Latest / Foul Territory / Karl Ravech’s Dirt From the Dugout: Brewers vs. Dodgers NLCS Preview + MLB’s New Labor Proposal

Transcript

Karl Ravech’s Dirt From the Dugout: Brewers vs. Dodgers NLCS Preview + MLB’s New Labor Proposal · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to the latest Dirt from
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: the Dugout. It's my buddy, Justin Musil and Carl Ravitch,
• 0:05
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• 0:20
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• 0:51
  Speaker 1: about your recruiting journey. as we welcome Justin in here
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: to talk much more about the postseason that's ahead of us.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: We are down to sort of currently, as we do
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: this now live, we've got our NLCS set. Brewers-Dodgers take two.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Should be outstanding. We still have a White Sox-Guardians game
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: to play. And, of course, the best team in the
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: American League, the Tampa Bay Rays, just swept through the
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: New York Yankees, and they are waiting to find out
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: which team wins. They will play. Major League Baseball made
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: another proposal. We'll get into that to the Players Association.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: They did it publicly, which I thought was not something
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: they were going to do, but they do it publicly.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: It's out there. We'll kind of break down some of
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: the pieces of it. But, Muse, you know, your involvement
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: with the Brewers, I think, to some extent, we should
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: probably kind of let people know. What role you once
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: played with that organization? Does it still touch some of
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: the current players that are there? And just in general,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: how proud you are of what the organization is doing?
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: We're talking about the Brewers.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, man.
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: So my role was strategic advisor to scouting. So I
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: had a very unique role within the organization. And I
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: had a few touch points, but the main thing that
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: I worked on was was the amateur draft, the domestic draft.
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: And so that was a big piece of my role.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: But I got to meet a lot of people. We
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: did some projects and stuff like that. But it's an
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: awesome organization, man. And when I talk about it, when
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: you talk about all the things that the brewers bring
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: to the table, they're just so comfortable in their skin.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: They have an identity. They understand what they're trying to do, Ravi.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: And one of the things that was remarkable, and you
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: know that you hear this all the time from fans
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: and outsiders and all that, but like a lot of
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: like the complaints on small market versus, you know, the
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: big market teams and the money spent, you just never heard.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: That in the organization.
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: It was a very much like a figure it out
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: sort of mindset. Like, no, like that, that's a limitation,
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: but like, that's not an excuse. And so, you know,
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: the run that they've been on has been awesome, but
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: you know, the touch points in it, you know, I
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: was involved in some drafts and, had a very, you know,
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: there's a lot of people involved in, in my boss,
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: Todd Johnson was the decision maker with the selections and
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: stuff like that with the picks, but I'm really excited
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: about some of the.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: Guys that we worked on in those drafts.
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: You know, some of those guys is Sal, like some
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: of those guys that are, are making an impact now,
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: Garrett Mitchell, some of those guys, like they're making an impact, man.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: And they're a part of it.
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: And so But more than that for me, though, Ravi,
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: it's the people in the organization that I cheer for
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: because there's I never met an individual in the organization
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: that I didn't like. I mean, there's there's a lot
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: of great people in the organization, a lot of smart people,
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: a lot of a lot of people that are really
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: good at their jobs. But just it's a very selfless
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  Speaker 3: sort of organization. You don't feel like there's a ton
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: of ego. You don't feel like, you know, that you're
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: just in some room that you don't belong in. It's
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: a lot of good conversation there. Um, you know, and
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  Speaker 3: so I see the success, man, and I'm so happy
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  Speaker 3: for them. I was texting earlier with some friends in
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  Speaker 3: the organization and like, it's just an, you know, it's
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: just the people, man. And they, they have an identity,
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: but this year's different, man. It is, they, they are
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: no longer happy Ravi with just getting to the playoffs.
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: That is no longer where they're at, you know, and
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: that's a part of this too.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: So it's interesting. I Kansas City back in the 14,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: 15 years when they were World Series teams, it always
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: felt like it was an us-against-them mentality. And I understand that,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: and I certainly understand it on a financial level. And
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: I can get where if you're walking around the Brewers'
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: offices or the Rays' offices, you're talking to each other
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  Speaker 1: about how we can't wait to slay the dragon. Heck,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: the Padres and their former owner used to say that
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: about the Dodgers. Like, we can't wait to travel north
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: and take down the Dodgers. That's the dragon that we
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: want to slay. And they spent a lot of money.
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  Speaker 1: They didn't spend like the Dodgers do. So I understand
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  Speaker 1: that frame of mind. Heck, the whole American League has
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: felt that way about the Yankees for years. I would argue,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: and you having been in the room, and me having
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: been around the game for three decades, that the disparity
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: in money While the numbers may say the Dodgers spend
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: $ 350 million and the Brewers spend $ 89 million or $ 70,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: whatever the number is, to me, that number is physically
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: larger than the reality is because I believe people like
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: you and smart front offices and all the information that's
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: out there and all the analytics are The culture of
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: the Brewers, the culture of the race, they've sort of
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: identified a particular type of player, whether it's Garrett Mitchell,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: you know, whether it's Mesa from the Marlins who didn't
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: want him anymore and he comes and plays a starring
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: role as a rookie. That the disparity in dollars is
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: neutralized by the intelligence, the culture, the chemistry, the we're
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: all about trying to beat X players. the talent level
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: to me isn't that great anymore where you used to
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: be able to spend outspend teams and therefore win. Now,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: clearly the fly in that ointment is you do have
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: an organization that's trying to win their third consecutive world series.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: And the advantage to me for that organization comes in
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: a seven game series, the Dodgers in seven games, uh,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: are a lot harder to beat, I think, than they
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: are in a three or five game series. Because in baseball,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: as you know, anything can happen. Literally anything can happen.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: There's an injury. There's a team that gets cold. There's
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: a really good pitcher. There's Drew Rasmussen for one night
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: who nearly no hits the Yankees. You get into seven
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  Speaker 1: games and then you got to try to beat Scooble twice.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: You got to try to beat Yamamoto twice. You're worried
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: about Snell and Glasnow where that's where like the depth
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: disparity plays a much bigger role. But sure, to me,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: if you look at the Brewers on paper and they're
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: going to play a hundred times, yeah, they'd probably win
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: between 40 and 50 of those games. I mean, to
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: me on talent, they're that close, but in a seven
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: game series, it just gets to be a little, to me,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: a little tougher. Yeah.
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: And I mean, part of it is, is the Dodgers
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  Speaker 3: have done it, you know? So they've proven that they've
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: done it. So I think there's a little bit of that, right?
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: I mean, we can use this in any sport, but
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: you think back to the MJ days, right? There's an
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  Speaker 3: aura that comes with those championships, right? And I think
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  Speaker 3: that can get to teams.
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  Speaker 2: On the other side of it.
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  Speaker 3: So I personally think that this year, it's been very
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: different for the Brewers though. I think that their mindset was,
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: Just different. You talked about the Yankees' expectations yearly. The Dodgers'
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: expectations yearly now are to win it all. And if
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: you don't win it all, it's a bust of a season.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: And so I.
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  Speaker 3: Think this is what I think, Ravi. I think the
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: Brewers wanted the Dodgers. I really think that they wanted
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: to play the Dodgers. That's where I think they're at.
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: Because to them, they don't want an easy path. They
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: want to prove that they deserve it. And I think
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: that's sort of a different mindset. Now, like you said,
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: you get into a seven-game series like this. That's why
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: I don't love the three-game series.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: But you spread it out.
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: You go to the five-game and then you go to
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: the seven-game, which is maybe one of the changes that
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: they're going to make in this. But the seven-game series
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: is where, like you said, man, you have to prove it.
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: And over a seven-game series, that depth, you know this,
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: in the rotation, in the bullpen, the being able to
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: pull arm after arm after arm for the Dodgers, it's
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: just a little easier for them when they're, when they're
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: manipulating their, their arms that they're using and the decisions
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: that they're making that I think sometimes that's where that
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: big money can come in at the end. And it's like, man,
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: we don't really have a drop off here. We're just
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: keep going to another great arm where in the, you know,
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: where the brewers are at, you know, you get through there,
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: you know, and, from a rotation standpoint, you know this,
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: but like once, once you get.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: Through their top two, now they're trying to have to,
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: they're having to make do.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: And so that's a big part of this, man.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah. This, I would dispute the concept that the Brewers
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: really wanted the Dodgers. I think that's nice. Because I
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: think if I look at this from the Rays' perspective,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: the idea that– and this will speak to what we'll
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: get to later in this Dirt from the Dugout, this
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: new proposal where one of the proposals is you can
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: select your opponent. I don't think the Brewers, if they
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: had a choice in any round, would say– Let's play
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: the Dodgers. Like, let's just wait for the Dodgers. And
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: in this case, there is no waiting. It's the league
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: championship series. But the idea that the Rays are going
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: to get the winner of a Guardians White Sox series
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: versus maybe a Yankees Red Sox. Yeah, I think it's
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: probably I'll take the path that's easier traveled because eventually.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: we're going to meet these monsters. So prior to that,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: we don't need to, it's nice to say that, but
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: we don't, we don't really need to do that. But
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: I do think the difference, I think the difference for
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: the Brewers is when you can parade a monster like
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: Mizorowski out there. Sure. I'd like to, now I can
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: bring on the Dodgers for a game or for two games.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: Cause that guy I know can beat them. And Logan
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: Henderson can maybe, he can compete with him. I feel
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: really good about Mizorowski against anybody. So I know I
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: now have a fighter's chance. And what's changed with me,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: with the Brewers, is they have that guy. They have Mizorowski.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: You know, Terang is a better player. Mitchell's making home
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: run robbing catches at the wall. Contreras is kind of
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: an animal behind the plate. There's a lot of things
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: that have conspired here through the hard work of people
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: like you a few years ago and the current group
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: that have put them in a position to realize we
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: can compete with this group. We can not only compete,
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: we can beat them. And I can't wait to go
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: to battle and have Mizorowski on the mound for games
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: one and maybe four or five and bring him out
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: of the pen in seven. Gosh, give me that opportunity. However,
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: Let's put that off for as long as we can. Look,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: I think if we focus on the Dodgers and the
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: things that they do right, what's happened if you look
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: at last night, when it's not Betts or Will Smith
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: or Max Muncy who just hits homers in the postseason,
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: it's not Otani, it's Andy Pahez who delivers the big hits.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: I think sometimes what happens with the Dodgers is people
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: get so focused on the money and they've bought themselves
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: another title. The truth is they're really good players. They
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: don't screw up very often. They play a good brand
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: of baseball. It's a very good baseball team. If you
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: stripped away the names on the back, you would say,
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: They're probably better than the Brewers by a little bit.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: They're probably better than the Rays, even if you didn't
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: know who they were. And I think sometimes because they
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: spend so much money, that gets overlooked. It's a really
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: good baseball team. It's frustrating for others. But boy, the
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: bullpen can be great. We saw that in their victory yesterday.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Their starters have the ability to be great. And again,
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: guys like Kike Hernandez, Max Muncy, the October Lights, the one...
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: Sort of caveat to all this, as a guy that's
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: involved with baseball, I've been around them. And it's not
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: like they take the regular season off or for granted,
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: but there is this mentality. When we get to October,
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: we're all going to focus. And that just sort of
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: defies a lot. That goes against every sports action you
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: may have ever heard. There is no flip to switch.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: Because if there was, the Brewers would be flipping it
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: and the Rays would be flipping it. you know, the
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: guardians and the, they'd all be flipping switches. So I don't,
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: I don't buy that part of it. I just think they, they're,
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: they're just a really good team. Yeah.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: There's so many pieces of this too, Ravi.
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: And one of the things, if we go back, as
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: you remember before the trade deadline, the two of the
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: top suitors, you know, sources wise go for Scooble was.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: Where the brewers and the Dodgers.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: And it's really interesting because you know, in those decisions,
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: that in the Brewers' room, we have to go through them.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: So one benefit of getting him is just for our team,
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: but then we keep him from going to the Dodgers.
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: That would have been a big conversation piece for me
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: in that room.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: You're winning both ways there.
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: But that's going to be an interesting part of this
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: series because if the Brewers were able to negotiate that
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: out and land him You know, that could change the
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: series here. Maybe, maybe not, but it is an interesting
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: piece that those were two heavy suitors for him at
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: that time.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: I agree. I mean, look, the Brewers learned a valuable
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: lesson in 08, right, when C.C. Sabathia came over and
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: basically carried them. I mean, there is precedence for trying
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: to go after a guy like Schuble, and maybe the
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: great confirmation is the Dodgers made it clear that we
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: will go after one player. Like if we're going to add,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: we're adding one guy and it's Tarek Skubal. So it
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: confirms what the brewers and everybody else knew, but they
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: were willing to continue to go out and spend all
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: that money to do it. So yeah, I look, it'll
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: be great. The idea that the brewers have an opportunity
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: to face Skubal when they kind of reneged on, like
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: you take them, we're good with what we have. We're
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: not going to go into that pool again. Um, yeah,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: I think, I think that's really, really interesting.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: And I think, yeah, it is.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: I think on the other side for me, um, when
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: you think about the two men that are leading those organizations,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: and then we'll get to the raise in a second,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: you know, Murph, um, and you, you know, I, we
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: had Dave Roberts on like, I've never been a blame
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: the manager guy, but I will give credit to managers.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: Roberts poked his head in on the hitters meeting the
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: other day, which, which is out of the ordinary. And
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden the offense clicked a little bit more,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: whether that he had, he had magic dust and he
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: sprinkled it. Oh, who knows? But those two guys, the
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: team really does seem to respond to the way that
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: they behave and they do it differently. You know, Dave
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: Roberts is probably not going to take somebody out in
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: the middle of a game, but he's certainly going to
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: go have a word with them after the game. And again,
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: Murph will take somebody out in the middle of a
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: game and the players seem to, you know, maybe begrudgingly
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: accept it. So I do love, I love both of
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: the managers and the way that their teams respond to them. Yeah.
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think, I mean, we had Dave on
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: and that was the first time I ever talked to Dave,
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: but you know, he's so respected in the game and
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: you can tell by how he handles his players and,
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: I feel how transparent he is.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: He has, he has a great feel.
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: And we've talked about this, you know, like you, you talk,
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: you talk about all the big names on the Dodgers,
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: but you think about some of the names that have
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: really come through for them. You think a key K
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: who obviously we know the name now, but that's not
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: a perennial all-star or anything. You talk about Rojas, like
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: Dave knows how to pull those, pull those strings when
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: he needs them.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: And I just think he does a really good job
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: with that.
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: And I would say on the, on the other side
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: of it, I think, Murph, the two-time reigning manager of
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: the year and probably going to be the third straight year.
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: I mean, that guy has been incredible in his role.
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: And this is going to be super interesting because there's
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: going to be a lot of cat and mouse here
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: with the managers and what they're doing. Man, it's shaping
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: up to a really fun series there, Ravi.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: No doubt about it. And on the other side now,
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: while the Guardians and White Sox, the wish for the
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: Rays is that those two teams play five games and
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: that the Guardians have to use Williams and therefore not
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: have them available if the Guardians advanced in a game one.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's the catbird seat that the Tampa Bay
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Rays sit in. And, you know, you talk about managers.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: Let's start with Kevin Cash. Long tenured, longest in baseball. Clearly...
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: we watched last night when Nick Martinez took a line
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: drive off of his back in the third inning and
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: cashes out there and they're kind of yucking it up
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: because he's already had somebody warming up. It wasn't like
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: Nick Martinez was long for the game, but it, to me,
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: it said a lot about the way that he commands
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: the room, the, uh, the way that he recognizes, you know,
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: when to say when with bull pen pieces and they
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: are loaded on the bullpen side and, but another guy
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: who seems to really have his finger on the pulse
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: of that clubhouse. And he and Kyle Schneider, the pitching coach,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: you know, work miracles with Freddie Peralta and others. It
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: may very well be the raise year. The path through
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: the American league is not nearly what the national league
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: teams are dealing with. And he, he played his hunch too.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: Although the numbers said you should have Victor Mesa in
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: the lineup against the lefty. And when Max Freed hung
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: a pitch, He blasted it and celebrated. But the Rays,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: like the Brewers, are pretty acute when it comes to
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: selecting talent. The Marlins couldn't figure out what the heck
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: to do with the guy. They were ready to get
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: rid of him. And the Rays picked him up. And
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: lo and behold, he becomes a star player and a
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: critical piece for the Tampa Bay Rays. So that organization,
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: to me, is very similar to what you experienced in Milwaukee.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: It is.
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: I mean, the Peralta situation is, is just so, so
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: great from an example standpoint. I mean, they take a
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: guy who, you know, it's not like Freddie Peralta all
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: of a sudden doesn't know how to pitch.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: So he's going through something with struggling. You make that
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: move and, it's just, it's so classic for, for, you know, the, um,
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: you know, they buy low, like that's what the brewers
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: and the rays are amazing at buying low.
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: They buy good deals.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: It's not like we're going into the dollar general store
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: just because we need some napkins. It's, this is going to,
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: this is going to be worth far more than we
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: spend on it. Yes.
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: And you think about all the pieces.
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: I mean, um, Yeah, I mean, we can go through
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: a lot of different pieces of this, but like they
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: both just do such a good job where they know, Ravi,
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: that shopping with the scoobles of the world is not
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: where they're going to make a living. They know that
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: and they're okay with that. And I think, you know,
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: they probably mess with it a little bit sometimes. Going
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: all the way back, Ravi, I don't think I've ever
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: told you this, but I was actually at, I was
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: a youngster, but I was actually at Sabathia's outing with
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: the brewers after that trade. And here's what I can
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: say about that feeling. It was so electric that it
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: felt like, okay, this is different now. And at that point,
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: I'm young and I'm just a fan, but it just
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: felt different because you have that horse and you feel
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: like they're going for it.
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean? And so I think.
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: That's something that When you're the Dodgers and you see
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: the front office going and adding these pieces, it's like,
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: all right, we're going again. Obviously, that's their expectation, but
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: they see those pieces. I think there's something to be
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: said for that too, man, that the players feel like that.
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: We're all in every year. This is what we're trying
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: to do.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: Of course. And the Rays did that this year. By
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: the same token, the Brewers have the horse. They have
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: the guy this year. Thus, they're emboldened. You take him.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: We're good. We're ready to go to battle. This is
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: not bringing a paper knife to a gunfight. We're coming
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: in with our gun. We're covered that way. And for me,
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: what Tampa does better than anybody is they don't make mistakes,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: as we've talked about. They don't swing and miss. I mean,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: we had Eric Neander on, and he kind of described
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: their perfect player. One who... who is accountable, works hard,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: always tries to improve. This idea that they've bunted, what,
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: 40 some odd times more than any other team, and
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: they are second in stolen bases. They're really low on
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: the strikeout list. They put the ball in play. They
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: put pressure on a team. Everybody looks at game two
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: in that Yankee series and sees the multiple errors the
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: Yankees made, you think that's not related to the pressure
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: that the Rays put on you? Like you're going onto
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: the field in the bottom of the first as a
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: defensive team, knowing if the leadoff man is on, like
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: we are in trouble. Like that's a problem because they're
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: going to now create offense. So we have to be perfect.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: And nobody can live up to the standard of being
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: perfect in baseball. You can't. So when Ryan McMahon has
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: a 106 mile an hour ball spin out of his glove,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: oh my God, leadoff man is on. It means we're
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: going to see a Ronda. Caminero is going to come
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: up and then we're going to get into these dudes
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: that just put the ball in play where they bunted.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: The Rays, that's the problem for whatever National League team.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: And I'm sure the Rays don't care. Brewers, bring them on. Mizorowski, great. Dodgers,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: can't wait because that that just fuels the narrative like
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: the Brewer. We can beat the Dodgers. They don't care,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: but boy, their style. And it's funny, you watch and
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: I know you do and I do all these different
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: baseball shows, publications, websites, podcasts. You can feel the Rays momentum.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: You can feel the attention that they're getting. People are
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: waking up to, oh my gosh, they're not your old
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: plucky Rays from 08. This is a real baseball team
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: with a real thick superstar in the middle with a
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: real horse going in games one and four, one and five.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: And by the way, the dirty little secret that people
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: haven't really considered yet, they just got bought a few
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: months ago by a billionaire. So now where they're going
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: to be different than maybe the Brewers is is that
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: they can spend, they're going to be able to, if
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: they want to go get a Scooble, if they decide
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: to do that, they've succeeded so much in not being
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: that team, but this is not Stu Sternberg's raise anymore.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: This is, this is now, you know, Patrick Zalupski and
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Ken Babby's raise billionaire owner. That's a different story. Yeah.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: I mean, you touched on so many things there, Ravi.
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: I think, I think what, when you look at the
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: game that they play, I'm just a fan of forcing
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: opportunity sometimes and forcing the defenders to make the play.
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: If you punch out, the simple thing is if you
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: punch out, the pitcher already earned it. There's no other
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: chances within that that you're going to get on base.
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: I just think the Rays have really done a nice
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: job of it's all about identity, team identity. What do
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: you do really well? What, what helps you win? They've,
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: you know, Eric was talking about this. They just really
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: understand what they do well. They don't have any sort of,
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: they don't have any sort of model they're trying to
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: go after. They just, they have their identity. And once they,
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: they figure out the players they have, I think they
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: just say, okay, what are the solutions and how do
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: we win with this roster? And that's how they're doing it.
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: But Randy, I mean, I don't know about you. Like,
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: I'd like to ask you this, like, Do you think
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: we're going to see a shift now? You see how
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: the Brewers are winning and you see how the Rays
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: are winning, for example.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: Do you think we're going to see.
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: A little shift in the coming years to how they
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: play ball and maybe a little bit of a change
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: in some organizations and how they were trying to win ballgames?
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: Well, we live in a copycat world when it comes
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: to Major League Baseball. We all know that. I mean,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: analytics is just the greatest example when when teams like
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: the Rays and others were way ahead of the curve, well,
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: everybody's caught up. Everybody's into analytics. Everybody has departments. Everybody
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: is involved with multiple levels of information and then translating
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: that information through the organization down to the player and
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: make it something that they can chew on like it's
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: a Cheez-It. We need to be able to digest this.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: We can't have it be something that doesn't fit into
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: our mouth, let alone our brain. Every organization has it. However,
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: in a copycat world, I think there are a whole
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: bunch of factors, Justin. There are ballpark factors. Kansas City
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: made a living with their speed. The Cardinals of old
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: made a living on the AstroTurf running around with dudes
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: like Willie McGee and Coleman. So I think that plays
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: a role in it. I do remember, not this year
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: when Aaron Judge got hurt, but prior with the toe,
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: Aaron Boone had at his disposal– a slightly more athletic
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: team that would put the ball in play. They would run.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: And he, I remember saying, I kind of like it.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: I enjoy it. I think a team like the Yankees,
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: if you look ahead to next year and you see
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: Garcia at first base and Volpe at second base and
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Lombard at shortstop and Spencer Jones in the outfield and
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: There is already inherently sort of a tilt towards more
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: athleticism than they've had. Bellinger is a really good athlete.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: I think sometimes they get pigeonholed into, well, they only
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: hit the ball over the fence. I don't think they
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: want to be that team. I think they'd like to
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: be teams that can create runs. Jazz had a bad postseason.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: It wasn't good. They didn't have Judge. They dealt with
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: some injuries. Everybody does. But yeah, I think that the
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: Brewers and the Rays can inform organizations as to the
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: type of player that wins. Now, usually, Justin, those things
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: get thrown out the window in the playoffs. The playoffs,
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: it's about two things, power pitching and power hitting. Who
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: can strike guys out and who can hit balls over
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: the wall? So we'll see. I mean, the Rays have
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: two more chances, an LCS and a World Series if
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: they get there, to prove that their game plays. But
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: the same way the Brewers have Mizorowski, the Rays have Caminero,
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: and that's been a missing piece for them. Well, we
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: have our monster now too.
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think there's, you know, you're kind of
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: hitting a couple of good points here, Ravi. I think
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: there's like this misunderstanding that, the Brewers and the Rays
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: don't have superstars. They're just not like the, the Freddie
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: Freemans and the Mookie bets that we see a lot.
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: I mean, Jackson Chorio is one of the, you know,
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: budding superstars in baseball. I mean, he's truly a five
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: tool talent and he's 22 by the way, like, you know,
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: some people would think he's 25, 26, he's 22. So,
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: and you talked about Caminero and we talk about Rasmussen,
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: like these, these teams don't just have like a bunch
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: of scrappy guys. They have, they have talented players. I
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: think that gets misguided a little bit too in the
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: public with like, They're just going to have to scrap
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: and fight. Maybe there's a little truth to that. But
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: Bryce Terang, I mean, one of the best second basemans
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: in all of baseball, right? I mean, so these teams
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: have really talented players.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: They do. But what they don't have, they don't have this.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: Kyle Tucker, $ 33 million. Otani, $ 70 million. Snell, $ 36 million. Glasnow,
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: $ 30 million. I don't want to mention Yamamoto because he's
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: too cheap at 16 million. Betts, 30 million. Freeman, 27 million.
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: 16 more for Tanner Scott. Teosca Hernandez, 20 million. They
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: don't have one of those guys, let alone 12 of them. Yeah,
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: that's the difference, man. That's where they go.
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's an interesting thing here. It'll be... It's just
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: going to be a great NLCS.
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: I'm looking forward to seeing how, you know, we haven't
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: talked much about the White Sox or the Guardians, but
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: it'll be interesting to see how that series goes there.
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: But I think like you, I mean, man, the Rays
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: have to be just a heavy favorite coming out of there.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: I think so. And again, five games, get Gavin Williams
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: on the mound. If the Guardians win, it really gives
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: the Rays a big advantage. The conversation though, Justin, let's
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: switch gears to Major League Baseball and their latest proposal here.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: because this does have to do with the Tucker 33
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: million and the Otani and deferred. All those things are
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: going to try to be addressed, which is a really
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: hard thing to do in one collective bargaining deal. However, today,
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: Major League Baseball made this proposal. They would like to,
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: in the 29 season, not 27 or eight, but 29,
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: reduce the number of games to 154 games. They painted
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: it with the brush of it'll give the players a break,
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: you know, one day off. It'll help their health. You know,
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: it could. And then part of that is they would
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: make the division series instead of five games, seven games.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: So you're adding a couple of games in the division
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: series that you wouldn't otherwise have. And you're reducing the
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: regular season from 162 to 154. Just on the surface,
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: your thoughts on those two things.
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: Well, the first thing I would say is I like
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: it because I like hearing there's talks ongoing, right? I mean,
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: trying to get something done and having some ideas, I
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: think that's always good. I like the setup that they're proposing.
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: I think it makes some sense. I'm definitely more of
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: a traditionalist, but I'm okay with cutting a few games
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: off and then adding that in a little bit longer
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: division series.
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: You and I both know this Ravi.
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: But you know, a three game series or a five
• 32:58
  Speaker 3: game series is very, very different. And so for me,
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: I like, I like the best team to prove it. And,
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: you know, I think you can fool it a little
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: bit in a three or a five, even I think
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: when you stretch it to a seven, you know, it's
• 33:13
  Speaker 3: like the best team wins a lot in that series.
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: And so I'm a fan of that because I think
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: the product, as it goes along in the playoffs, I
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: think we're going to see the better teams winning in
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: the playoffs, and I think that's always good for baseball.
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: So at the surface, I like it a lot. What
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: are your thoughts on it?
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I have no problem with 154. I think every
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: sport is geared around the postseason. I do. And baseball
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: has historically been a regular season sport, and they do
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: a great job of using 162 to identify the best teams,
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: and therefore they're the teams that are in the playoffs.
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: In the end, it's like everything. You know, you tune
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: in for– and that's what this is all about, eyeballs.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: You tune in for the postseason, and then you can
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: reduce it even further. You tune in for game seven,
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: you know, or game three in the wild card series,
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: or game five– that winner take all thing works. So yeah,
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: I have, I like a seven game series in the
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: division series. The players are down on it because it
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: comes with the caveat that it's all tied to a
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: salary cap, which again, that seems that that's the, that's
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: the sword that major league baseball wants to live on
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: and the players refuse to die on. So is this
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: just getting information out there and then they can pull
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: back on a salary cap request and, increase the luxury
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: tax threshold at the top. That's possible. Throw a floor
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: in and satisfy those that say teams don't spend. I
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: think there's room there to get something done that way.
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: But as long as the cap seems to be on
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: the table, it seems to be a non-starter. We'll see.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: The second part of the seven-game division series is that
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: Major League Baseball has proposed another fascinating idea, and I
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: think one that comes naturally from a lot of years
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: of thought, but also probably highlighted more this year when
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: you had the Yankees and the Red Sox and then
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: the Rays on the same side of the bracket. That
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: didn't make sense. The Yankees and Red Sox should be
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: on the other side based on record, and the Guardians
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: and White Sox should have then played the Rays. That
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: didn't happen. Under this new proposal, Major League Baseball wants
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: the higher-seeded team to be able to select teams the opponent,
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: meaning if you are the Rays or if you're the Yankees, right?
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: We'd like to play the White Sox because Murakami just
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: got hurt and it's going to help. We're going to
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: choose them. And I had just done foul territory and
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: Buck Showalter was on that show. And he's like, typical
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: of Buck. Okay. So you're choosing my team. You want
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: to play us. What do you think the animals inside
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: that clubhouse are going to think when they find out
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: that the Yankees just chose the White Sox over the
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: Guardians to play, or whatever the circumstances may be? All
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: well and good to be pissed off, but if they're
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: that much better than you, why the heck wouldn't they
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: pick you to play?
• 36:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I like it, though, because I think
• 36:34
  Speaker 3: it does... it does create a little edge too, though,
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: like in that series. I mean, there's an edge to that, right?
• 36:41
  Speaker 3: Like you guys wanted to play us. And I think
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: anytime we can elevate the intensity, we're seeing it right now,
• 36:47
  Speaker 3: but it's like, I mean, the playoffs have been so
• 36:51
  Speaker 3: good and the intensity has been so good. And I,
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: I think when you can keep elevating that, it kind of,
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: you know, we're, we're trying to grab hold of like
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: what we feel in the, in the world baseball classic, right?
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: Ravi.
• 37:02
  Speaker 3: Because anyone who watches that doesn't isn't concerned that it
• 37:06
  Speaker 3: goes three hours and 15 minutes because you're so grabbed
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: by the moment in the intensity and every pitch in it.
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: It feels like everything matters. And so I don't know, man,
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: I love it. I think there's a ton of stress.
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: We haven't even really touched on this, but like there's
• 37:21
  Speaker 3: so much strategy that would go into picking.
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: Your opponent, which. can make or break a series then.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 37:27
  Speaker 3: And so understanding your, your, your team and what you
• 37:30
  Speaker 3: do well, what, you know, what the other teams are
• 37:33
  Speaker 3: doing well and what they don't do well. I, I'm,
• 37:36
  Speaker 3: I love the strategy aspect of that because it brings
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: a different element and it would create a lot of conversation, right, buddy?
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: Like you, if, if you, if you pick.
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: A team that you want to play and you get
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: beaten that series, then it's a lot of conversation on
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: why did you pick them? And it creates sort of a, uh,
• 37:53
  Speaker 3: a drama around it that I think is kind of cool.
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: It's a reality show because the truth is they apparently
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: want it to be a reality show. The top two teams,
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: there's motivation in finishing with the top two records. You
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: don't have to worry about the wild card, the number
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: three seed. So the third best team in the league
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: would select whether they want to play the five or
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: six team. It's not like automatic. We're going to play
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: the six team. We're going to, so you can pick
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: the five or six. Then in the division series, the
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: top seed, let's say the Yankees advanced, they would select
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: which wildcard winner they want to play. And the selections
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: would likely come on a national television show. So it
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: is reality TV. That's the proposal for Major League Baseball.
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: Look, Ravi, if we look at the major sports, we
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: can all agree viewership-wise, NFL is king, right? Based on
• 38:47
  Speaker 3: the viewership and all that. what the NFL does so
• 38:52
  Speaker 3: amazingly well is they create conversation and drama around so
• 38:58
  Speaker 3: many things.
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 39:00
  Speaker 3: And I think this creates sort of conversation and you
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: know this, but when fans are engaged, when fans are, are,
• 39:08
  Speaker 3: you know, wanting to learn more about why did they
• 39:10
  Speaker 3: pick that team or, you know, what does that matchup
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: look like? I just think it creates sort of a,
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: you know, a drama that goes with it that I'm
• 39:18
  Speaker 3: kind of for. It seems a little fantasy baseball-ish, you know,
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: but I like it, man.
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: I could get behind this.
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: Well, if we want to go theater of the absurd,
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: and we want to involve and engage the fans, well,
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: let them vote which team their team should play.
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: That's interesting.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: That would be really interesting.
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: Yankee fans, who do you want to play? You know,
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: is it the Guardians of the White Sox? You have
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: 24 hours to vote and that's who we're playing.
• 39:49
  Speaker 3: Wow, Ravi, that is a phenomenal idea. I would have
• 39:55
  Speaker 3: never thought about that, man. That is a great idea.
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Noah, there's a lot of weird things that go
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: on up here. I don't want to throw water on
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: the conversation, but the player's response was, unfortunately, the league
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: once again made clear all of these proposals we just
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: talked about are contingent on players agreeing to a salary cap,
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: a system that guts player rights and compensation, as well
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: as its other anti-player proposals. So, you know, you were
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: excited about this sort of back and forth, and in
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: the end, the fire hose came out and doused any
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: flame of optimism. It's gone.
• 40:36
  Speaker 3: That was a good five-minute conversation, though.
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: At least we got better. It was.
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: It was.
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: I love the idea, Ravi.
• 40:47
  Speaker 3: I want to take that and run with that. How
• 40:49
  Speaker 3: can we get that to Manfred, man? You got Rob Self.
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: I'll text him. I got an idea. How about fans
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: select which team the higher seed gets to play? See
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: how he feels about that. Last one. Let's just get
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: into just the idea that the Yankees, because it's funny
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: how you talk about fan engagement. whenever they lose, there
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: is a reaction. And there are Yankee fans, if you've
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: traveled at all around the country or if you've traveled
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: the world, it is by far the interlocking N and
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: Y you see more often than any other baseball cap.
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: It's just fact. And whether they're fans or they're fans
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: of New York, who knows? But they like to wear
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: the hat. You know, and here we are again with
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: Aaron Judge, post-game talking about, you know, we're the Yankees.
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: We got to do more. We got to pursue the
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: right player. We got to pursue, you know, the players.
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: We got to spend the money. Unfortunately, he didn't play
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: much this year, and it rings a little hollow when
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: your superstar is saying things like that, and they're not
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: on the field. It stinks. It's awful that he wasn't
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: able to get on the field. The question is, for me,
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: to you, is.
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: They haven't won since 09. There have been a whole
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: bunch of other teams that have won World Series since then.
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: And it's Brian Cashman, who I like a lot and
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: respect a lot, and Aaron Boone, who we love. What's
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: your experience in being in those rooms when the right
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: time to make a change is? And I'm definitely not
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: a make-a-change guy for the sake of change because, as
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: we've seen, Joe Torre... got fired and then he won
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: world series multiple times with the Yankees. Terry Francona went
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: from can't manage to manager of the year. They're the
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: same people. The players are different, but they're the same people.
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: And maybe some of the decisions they make are different
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: because the organization makes different decisions. So what would you
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: do if you were running the Yankees?
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a great question.
• 43:06
  Speaker 3: And I think, Unfortunately, you know this, but I think
• 43:10
  Speaker 3: a lot happens out of just how to how to
• 43:14
  Speaker 3: change public perception. And I think sometimes when teams are
• 43:17
  Speaker 3: pushed into a spot where they they feel like they
• 43:21
  Speaker 3: have to do something, you see this all the time
• 43:23
  Speaker 3: in all sports.
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 43:25
  Speaker 3: You know, the offense isn't working on an NFL team.
• 43:27
  Speaker 3: So the offensive coordinator is fired.
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: There's something that like publicly needs to be done.
• 43:33
  Speaker 3: I personally think it's absolutely crazy to think Cashman doesn't
• 43:37
  Speaker 3: know how to win championships.
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's where I stand on that.
• 43:41
  Speaker 3: I mean, to me, if I'm running organization and I
• 43:45
  Speaker 3: have that decision, maybe there is a time for a change.
• 43:51
  Speaker 2: I'm not in the building.
• 43:51
  Speaker 3: I don't know what those conversations are like, but I mean,
• 43:54
  Speaker 3: I don't think that is the issue. I think he
• 43:58
  Speaker 3: knows how to win championships. I think that's clear. I
• 44:01
  Speaker 3: think Aaron Boone is a really good manager. And I
• 44:04
  Speaker 3: think what it is, is it's short sighted Ravi to
• 44:06
  Speaker 3: think that like one or both of those guys have
• 44:09
  Speaker 3: to go. But I do think it's an organizational sort
• 44:13
  Speaker 3: of a reflection that needs to happen on, you know,
• 44:16
  Speaker 3: this is where we're at. These are our expectations and it's,
• 44:20
  Speaker 3: it hasn't been working. So what do we need to
• 44:22
  Speaker 3: do different? I mean, that to me is maybe the conversation,
• 44:25
  Speaker 3: but I know you know this, but like, publicly, it's
• 44:30
  Speaker 3: a really tough time there right now because they're just
• 44:32
  Speaker 3: calling for everybody.
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: To be out there.
• 44:36
  Speaker 3: I personally would not make those changes if I was
• 44:38
  Speaker 3: running it though. I do not think that those are,
• 44:40
  Speaker 3: I don't think that's the problem. I do think that.
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: There needs to be some organizational restructure on how to
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: go about trying to win it all though.
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I would, I would end it this way. I
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: think it's very difficult having been there for so long
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: for Booney to go in next year and suggest there's
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: a new sheriff in town. Like there's not, it's the
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: same sheriff. Uh, and it's very difficult to change the
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: messaging for the kids out there who have coaches that
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: they know. Um, it's different for a guy to come
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: in and pretend to be somebody else when you're like, well,
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: wait a minute, where's the consistency that we've gotten used to? Um,
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: If there's a new coach, it's a different world because
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: it's a different message. The Rays haven't won a World Series.
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: Kevin Cash is still there. They're getting closer than ever.
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: You know, if they let him go, would they be
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: in this position? So we got a comment here from M.T. Henze.
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: He said, remember the Dodgers were going to fire Dave Roberts.
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: He subsequently has won two in a row. I agree
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: it's not the manager, however. You can't change the culture
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: if you keep the same people because you can't expect
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: those people to pretend to be somebody they're not. And that's,
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: you know, that's the biggest challenge for me. But again,
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: look around. Steven Vogt has done a tremendous job. Will
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: Venable has been like the voice of calm and reason
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: for the White Sox. And we'll see where those two
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: teams go. But Cash and Roberts, phenomenal. And we know
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: what Pat Murphy's done. These guys feel like the right
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: people in the right positions, and only one of them
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: is going to end up hoisting a trophy at the end.
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: Only one. Yeah.
• 46:24
  Speaker 3: I want to share this backdrop, too. I had a
• 46:29
  Speaker 3: good buddy that interviewed for the White Sox managerial opening,
• 46:34
  Speaker 3: and one of his considerations in that, I won't get
• 46:38
  Speaker 3: into who, but one of his considerations in that was,
• 46:42
  Speaker 3: Do we really feel good? As you know, it can
• 46:44
  Speaker 3: be a year or two if you're not winning. So
• 46:46
  Speaker 3: it's like, do I feel good about putting my stamp
• 46:52
  Speaker 3: on myself and this organization with where they're at?
• 46:55
  Speaker 2: So the point is that.
• 46:58
  Speaker 3: With what they're doing there, it can really flip in
• 47:02
  Speaker 3: a hurry too though, Rabby. If we were talking about
• 47:05
  Speaker 3: the White Sox a year, two years ago, think about
• 47:09
  Speaker 3: where they were at. you know, and think about where
• 47:12
  Speaker 3: they're at now. So, you know, it's, it's, there are some,
• 47:16
  Speaker 3: some things that I think these organizations are doing. I
• 47:18
  Speaker 3: do get your point on the Yankees. I, I, I understand,
• 47:22
  Speaker 3: you know, sort of like the, the change and, you know,
• 47:25
  Speaker 3: wanting maybe a fresh look. I can kind of, I
• 47:28
  Speaker 3: kind of see what you're saying there, but I just
• 47:30
  Speaker 3: think it's crazy to say that Aaron.
• 47:33
  Speaker 2: Boone is the problem. For example, he's not, he's not
• 47:37
  Speaker 2: the problem.
• 47:37
  Speaker 3: So, I mean, I just, I think we look at these,
• 47:41
  Speaker 3: these managers sometimes and think, you know, that's the issue.
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: And, and it's crazy.
• 47:46
  Speaker 3: Like you talked about Tori, you know, it's like, I mean,
• 47:49
  Speaker 3: it's these, we have so many examples of managers that
• 47:52
  Speaker 3: didn't win, go to a new place and they win
• 47:55
  Speaker 3: and they're, and then they go to a new place
• 47:56
  Speaker 3: and they lose. And like, it has a lot more,
• 47:59
  Speaker 3: I mean, obviously they have to have talent and they
• 48:00
  Speaker 3: have to have skill, but, I just think we placed
• 48:03
  Speaker 3: too much blame and there's so much turnover on the
• 48:06
  Speaker 3: manager position that I don't love that, man. I think
• 48:09
  Speaker 3: it's just, it's foolish to think that that's what's going
• 48:12
  Speaker 3: to change the team.
• 48:13
  Speaker 2: Sometimes it works though. We've seen it this year.
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: So yeah. All right. Fun. Enjoy the White Sox and
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: the Guardians, Justin. Next Thursday, three o'clock Eastern time, I
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: believe we'll have David Cohen, five-time world series champion on.
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: He'll be a great listen for folks at the parent
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: dugout who want to hear about his journey. He's had
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: a unique journey. And one more time, everything that a
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: baseball parent needs is at theparentdugout.com. You can find it there.
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: You just enjoy the games. We'll talk next week, buddy. Thanks, Ravi.