Latest / Foul Territory / Tigers manager A.J. Hinch joins FT

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Tigers manager A.J. Hinch joins FT · Foul Territory

0:06
Speaker 1: It's Tiger's manager A J. Hinch joining us on FT.
0:09
Speaker 1: Good to see you, Aj, and what a week for
0:13
Speaker 1: your team?
0:14
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
0:15
Speaker 1: First off, thanks for joining us. But i'll just get
0:17
Speaker 1: your description of the week in Tigers baseball. We'll start
0:20
Speaker 1: with Frambourg in a moment.
0:21
Speaker 3: But just what kind of week is this for you?
0:23
Speaker 1: First week of February supposed to be kind of chill,
0:25
Speaker 1: last week with the fam right a.
0:28
Speaker 3: Little bit, you know, it hasn't been. I mean, that's
0:31
Speaker 3: what we've been busy. You know. I just got to
0:33
Speaker 3: Lakeland today and ran into a bunch of our guys
0:38
Speaker 3: and and there's a little bit of energy around our team,
0:41
Speaker 3: and you know we're getting better. I mean, there are
0:43
Speaker 3: some things I can talk about, some things I can't,
0:45
Speaker 3: but I I love this time of year when you
0:49
Speaker 3: feel like it was a productive offseason, you made some additions,
0:53
Speaker 3: you you come in with a with a real chance
0:56
Speaker 3: to have a good team. And now I just want
0:58
Speaker 3: everybody to get here and get underway next week after
1:02
Speaker 3: what you know, super Bowl weekend is always kind of
1:04
Speaker 3: that last hang time, whether you're you're already a spring
1:08
Speaker 3: training or or home.
1:10
Speaker 2: You're really good at measuring the pulse or taking the
1:13
Speaker 2: pulse of a team. Do you feel like that energy
1:16
Speaker 2: from the guys you talk to or the guys that
1:17
Speaker 2: you've seen is different now that the Terek thing happened
1:22
Speaker 2: and the rumors they're just rumors about a free agent
1:26
Speaker 2: left handed pitcher. I know he's not official yet, But
1:29
Speaker 2: do you feel like the pulses or the the energy
1:32
Speaker 2: is different.
1:34
Speaker 3: I think I think for this particular offseason. Yes, obviously
1:39
Speaker 3: there's been a lot of talk around our team. There's
1:42
Speaker 3: been a lot of talk about Terrek and and his situation.
1:45
Speaker 3: And by the way, like when those situations come up,
1:49
Speaker 3: I think we need to remind everybody that the players
1:52
Speaker 3: earn the right to that to that process. Like I
1:55
Speaker 3: I understand how how volatile it can be and sometimes
1:58
Speaker 3: never went through arbitration, but I know so I know
2:01
Speaker 3: a lot of players who have. But I that's part
2:04
Speaker 3: of growing up as a big leaguer, and only the
2:06
Speaker 3: select few really get to that powerful position to be
2:10
Speaker 3: able to go through it at that at that stage
2:12
Speaker 3: of their career. So, but it's not part of what
2:15
Speaker 3: we're doing in the clubhouse, or what we're doing building
2:18
Speaker 3: a team, or our banter or our techs or our conversations,
2:22
Speaker 3: the business side that separates itself out. But the energy
2:27
Speaker 3: around our team is because I think for you know,
2:31
Speaker 3: last year was similar this year, like there's an expectation
2:34
Speaker 3: to win and there's an expectation to be better and
2:38
Speaker 3: better is pretty good off of the last two seasons
2:40
Speaker 3: that we've been able to put together and experience postseason baseball,
2:43
Speaker 3: and you got guys that come back that want to
2:46
Speaker 3: want to be a part of it, you know, like
2:48
Speaker 3: Glabor and Jack and and Finny and that that makes
2:52
Speaker 3: me feel good as a manager. And we have some
2:54
Speaker 3: young prospects in their first big league camp that's cool.
2:57
Speaker 3: And we're headlined by by Terrek, who's who's put together
3:02
Speaker 3: two of the most historic seasons in an organization and
3:05
Speaker 3: across baseball. So there's a lot to like about what
3:08
Speaker 3: we're doing. And now we're at the bottom of the mountain.
3:10
Speaker 3: Got to climb up again and see if we can
3:12
Speaker 3: win this division.
3:14
Speaker 1: A Jay, I know this is going to be difficult
3:17
Speaker 1: to answer, but you're a former player and you have
3:19
Speaker 1: reaped the benefit of one of, if not the best
3:22
Speaker 1: pitcher in baseball. Yeah, we can have the schoons, the
3:25
Speaker 1: skiing s Google conversation. So from this past week with
3:28
Speaker 1: the arbitration hearing, do you have a rooting interest, Like
3:32
Speaker 1: how did you view this thing? Because you know him,
3:34
Speaker 1: you love him, you want them to get paid. You're
3:36
Speaker 1: a former player, you also work for the team, and
3:39
Speaker 1: you want the team to spend on free agents, which
3:41
Speaker 1: seems like it's happening anyway, So how did you view
3:44
Speaker 1: this case?
3:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I want I want the players to
3:50
Speaker 3: get their due and I want teams trying to win
3:53
Speaker 3: the World Series, right, So like those are those are
3:55
Speaker 3: two things that are aligned all the time. And what
3:59
Speaker 3: I love about Terrek, you know, I was with them
4:01
Speaker 3: a couple of weeks ago with you guys in in
4:04
Speaker 3: New York City when he got the cy young I was,
4:06
Speaker 3: you know, he and I text quite a bit and
4:08
Speaker 3: and have some banter that we go back and forth about.
4:10
Speaker 3: And I it just has been separated from from what
4:14
Speaker 3: we're doing. And so like it's part of the business,
4:17
Speaker 3: it's part of growing up, you know. There it's easy
4:20
Speaker 3: to get hardened by the by the process of growing
4:23
Speaker 3: through you know, the pre R years, so the RB
4:26
Speaker 3: years to the potential of free agency. And I've seen
4:28
Speaker 3: it in my day across from when I was in
4:31
Speaker 3: Houston with a bunch of guys that now have gone
4:33
Speaker 3: on to make hundreds of millions of dollars. And what
4:36
Speaker 3: I what I love about Terrek is he's handling it
4:38
Speaker 3: like a true pro. Like he is. He is getting
4:42
Speaker 3: his work in at six o'clock in the morning with
4:43
Speaker 3: Justin Wakefield and the boys in Arizona. He's scheduled his
4:47
Speaker 3: flight to come out here and join the group in Lakeland,
4:50
Speaker 3: and he's got the business aspect, you know, going on
4:54
Speaker 3: in the background, and and he's doing his part. So
4:57
Speaker 3: I was rooting for just dead straight communication and let
5:02
Speaker 3: it go where the where the process goes while maintaining
5:06
Speaker 3: the culture and the idea that we have a kick
5:09
Speaker 3: ass team. He's a huge part of it. We got
5:11
Speaker 3: to turn turn the off season page into the regular season,
5:15
Speaker 3: and now we can knowing that Terror can pick up
5:18
Speaker 3: another bill or two.
5:20
Speaker 2: I have a two part, Yes, he definitely has to
5:22
Speaker 2: pick up the bill. I have a two part based
5:25
Speaker 2: on what you just said, have you ever seen anybody
5:28
Speaker 2: and can you tell who or can you tell me
5:30
Speaker 2: who it compares to as far as somebody who I've
5:33
Speaker 2: heard you say in other interviews separates the business and
5:37
Speaker 2: the baseball Nobody does it better than Scooble. Who would
5:40
Speaker 2: that be that did it just as well or close
5:44
Speaker 2: to it? And we need to know what some of
5:47
Speaker 2: those texts sounded like on that thread between you two
5:50
Speaker 2: before and after the hearing.
5:54
Speaker 3: So that the guy that I mean a very similar
5:57
Speaker 3: situation was Garrett Cole in Houston into the nineteen I mean,
6:01
Speaker 3: he was on the cusp of hitting free agency and
6:05
Speaker 3: he now has turned that into a major contract with
6:08
Speaker 3: the Yankees, and he was a cy young runner up
6:12
Speaker 3: I believe that year to Justin Verlander, who was also
6:15
Speaker 3: on our staff. So those two guys were huge and
6:19
Speaker 3: introducing me on like what that level of player and
6:23
Speaker 3: that level of star pitcher, what he goes through every
6:28
Speaker 3: five I think like his position players, it's a it's
6:31
Speaker 3: a little bit of an everyday mentality that you bring.
6:34
Speaker 3: You know, you bring your your bat and your glove
6:36
Speaker 3: to work and you get to play pitchers don't. So
6:38
Speaker 3: those those premium starts, in those premium years are are
6:43
Speaker 3: pretty unique, right like thirty two, thirty three, thirty four,
6:45
Speaker 3: hopefully thirty eight stars or whatever it takes to win
6:48
Speaker 3: the World Series. It's a little bit different for a
6:50
Speaker 3: pitcher than the position player who plays every day. So
6:54
Speaker 3: those two to me were huge. And you know, the
6:58
Speaker 3: thing I talked to Trek about aft or the hearing
7:01
Speaker 3: was you know, now are you ready to go, you know,
7:04
Speaker 3: win the Central and try to win the World Series?
7:06
Speaker 3: And he was, you know, in a few exclamation marks,
7:09
Speaker 3: was ready to go. And and we'll be down here
7:11
Speaker 3: this weekend. So you know, I my job in this
7:15
Speaker 3: as the manager is to is to continue to push
7:18
Speaker 3: him and continue to build an environment that has that
7:22
Speaker 3: has helped him at the very least thrive in in
7:25
Speaker 3: being Trek Scooble and being the dominant pitcher that he is.
7:28
Speaker 3: And so we get right to work if that's going
7:31
Speaker 3: to have a player plan for him on how we're
7:33
Speaker 3: going to continue to push him. He's been doing the bullpens.
7:36
Speaker 3: We're going to line up his his his work in spring,
7:39
Speaker 3: so he's ready for the for the you know, when
7:40
Speaker 3: he leaves Good Team USA for WBC, like we're we're
7:44
Speaker 3: here on the field and in the trenches to like
7:47
Speaker 3: keep that environment you know, you know, can conducive to
7:51
Speaker 3: to success and winning. And he's all about it.
7:55
Speaker 4: Yeah, I want to you brought up the World Baseball Classic,
7:57
Speaker 4: any concerns about him going there, and it's just gonna
8:01
Speaker 4: let him be and do what he has to do.
8:03
Speaker 3: I think we all have concerns at the time of
8:05
Speaker 3: the year for all of our guys. You know, I
8:07
Speaker 3: saw earlier today. I think I don't know if we're
8:10
Speaker 3: in the top ten. We have ten twelve guys who
8:12
Speaker 3: are going to the WBC, and they pick a lot
8:17
Speaker 3: of your good ones, right, Like we have a lot
8:18
Speaker 3: of good players on our team. But you know, the
8:21
Speaker 3: pitching getting ramped up that fast, Like I love the
8:23
Speaker 3: theater of Otani versus Trout, and you know, there's downside
8:28
Speaker 3: to potential, what can happen. It's good for baseball, but
8:31
Speaker 3: the timing of it always makes us a little bit nervous.
8:34
Speaker 3: Now a video Scoople throwing like ninety eight miles an hour,
8:38
Speaker 3: fitting in throwing ninety nine miles an hour, Like we
8:40
Speaker 3: have guys going live vps today. You know, Troy Melton,
8:43
Speaker 3: one of our young young pitchers, is in town. Like
8:46
Speaker 3: these guys are getting after it. Compared to how we
8:50
Speaker 3: used to ramp into spring training back in the day,
8:52
Speaker 3: it was a little bit of a slower pace, So
8:55
Speaker 3: maybe less concern knowing that these guys are already at
8:59
Speaker 3: full speed. But it's a lot to ask, and you
9:03
Speaker 3: just don't want anybody on my team or anybody else's
9:06
Speaker 3: team to to come back, come back, beat up.
9:09
Speaker 4: Was there ever any concern about a particular team throwing
9:14
Speaker 4: their top ten farm System guys they're best guys that
9:18
Speaker 4: get rid of.
9:18
Speaker 3: Tarik school Ball. I mean, were you ever concerned about that?
9:20
Speaker 4: Because I know there's a bunch of teams that would
9:22
Speaker 4: do probably anything to get a picture like that.
9:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I think the thing it's, you know,
9:27
Speaker 3: it's obviously flattering when you can upgrade every single team
9:30
Speaker 3: like he literally you know, like I said, there's tons
9:33
Speaker 3: of good pictures, you know, Skiings and Crochet and Wheeler
9:36
Speaker 3: and and guys that are amazing pictures. But Trek Scooble,
9:40
Speaker 3: you know, is it walks in the room and and
9:43
Speaker 3: it's a huge presence, and so you know, I always
9:46
Speaker 3: took it as like I have the best job in baseball.
9:48
Speaker 3: I get to put Terrek Scooble on the mountain, you know,
9:50
Speaker 3: in San Diego on day one and as many times
9:54
Speaker 3: as as we can get them on the mound and
9:56
Speaker 3: and and get as many wins as we can, so
9:58
Speaker 3: I you know, obviously you try to stay away from
10:03
Speaker 3: the rumor mill. And and of course people are going
10:05
Speaker 3: to express interests Trek Scooble like he people should want
10:08
Speaker 3: him on your team, But he's a Tiger. And I'm
10:11
Speaker 3: really happy that that he was able to navigate all
10:15
Speaker 3: of this offseason with relative eas and a ton of
10:17
Speaker 3: class and and and ultimately get focused on on next season.
10:22
Speaker 2: All right, one last scoobl question for me. You said
10:26
Speaker 2: your job as the manager and coaches is to motivate
10:30
Speaker 2: Terrek Scouble. What's one thing that motivates him? You know,
10:33
Speaker 2: some guys it's candy, other guys it's contracts. What motivates him.
10:39
Speaker 2: And I've seen you navigate it with bad players, and
10:42
Speaker 2: I've seen you navigate it with elite Hall of Fame players.
10:47
Speaker 3: So he needs feedback like you can't. You can't bs
10:50
Speaker 3: this dude like he needs like when you take him
10:53
Speaker 3: out of the game and you know, maybe he's had
10:57
Speaker 3: a rocky start, which it happens like two or three
10:59
Speaker 3: times year where he's just not quite feeling it or
11:02
Speaker 3: not quite punching out the world. Or whatever, Like he
11:04
Speaker 3: wants you to kind of punch him in the face
11:06
Speaker 3: and tell him that he's stunk that day, or you
11:08
Speaker 3: didn't like the way he did this, or you didn't
11:10
Speaker 3: like the way. He needs feedback, And so motivating him
11:12
Speaker 3: is hitting him, you know, dead dead straight with with
11:16
Speaker 3: the information that you have and what you're doing, and
11:20
Speaker 3: what the expectations are, why you're doing what you're doing,
11:23
Speaker 3: and and getting him into his routine and his process.
11:26
Speaker 3: So I I love that about him because like there
11:28
Speaker 3: are there are times where you you want to pat
11:31
Speaker 3: him on the back and just hand the ball to
11:33
Speaker 3: will Vest or hand the ball to Holt and or
11:34
Speaker 3: hand the ball to Finnegan or or ken Lee, but
11:38
Speaker 3: you know, and protect a little bit of what what
11:41
Speaker 3: Terrek is all about. But he needs, he needs feedback
11:45
Speaker 3: and that that to me, is the biggest fuel for
11:47
Speaker 3: him on getting him back into his routine for the
11:50
Speaker 3: next start.
11:52
Speaker 1: Okay, we're going to go to a different pitcher. And
11:54
Speaker 1: I know I mentioned him earlier and agent, you know,
11:57
Speaker 1: I've been in media for a minute at this point,
11:59
Speaker 1: and I know how to dance around this perfectly. I
12:01
Speaker 1: know how the rules work to a t Okay, So
12:03
Speaker 1: you trust me on this one. Tell me about your
12:06
Speaker 1: thoughts of fran Bervaldez as a pitcher, give me the
12:10
Speaker 1: scattering report, what you like about him. You're allowed to
12:12
Speaker 1: talk about any player in baseball. We're not talking about money,
12:15
Speaker 1: your business. We're just tell me how you view this
12:18
Speaker 1: player on the field and your experiences with him off
12:21
Speaker 1: the field.
12:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's tough to be, you know. I mean, he's
12:24
Speaker 3: he does a lot of things that that we love
12:28
Speaker 3: here right Like, he pounds his own, he gets the
12:30
Speaker 3: ball on the ground, he doesn't give up homers. He
12:33
Speaker 3: you know, he he he puts in the innings, but
12:37
Speaker 3: not just innings, but quality that come with it. And
12:39
Speaker 3: so the fact that he's been able to post year
12:43
Speaker 3: after year and and and continue to perform and continue
12:47
Speaker 3: to keep the ball on the ground and continue to
12:49
Speaker 3: evolve and adapt with it. He's got a ton of
12:51
Speaker 3: really good pitches. It's not sort of a one trick pony.
12:54
Speaker 3: So I I love what he brings to the to
12:57
Speaker 3: the to the mound with them. And we you know,
12:59
Speaker 3: we beat him a couple of years ago in the
13:00
Speaker 3: playoff game in the Wildcard series, specifically because we tried
13:04
Speaker 3: to just take away what he does best, which is
13:08
Speaker 3: try to get you to launch and try to get
13:10
Speaker 3: you to to pull the ball, and you know he
13:13
Speaker 3: comes back for more the next the next time, next
13:15
Speaker 3: go round. So I you know, I had him as
13:17
Speaker 3: a young player. I respect him, I trust him. I
13:21
Speaker 3: know that he can. He wants the ball and he
13:24
Speaker 3: wants to be great. That's one of the things that
13:26
Speaker 3: I that I learned about him early on. And you know,
13:30
Speaker 3: I'm looking forward to the resolution of this obviously, And
13:33
Speaker 3: there's no secret that that that he's a He's a
13:36
Speaker 3: major upgrade to any team and would be an upgrade
13:38
Speaker 3: to us.
13:40
Speaker 2: How do you navigate a player who has that energy,
13:44
Speaker 2: that fire and then has the situation where you know,
13:47
Speaker 2: with saysar sALS, are you being a next catcher getting
13:50
Speaker 2: crossed up or not getting crossed up? How do you
13:52
Speaker 2: navigate that with a player with the relationship that you've
13:56
Speaker 2: had with him, with that type of player in in
14:01
Speaker 2: your career.
14:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I take it back to like when
14:04
Speaker 3: you and I were together. You know I and I
14:07
Speaker 3: know you you know me, and like we both want
14:10
Speaker 3: like direct communication, right, like there's no dancing around anything,
14:16
Speaker 3: Like when you came on our team. You know you
14:19
Speaker 3: in Houston when I had you, you were you knew
14:21
Speaker 3: your role, you knew your what your situation was, you
14:23
Speaker 3: knew that the game is always a little bit unfair,
14:26
Speaker 3: especially to us backup catcher types. And you're like, but
14:29
Speaker 3: you just wanted informa. You want feedback, You want like
14:31
Speaker 3: be dead with me, be dead straight with me. Hey,
14:33
Speaker 3: shoot it out. You know what do you think? And
14:35
Speaker 3: so that's how I handle all these situations, which is
14:39
Speaker 3: like I look you in the eye and tell you
14:41
Speaker 3: what I think, and you're gonna look me and eye
14:43
Speaker 3: and tell me what you think, and then we're gonna
14:45
Speaker 3: find common ground on whatever happens and what you're gonna
14:49
Speaker 3: what you're gonna do about it. So like to me,
14:51
Speaker 3: finding a path to understanding each other in each other's
14:57
Speaker 3: perspective goes a long way in conflict, whether it's this
15:00
Speaker 3: situation or any other situation. And that's the communication art
15:05
Speaker 3: that comes with, you know, being in the clubhouse twenty
15:08
Speaker 3: four to seven and being around all sorts of different
15:10
Speaker 3: type of players who are motivated differently, or communicate differently,
15:14
Speaker 3: or have different thoughts like give them the floor, man,
15:17
Speaker 3: give them a chance, and rely on that trust that
15:21
Speaker 3: you build over time in the game that good things
15:24
Speaker 3: can happen moving forward.
15:27
Speaker 2: Is there a concerted effort in spring training for your
15:30
Speaker 2: team to score runs differently than you guys did it
15:34
Speaker 2: last year because you weren't able to bring in the
15:37
Speaker 2: massive offensive upgrade is what everybody's going to talk about.
15:40
Speaker 2: But you still have really good hitters. But you guys
15:43
Speaker 2: did strike out in the second half. You guys didn't
15:46
Speaker 2: score as many runs going culminating in the final game
15:50
Speaker 2: of your season, went for a lot of innings and
15:52
Speaker 2: you didn't score runs. Is there going to be a
15:54
Speaker 2: concerted effort to do something that is maybe just a
15:58
Speaker 2: minor tweak that makes a major adjustment.
16:02
Speaker 3: Uh? Probably. I mean, we're always gonna look for more.
16:04
Speaker 3: I mean, I we did score the most runs in
16:06
Speaker 3: in in Tiger's history for the last decade, like last year.
16:10
Speaker 3: Like we have a good team, we have a good offense,
16:13
Speaker 3: so I I know, we had a really tough stretch,
16:15
Speaker 3: you know, towards the tail end of the season. And
16:17
Speaker 3: then when you do it that way, the narrative seems
16:21
Speaker 3: to run in the other way a little maybe too far,
16:24
Speaker 3: Like we were top eleven offense. I believe we were
16:26
Speaker 3: top ten all year until the very end, and the
16:30
Speaker 3: swing and miss got us some of those games in
16:32
Speaker 3: the playoffs. You know that pitching we were facing wasn't terrible.
16:35
Speaker 3: They're pretty good, and so you know, these long, long
16:38
Speaker 3: games against the best teams aren't necessarily in the indication
16:41
Speaker 3: on whether you're a good offense or not. And we
16:43
Speaker 3: need growth and development. We need to we need to
16:46
Speaker 3: cut down on a few of the strikeouts, of course,
16:48
Speaker 3: but we we also see some emerging players who are
16:52
Speaker 3: probably gonna be a little better than they were last
16:54
Speaker 3: year based on how their offseasons have gone. We're gonna
16:57
Speaker 3: continue to chip away at being a tough offense. It
17:00
Speaker 3: hits the ball hard in the air. We need to
17:02
Speaker 3: pick the right pitches we you know, we need to. Obviously,
17:05
Speaker 3: ball and play is going to be is gonna be
17:07
Speaker 3: key for us, But our players deserve credit for what
17:10
Speaker 3: we actually did, not necessarily how we did it. But
17:14
Speaker 3: we we have a good team and we were one
17:16
Speaker 3: of the better offenses for the vast majority of the season.
17:21
Speaker 3: Just doesn't feel like it when the season ends the
17:23
Speaker 3: way it is. The lead the lead ends the way
17:25
Speaker 3: it does. The playoffs ended in a fifteen inning grueling.
17:29
Speaker 3: Just score me one more one and we're playing in Toronto.
17:33
Speaker 3: Totally get it, But that doesn't mean that we were
17:36
Speaker 3: a colossal bad offense that can't score.
17:39
Speaker 4: Two youngsters that are going to big league camp, Kevin
17:42
Speaker 4: mcgonagal and Max Clark talked to me a little about them,
17:46
Speaker 4: and where do you see them, you know, fitting in
17:48
Speaker 4: this twenty twenty sixth year.
17:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, I just saw them today. So it's what Friday
17:53
Speaker 3: before a Wednesday pitchers and catchers, which is then another
17:57
Speaker 3: four or five days until position players report, and those
18:00
Speaker 3: two kids are here in Lakeland. They were taking live
18:03
Speaker 3: VP off a couple of our pitchers. So like, that's
18:06
Speaker 3: a good start, right, If you're gonna come to camp
18:08
Speaker 3: that early and get after it, that's pretty impressive. So
18:12
Speaker 3: I love these kids and the energy they bring. And
18:15
Speaker 3: you know, the reputations are obviously out there. There are
18:17
Speaker 3: no more secrets anymore when it comes to these prospects.
18:19
Speaker 3: They get a ton of attention, a ton of love,
18:22
Speaker 3: and deservedly so for what they're doing. So I gotta
18:26
Speaker 3: get them to be themselves this spring. Like the guys
18:29
Speaker 3: we brought to camp are the high energy, high performers,
18:33
Speaker 3: guys having a good time. They're good baseball players. They're
18:36
Speaker 3: gonna walk into a major league clubhouse and maybe a
18:39
Speaker 3: little bit more nervous than they've been before when you
18:42
Speaker 3: look over and see Glabor and Hobby and ken Lee
18:44
Speaker 3: and Tarek and Jack and the boys. But I got
18:48
Speaker 3: to get those guys comfortable, you know, with this group
18:51
Speaker 3: of players, and then see what they can do. I mean,
18:54
Speaker 3: the better you play, the more you play, the better
18:56
Speaker 3: you play that the faster these timelines get going. And
18:59
Speaker 3: so there's a a little bit more increased pressure on
19:02
Speaker 3: these guys to show up and be good because of
19:04
Speaker 3: the attention they're getting. But I just want them to
19:06
Speaker 3: soak up our environment, our culture, the continuous learning, the
19:10
Speaker 3: hang with the with the with the boys they've watched
19:12
Speaker 3: play in the playoffs, and and see if they fit in,
19:15
Speaker 3: see where they fit in, and and and see what
19:18
Speaker 3: they can do to help contribute to a win. That's
19:21
Speaker 3: like a productive camp. And both of those two guys,
19:24
Speaker 3: along with a handful of other prospects who are with us,
19:27
Speaker 3: will we'll we'll make an impression. For sure.
19:30
Speaker 2: You're not a scripted person at all, but the day
19:33
Speaker 2: one meeting when everybody's in town. You know, pictures and
19:36
Speaker 2: catchers show up, and you're like, I'll talk with you
19:38
Speaker 2: guys when pictures and catchers show up them is your meeting?
19:42
Speaker 2: Is your speech after you introduce all the assistance, to
19:46
Speaker 2: the assistance, to the general manager, to the all that stuff,
19:50
Speaker 2: is your meeting going to be over under two and
19:53
Speaker 2: a half minutes because we're betting right now on the
19:55
Speaker 2: national anthem for the super Bowl? So is your meeting
19:59
Speaker 2: and your speech gonna be over or under two and
20:01
Speaker 2: a half minutes over? It'll be over, but it'll be
20:05
Speaker 2: under what people think. But it'll be over because I
20:08
Speaker 2: got a few things I want to show them to you.
20:10
Speaker 2: I'm gonna there's a video component of my of my
20:13
Speaker 2: first day that I want to show him something, so
20:15
Speaker 2: that that's gonna that's gonna take up probably two of
20:19
Speaker 2: those minutes. And I got a few extra things to
20:22
Speaker 2: say that may take me over the thirty extra seconds.
20:24
Speaker 2: Can you give us a sneak speak of what the
20:26
Speaker 2: video is?
20:27
Speaker 3: Now? The only person I shared with is my friend
20:30
Speaker 3: right here, Taykab.
20:32
Speaker 2: I was gonna ask you. I was gonna ask Todd
20:34
Speaker 2: if he knew who that was. Dang it, that's question.
20:39
Speaker 3: You didn't think I knew who that was? Dude, I
20:42
Speaker 3: know you didn't know who that was. Here we go.
20:44
Speaker 3: I got to bring this story back to lights. So
20:47
Speaker 3: this is in my office in Lakeland, and and there's
20:49
Speaker 3: a there. It's it's cracked. You can see there's a
20:52
Speaker 3: little cut. Do you guys know that story of how
20:54
Speaker 3: that how it was damaged? No? No, so as Led
21:00
Speaker 3: has told me, now, I wasn't there, but as as
21:03
Speaker 3: the legend has grown, none other than Jim Leland did
21:07
Speaker 3: not love the way that his team was playing at
21:09
Speaker 3: one point, and apparently a spike was thrown it at
21:13
Speaker 3: Ty Cobb. So you know, I'll try to confirm it
21:18
Speaker 3: again This spring was when when Jimbo comes down to
21:20
Speaker 3: spring training, but he saved down to No. This picture's
21:25
Speaker 3: been in in uh, in this office for probably since
21:28
Speaker 3: this this place was built. But Jim Leland has his
21:31
Speaker 3: fingerprints all over it.
21:33
Speaker 1: That makes it more valuable. It's a tip photo in
21:37
Speaker 1: the Tiger's facility and it's got the Leland component. All right,
21:40
Speaker 1: I got one more for you. I don't want to
21:42
Speaker 1: say it's hard hitting. I just wanted to get your
21:44
Speaker 1: take on this overall WBC. You've got Hobby bias. Recently
21:48
Speaker 1: we learned he can't play because of a marijuana suspension,
21:51
Speaker 1: which does not exist in baseball, and I'll say you
21:54
Speaker 1: don't have to, but many players go that route. So, uh,
21:57
Speaker 1: your thoughts on Puerto Rico, I'll kind of spin it
22:01
Speaker 1: that way too. They've really gone through it. And as
22:04
Speaker 1: it just a fan from the outside, that's the game
22:06
Speaker 1: that I play. It sucks because they're missing so many
22:09
Speaker 1: guys and it's just you're getting one story after another
22:12
Speaker 1: with this team not being able to put their best
22:14
Speaker 1: guys on the field. So what do you think about it?
22:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm bummed because I I want our best players
22:20
Speaker 3: across all of these countries to be represented. And that
22:25
Speaker 3: is such a fun team, you know, I I I
22:28
Speaker 3: grew closer to it. I had Alex Cora on my
22:30
Speaker 3: staff in Houston. Correa was obviously there and and you know,
22:34
Speaker 3: I've gotten to know Lindor over the years. I hear
22:36
Speaker 3: I manage Hobby and Joey Korra and janiev as two
22:39
Speaker 3: of my staff members are going to be on that
22:41
Speaker 3: coaching staff, and that to me, that that that's the
22:45
Speaker 3: that's the environment that that is so fun about our sport,
22:48
Speaker 3: and so I listen. I don't have to pay out
22:50
Speaker 3: the contracts and the insurance and all that stuff, but
22:53
Speaker 3: I I love the the when when you see the
22:57
Speaker 3: passion that's played amongst these countries, and and I do
23:00
Speaker 3: encourage guys to play when they can, when they're healthy
23:04
Speaker 3: and win it all. You know, check mark every box
23:06
Speaker 3: you have to, because it's it's unique.
23:08
Speaker 2: I have.
23:09
Speaker 3: I got to play in the ninety six Olympics. It
23:11
Speaker 3: forever as a memory in my life. Putting the USA
23:14
Speaker 3: across my chest and in Puerto Rico for me, such
23:18
Speaker 3: a rich history, especially this year with Carlos Beltron getting
23:22
Speaker 3: in the Hall of Fame like it. You know, it's
23:24
Speaker 3: gonna be missing something by not having you know, their
23:28
Speaker 3: best team available to them, and it's the nature of
23:31
Speaker 3: the rules. I get it. I don't have to pay
23:32
Speaker 3: it out, but I'm gonna miss it. Yeah, I'm with you.
23:36
Speaker 1: I know you're just a huge fan of the game too,
23:38
Speaker 1: and you'll be keeping an eye on those while you're
23:40
Speaker 1: running spring training, right, you got the Knights to watch WBC.
23:43
Speaker 1: So yeah, that one hits when I just see the
23:46
Speaker 1: names racking up I'm like, Damn Lindor Bias Correa. It's
23:50
Speaker 1: just that team could could shock the world, right, So
23:54
Speaker 1: a J, you're the man. Thank you so much for
23:56
Speaker 1: joining us. We really enjoy this. Appreciate it before things
23:59
Speaker 1: get really crazy for you, and you'll see some of
24:02
Speaker 1: us in camp. I think Prazinski's got your camp. So
24:05
Speaker 1: the AJ battle, you'll see Orlando.
24:08
Speaker 3: You know, he doesn't straight too far out of Orlando,
24:10
Speaker 3: so I don't blame him exactly.
24:12
Speaker 1: Easy commute to hit for him to Lakeland. So thank you, AJ.
24:15
Speaker 1: Enjoy the weekend. We'll talk to you soon.
24:17
Speaker 2: See Yeah,