guys, the

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handful of guys who are in the true competition for spots.

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You're almost grading it as if it's the regular season

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and there is some process to it, and you want

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to see things that are going to be sustainable. But

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you want to see guys who are looking like they're

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ready to go and who can help the team from

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day one. And maybe even if it's you know, if

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your feelings on two guys are roughly the same, whoever

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is swinging the bat better and can maybe get off

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to a quick start the first week, that's going to

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be the guy you go with, So you know, you

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kind of kind of have to handle it two different

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ways depending on individual situations.

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Speaker 1: Bogie, I don't want to be hypocritical about, well, are

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the bats gonna be good enough for the start of

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the season, because I'm watching spring training, But man, on

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the other side of things, starting rotation and everything I've

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seen buying large cards the last two weeks has been very,

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very impressive. I'm talking about the colors all the way

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through to you know, even Christian Javier looked better at

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a couple of big days back. I mean, so can

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I separate pitching and hitting for this time of year,

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our pitcher's supposed to be ahead of the game at

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this point.

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Speaker 2: Well, certainly the pitchers are always ahead, but at the

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same time, you've got to look at why these guys

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have been successful and what maybe the questions were regarding

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them coming into the season. Christian Javier, for example, Okay,

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what's what's the v logan to look like? Well, it

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ticked up in his last outing and he held it

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over the course of a couple of innings, so that

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you know, regardless of what the bottom line is, which

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across the board pretty much has been good. You know,

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That's what we wanted to see from Javier. You know,

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you wanted to see frontline, high end stuff from Tetsuya Emi.

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He's gotten better every time out. He's sitting ninety six

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ninety seven now, you know. Mike Burrows, Okay, he's got

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a really good change of what's the other stuff? Looked

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like his fastball has been just blowing guys up. His

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slider looked really good in his last out, and so yeah,

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I'm really bullish on what the pitching as a whole

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has looked like, you know, because because the questions that

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we had are looking like they've been answered, at least

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in a spring setting, from from what the guy's stuff

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has looked like, but also just how the rotation and

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staff kind of takes form. We know Hunter Brown is

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an eight, you know, where Emi and Burrows kind of

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a number three number four type or they number two,

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number three type. Well, they look like their top of

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the rotation guys. And the depth has looked really good.

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You know you mentioned Lance. I haven't seen Lance in

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you know, a long long time look as comfortable and

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confident in his fastball as he does this spring, which

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again exactly what you would have wanted to see from

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him coming in. So yeah, there's a lot to like

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about what the pictures have shown.

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Speaker 1: And what about the bullpen? I mean, Josh Hater probably

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on ice. So we know it's Brian a bray you

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stepping into the closer's role. How are we feeling about

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the guys behind him?

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Speaker 2: You know, as good as you can. It's funny when

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whenever a team loses a closer, you always think, Okay, well,

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what have we gotten the ninth? What do we have

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in the ninth? Well, I think everybody's comfortable with Brian

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a Bray you in the Knight, But it also ticks

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everybody else up into you know, one inning later and

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that much more pressure. But you know, those guys were

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really good, especially at the end of the year. Last

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year it was the same situation. They were all pretty good.

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I think it's it's a little bit left handed, even

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though both all those guys handle lefties and righties pretty well.

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I think, you know, a wild card type guy could

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be Rideri Munoz, who's looked really good, you know, hasn't

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showed any of the control issues that he's had in

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the past and looks like a power right handed arm. So,

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you know, for for a short spell. I'm good with

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it because they've covered you know, import innings in the past.

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But there's no question that for this team to work

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the way it needs to work, and it's kind of

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set up to be a shortened game with that back

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of the bullpen, you need Josh Hayter back, you know,

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sooner than later, but definitely equiped to handle it for

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a short spell.

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Speaker 1: Brian bogasvik with us here on Sports Talk seven ninety

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and let's just keep with It's been a big storyline,

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is the the nfield logjam stuff. But I'm just curious

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kind of your insight as far as a former player,

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the human elelement of this, because we we just as

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as pundits and media fans and stuff. You're just just like, yeah,

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just just put them out there, Just sit one guy,

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But can you speak to what it's like not only

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for the players, but also the manager too, trying to

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figure out how all these guys who want to be

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out there every day and if you as a personally

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as a player, don't know, necessarily going into the ballpark

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when you're going to be in the lineup when you're not,

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and then having to sit sometimes when, especially if you're

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Estoc Paradis, you're one of the best hitters on the team.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it just it throws another element into the dynamic

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of a clubhouse and a dynamic of a of an

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entire season that you would rather not have. You know,

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everybody says the right thing, and everybody in theory is

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fine with, oh, you get a day off here, you

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get a day off there. But eventually guys start to

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see it as this is not a day off for

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my you know, rest purposes. This is you know, the

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other four guys getting chosen to be in the lineup

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over me, and it can affect you, and you're not

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going to get the best out of people unless number one,

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they know exactly what their role is and number two,

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they're comfortable with their role. And you know, these are

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five guys who are everyday players, have always been every

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day players, and should be everyday players. And if it

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gets to a point to where one of them feels

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like they're not, or you know, potentially multiple feel like

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they're not, it's just not going to be a good situation. Because, yes,

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everybody wants what's best for the team, but at the

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same time, everybody you know to a degree, feels like

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they are what's best for the team, and it can

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just it can just muddle things up and create a

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dynamic that you don't really want to have to deal with.

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Speaker 1: I brought this up with you last week, but it's

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worthy of repeating just for the different audience. Bogie the

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leash for the corner outfielders. When you have a guy

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like Jordan Alvarez who loves to play left field, I

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know there's a chance of some wet stuff today and Jupiter,

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they're going to pull him out and let him DH.

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But when you've got a guy who's like I can

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do it. I've never been heard out there. Let me

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go out there more than once a week or whatever

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the case would be. How much of a of an

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not necessarily an argument, but a good old fashioned debate

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will that be between the athlete, the general manager and

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the manager.

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Speaker 2: It's it's a real thing that needs to be, you know,

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discussed and revisited, probably constantly. You know, a lot will

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depend on how how well the offense as a whole

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is functioning, if you can kind of afford to give

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somebody a little bit of a longer leash, if if

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eight other guys are coming out of the gates hot.

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But at the same time, Jurdon's made it very clear

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that he's comfortable out there and likes playing out there.

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You know, it can I think everybody's of the same

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mind that if you take the risk of injury out

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that having him out there and allowing all the other

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infielders to get in with the DH spot makes the

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team better. So yeah, I think it's something that they're

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going to have to revisit, maybe not on a daily basis,

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but quite often to see, hey, because it's risk and reward.

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The reason for not having your down out there. He's

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not going to be an everyday guy out there by

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any means, but having him out there for a significant

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amount of time is you're trying to, you know, cut

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down on the injury risk. Well, the reward might start

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to outweigh that a little bit if you see that

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you really need to have all of these guys in

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the lineup at the same time.

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Speaker 1: Last thing, Christian Vasquez was a late add on to

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this roster. I would presume Brian and you and I

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are not general managers for a living. But he didn't

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come just for giggles to start the season and play

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a handful of games in spring. I mean, is he

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the leader in the clubhouse of the backup catcher spot?

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You think?

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Speaker 2: I think so. It's a difficult position to be in

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that backup role. You know, it's hard to not play

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every day. It's hard to you know, and it's probably

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going to be even less of a of a time

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share considering the amount of at bats that Yer is

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going to get backs there. So, you know, bringing in

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a guy who's a veteran who knows how to succeed

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in that role, but also who knows the organization and

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been there before. They were bringing in a guy totally.

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From the outside, you might say, okay, well I could

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see that being a fall but back plan and give

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Cessar Salazar some run out there and see how that goes.

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But I think bringing Vasquez is in. You know, they

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feel like he can add something from a veteran standpoint,

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So yeah, I think he was brought in for a reason.

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You know that being said, I know that they're they're

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comfortable with sets ourselves are. It's just you know, who

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gives you the best option back there.