Latest / The 3-0 Take / USA Loses WBC Final, But Baseball WINS (Instant Reaction)

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USA Loses WBC Final, But Baseball WINS (Instant Reaction) · The 3-0 Take

0:00
Like where does, where does the US go from here?
0:04
Like I, I don't know that you can 2 questions where like where
0:10
do we go from here? And two, what does this do for
0:17
the commitments moving forward? Because the whole thing this
0:21
time around was we didn't we didn't roll our best line up out
0:24
there. We got to go win this thing for
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the United States. We got to go take gold.
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We roll out what is probably going to be one of the better
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rosters that you're going to be able to find.
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They've they come up short. Do we then now swing the
0:41
pendulum the other way and guys be like, I don't know, I mean,
0:44
we couldn't get it done with that.
0:47
I don't know if I'm really particularly interested in doing
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the whole rah rah, let's try to go win it for country thing next
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time around. If we couldn't do it with this,
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what like, where do we go? Well, I, I think it did more for
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other countries than it did for us.
1:01
Like you just watched Italy go for a run.
1:04
You just watched Venezuela, obviously win it and go for a
1:06
run, take out Japan in in that stretch, right?
1:10
Like you watch other countries that just go and, and, and did
1:14
their thing. And I think it made probably
1:17
more players feel like, wow, I can go represent that country
1:20
now feeling like we actually have a shot.
1:23
I think if USA won that and pulled it out and like, yeah, it
1:26
would have been great for USA, but it probably would have been
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put like a damper on other other players for other countries in a
1:33
way. Same with Japan.
1:35
I think if Japan repeated other countries are just being like,
1:38
well, what's the point? I think that now, like, I don't
1:41
know. I mean, like, sick for baseball,
1:44
I'm upset, but like, sick for baseball, you know what I mean?
1:49
You just watched. You just watched the how old
1:51
catcher right in a Sally Perez. You just like you, you see, like
1:57
AI don't know, Ronald Rocuni has like slipped off of like the
2:02
perennial MVP vote and now he's like somewhat of an underdog
2:07
story. You got Glaber Torres who never
2:10
panned out as a good Yankee. You got you know what I mean?
2:13
Like you have all these underdogs for this team.
2:15
Venezuela just came out and won this thing.
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It's like, I think this says players of all ages, of all
2:22
origins saying, you know what, screw it, I'll go play for my
2:25
country and we might pull it out.
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I think that's I mean that's one of the biggest things I think
2:32
that baseball definitely wins this year.
2:35
This was the most competitive Japan going down in in the round
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before this was good for the tournament, right?
2:45
But I think in general, I think this was First off good for the
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WBC in general this year was not, not any results of this,
2:56
but the fact that it was very competitive, the fact that that,
3:00
I mean, outside of Brazil and, you know, a couple of those
3:03
teams that really had no shot at anything anyway, there's,
3:08
there's more than just three teams in this thing right now.
3:11
Yeah, Venezuela's there, Italy's there.
3:14
And you're going to see more of that, right?
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I mean, Mexico's still a good team.
3:18
And you'll you might see more of that too.
3:19
The rules are so loose. Guys want in this tournament.
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Yeah, that's it. That's it.
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They want to play in the they'll play in it wherever they can get
3:28
there. It doesn't matter if they're
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Americans, right? They're going to go play for
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Italy, They're going to go play for Mexico.
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They're going to go play wherever because they can and
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because this is starting to become more and more exciting in
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that way. And I think having a a post
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season atmosphere in March rather than spring training for
3:51
a lot of people who just can't stand spring training, right?
3:54
Erod's crying. Erod's crying getting
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interviewed, you know what I mean?
3:59
Like that's the point. I think something to these guys.
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100% the whole point to your question is where do we go from
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here? I don't know, because I felt
4:07
like this was our shot and now the rest of the world just
4:10
figured out how sick this thing is, and it's probably going to
4:13
get a lot more difficult for USA to get back to the stage.
4:17
That's how I feel. Yeah, but I also think, I also
4:19
think that you're going to, I think that you changed Bryce
4:22
Harper's mind. We already know that you've
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changed Scooble's mind. He's he's said as much.
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I don't think Bryce will be back in it.
4:30
No, but the point is I. Don't know if Judge will be back
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in it. Schwarber's probably not back in
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it. I get what you're saying.
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Yeah. The point is, is that these guys
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are now, they will walk away from this thing as ambassadors
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of this. Yeah.
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Because of the experience that they had this year.
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And and I'm telling you, like Scooble said, I thought this was
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a glorified All Star game. Yeah.
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And now that I'm here, I see that it's something entirely
4:52
different. Yeah.
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So his mind has changed. He was here.
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Bryce Harper. I I I don't know his take on the
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Olympics. He's obviously way higher on the
5:00
Olympics that I am. But the fact that he wasn't even
5:03
there, right? He he he couldn't get past that.
5:06
Well, this isn't this, this is. And now look at what he did
5:09
tonight. You know what I'm saying?
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I just think that there's a lot more guys that are going to be
5:15
interested. The more guys we get into this
5:16
tournament, the better it is. How?
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Loud that. That goes for USA, that goes for
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Venezuela, that goes for Puerto Rico, that goes for all these
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places. Sure.
5:27
But the point is, is that baseball won this month and I
5:33
don't think that you're going to have a hard time.
5:36
It's not going to go backwards. They're going to continue to put
5:39
this roster out here, the US is. You're going to see guys like
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Bobby Witt start talking about it already.
5:47
Obviously Schemes is always going to be in.
5:50
Yeah, I think you have some of these names in.
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I think you have returners in a way, but man, I think the road's
6:00
going to get a lot more difficult because like what?
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Italy was 7580% American born and I know that's not like the
6:09
only, you know what I mean? There's plenty of loopholes to
6:11
be able to go play for whatever country if you don't get in for
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your main one, I think it's going to get a lot more
6:16
difficult. And I bet you look at some of
6:19
these guys and it's like, this got me tuned up for the regular
6:22
season. This got me going more than a
6:25
regular spring training would. And who knows where the
6:28
landscape of baseball is going to be in three years.
6:30
But this thing, we've been saying it, Casey, and I've been
6:34
telling everybody this thing is sick.
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This is one of the coolest things our game does.
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So now you know. This this was far and wide
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double anyone before this, though.
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So, I mean, just just for those out there, but for those out
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there who, who weren't aware, right, Better late to the party.
6:54
Yeah. That, that, you know what I'm
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saying? So, and then, like, I, I mean,
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I've told you guys 2023 was the first time I got into it and
7:01
watched it. So like, you know what I'm
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saying? Like you just you have to, you
7:04
have to know if you're not, if you're not involved.
7:07
I mean, you saw some of the guys in our chat last night.
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Baseball's also a very regional sport.
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Yeah. They care about their team.
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They don't care about any other team.
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It's, it's a very regional sport.
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And and this here what baseball's doing with this
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tournament and what we've seen. Did you see the Pasquantino line
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where he was talking to the kid from Italy or, or at least to,
7:27
you know, speaking to kids in Italy, talking about, hey, I
7:31
mean, we talked about the fact that that was like America #2
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but he's saying, listen, we're doing this for all the kids in
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Italy right now. In 20 years, we want this team
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to be full of kids who were born and raised in Italy.
7:44
You had Cervelli driving all around the country, yeah, in a
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van trying to recruit A15U team, an 18 U team.
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So whoever is in the camp of saying that this doesn't matter
7:59
and this is exhibition baseball, take you freaking hike because
8:02
you just watch grown men cry or Or do you think?
8:06
Do you think E Rod is shedding tears over a spring training
8:09
start against the Giants? No.
8:12
E Rod might have also just thrown the best game of his
8:15
life, dude. It's true, dude.
8:17
He had some gems for the socks but you point taken.
8:20
Yeah, yeah, he. Did No.
8:21
But going back to the point about people's minds being
8:24
changed, look, if you were of the mindset that this was a
8:29
meaningless exhibition and you're like, I couldn't be more
8:32
out on the World Baseball Classic, I don't care about it.
8:36
But you watch these later rounds of the tournament and have since
8:39
changed your mind, That's OK. You don't have to do what we do
8:44
any other situation in life, in society, in the world, where you
8:48
got to, you got to dig deeper into your stance.
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You're allowed to change your mind and say, actually, this is
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pretty sick. I'm going to tune in from pitch
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one next time around. It's OK, we welcome you into
9:02
that, that way of thinking, because this tournament is
9:05
legit. Yeah, baseball should never have
9:08
gatekeepers, right? We, we, the whole point of this
9:11
tournament is to grow the game and, and push it out everywhere.
9:15
And Nate, you said it's going to be a harder Rd. from now on.
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Good. Because you know what else we
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like to do here? We like to earn things.
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Yeah, it's true. Get hungry.
9:29
I I heard a take. I don't even remember where I
9:31
heard it, but I think it was talking about how like the whole
9:36
like you play for the for the name on the front of your
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jersey, not the back. And this was one of those where
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like, actually you kind of do get to play for the name on
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your. Back I said this and somebody
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else that's your. Family like you're playing,
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you're playing for your family of those if there are, you know,
9:53
the Pasquantino, for example, where he talked about it was
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like Pasqua Tontino or something like that.
10:01
And then after they migrated to the Americas, they made it
10:04
Pasquantino. And it's like that, like that
10:07
means something for, you know, your family and your tree like.
10:11
I think that's. There's an aspect to that that
10:13
just that's a box that doesn't get checked during the regular
10:17
season, during a postseason run or even during a World Series
10:20
win. Like this is just a very
10:23
different thing and I love that it's so I think it's I think
10:27
it's perfectly timed every three years I think is perfect.
10:32
And I'm I'm excited to see who returns, what new faces, you
10:38
know, join in. But like, I don't know.
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I don't know how I don't even want that silver medal.
10:45
I wouldn't even want that around my neck.
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Now, I mean, the harder this tournament gets, the more the
10:55
more valuable that that silver medal is.
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I mean, obviously you want to win it, but in when you look
10:59
back in hindsight, I don't like the way that you lost that.
11:04
I mean, the offense just shut down.
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You had one swing in this game. Right.
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Yeah, two swings. It's been that case for three
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games. Yeah, and the one, the one swing
11:13
you got from this guy from the like the one swing you got in
11:16
this game was from the guy who is non existent the entire
11:20
tournament. Yeah, and again, that's I think,
11:25
Jake said. That's baseball.
11:26
Dude, Rob Manfred is this was the one of the biggest baseball
11:30
wins. I think you could the landscape
11:34
of baseball. He's our man.
11:38
Rob Manfred's, I think, I think he's licking his shops for
11:41
multiple reasons. I think he's, he looks at this
11:44
and is having the same sort of conversation his head that we're
11:47
having and going, if all things go the right way, this could be
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even bigger and likely will be bigger in 2029.
12:00
And I mean. That's that's huge for baseball
12:02
and. I mean, yeah, sure and beyond,
12:04
but it it's only going to the the momentum we can hope is only
12:07
going to grow. You're looking at like, you
12:10
know, we've talked about this, that what is, what is the equal
12:13
parts to this, right? Something like the World Cup.
12:16
You know what I'm saying? The World Cup's been around for
12:18
100 years. Right.
12:20
You know what I'm saying? So like you're, you're building
12:22
something that could last and and be something special.
12:28
Yeah, I think that they've, I think this year was a huge
12:32
stepping stone and obviously in the culture that we're in versus
12:37
100 years ago, this kind of thing can grow quicker then then
12:41
something then could you know what I mean?
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I'm also curious to see what it does towards pitchers and like
12:48
IIJBII fully understand kind of the stance you've taken
12:53
throughout this thing of like, you know, hey, like the first
12:56
obligation is to your your employer, your team, the jersey
13:00
you're going to wear for eight months, right?
13:01
Like I get that. But I'm curious to see now what
13:05
this does. Can I get ramped up a little bit
13:08
quicker? Can I start my program a little
13:10
bit earlier in preparation for this to be able to go the full
13:14
658590 pitches, whatever it requires for whatever level?
13:19
Can I be ready if a finals does come up, You know what I mean?
13:24
Or semi finals in a championship round?
13:26
Like I think it could change the way we approach certain things
13:31
now, how it aligns with some of the dream names, with how free
13:36
agency falls or potentially getting traded to a new team.
13:40
And it's the first time you're putting those threads on like
13:42
that's a different thing. You know what I mean?
13:44
I understand that. But I I this was the the through
13:50
the door, eye opening experience that I think is going to
13:54
potentially change the approach moving forward.
13:58
I've got a question does and I. I'm simply asking because I have
14:02
not the slightest clue as to the different topics or or
14:08
categories of discussion that they get into with the CBA
14:11
negotiations. But do you think there's going
14:14
to be anything even remotely close to the topic of maybe, I
14:23
don't know, re evaluating what the insurance situation looks
14:27
like for this event? I know it's it's, it's sort of
14:30
nuanced. It's it's, it's a niche thing.
14:33
As as big as this tournament is, as much as we love it.
14:37
I just wondered now is like you said, Josh, we, we, I feel like
14:40
we have some new ambassadors for this thing who may be at the
14:45
table. So you know, the, the proverbial
14:49
table at having these discussions and maybe, I don't
14:55
know, maybe they throw that out there or something to be like,
14:58
hey, is this something we can at least talk about?
15:00
Or is this is something that we can consider moving forward to,
15:04
to help grow the game? Because you look at how that we,
15:06
we, we talked about it, this whole, this whole tournament,
15:09
you look at how this tournament has gone and you cannot tell me
15:13
regardless how many people want to say this, this tournament is
15:16
pointless. This is just an exhibition.
15:18
You cannot tell me that baseball is in a worse position now than
15:25
when it was when we started this tournament, right?
15:28
So it obviously carries some value, some weight.
15:33
So with that said, is there a way that we can protect some of
15:38
these? And I'm not just talking about
15:40
a, a way to, to get these names out playing for the United
15:43
States because that was obviously one of the bigger
15:45
talking points of like, oh, this name couldn't get there.
15:48
Puerto Rico, another good example of like, you couldn't,
15:50
there's a few guys there you couldn't get due to insurance
15:52
issues. Is there a way that we can
15:55
evaluate what that process looks like and what goes into those
15:59
decisions to maybe protect some guys and to to make this event
16:04
even better moving forward? Tell me I'm crazy.
16:09
I don't think I'm that crazy because we used to have it on on
16:15
WBC years. Can we push opening day back a
16:18
week and give these guys one extra week in camp?
16:24
See what that does? You know what I mean?
16:26
We we talked about and, and JB, you've brought it up in person
16:30
and on this of like, you know, a lot of these guys are paying
16:33
attention to how many UPS that the, that some of these pitchers
16:36
are going to have specifically with starters.
16:38
It's like how many, you know, we all of that is very scheduled
16:42
out and very planned. If we push back one week and we
16:48
used to have, we used to have a little bit of a later opening
16:52
day. If we push it back one week and
16:55
allow these guys just one extra week of getting on schedule, Do
17:02
you see more arms committing do? You see?
17:06
The repetition of going more than two starts, you know what I
17:09
mean? It's I don't know what the
17:11
adjustment is, but to to go with that of like some of these teams
17:18
signing off and insurance being involved and some of that stuff.
17:22
Do you feel a little bit better if we just have a little bit
17:24
more preparation time? There's been some conversations
17:28
too about doing pool play and maybe the quarterfinals at this
17:31
time. And then you don't really would
17:33
only pitch one game. Mm Hmm.
17:35
And then do something where the semi finals and the finals
17:38
happen during All Star week and either you cut the All Star game
17:42
or you, you know, the guys that are playing in it aren't the All
17:47
Star game. And then how how watered down is
17:49
the All Star game? I mean, I don't know, but could
17:52
you do that and wrap it around the weekend and just say like we
17:55
have a full week off now instead of four days off?
17:57
Like you essentially get a series off for the All Star game
18:00
and instead we're going to give you the full week.
18:02
I think that any longer than that is too long for hitters to
18:06
be off, but I think you could go maybe maybe that amount of time.
18:11
I don't know if that's right. There's other leagues involved.
18:13
I don't know if them taking, you know, a full week off and doing
18:18
all that stuff is, is something that they would agree to, but
18:20
that's a thought to as far as the pitchers go and as far as
18:24
well insurance. I'll start with that.
18:27
The rules that they have right now could probably be looked at
18:30
right now. It's if you spent any time on
18:32
the IL, we're not going to insure you.
18:34
There's a lot of money that has to go out in order to do that.
18:38
Some of it is team related. And that's the one that like I
18:41
kind of really get, you know what I'm saying?
18:43
And that's the hard part about it.
18:46
But I think there's ways that you could go in and Carlos
18:51
Santana was not approved for insurance.
18:54
And the Diamondbacks said we've got 2 important team mates that
18:58
he would be playing with that are going.
19:01
I want you to go with those guys because that actually helps our
19:06
team this year. Because your first year was it
19:08
was Diamondbacks, right? He signed with the Diamondbacks.
19:11
Yeah, because Cattell and Katel and Perdomo, we're both playing
19:16
with the Dominican. I think that checks out.
19:19
So I think that was like, no, we, we actually want you to go.
19:22
And so the team was like, we signed him to a one year deal.
19:25
Yeah, we'll take that risk. Go, go be with your dudes, you
19:29
know what I mean? So I think that's like a that's
19:31
something that you could see. Arms are just hard.
19:34
Arms are, until we change our pitching philosophy, there's
19:38
going to be arm injuries regardless of whether it's
19:40
spring training or or WBC, right?
19:43
I mean, I just watched a guy take a line drive back to the
19:45
head in spring training like that.
19:48
Yeah, that could happen to the WBC and people like, well, but
19:50
people aren't geared up. Like, dude, I'm sorry.
19:52
I know that there are people who have a thought about spring
19:55
training, but like most players are playing hard.
19:58
They're playing for. A job if they're so on the field
20:01
they understand the risk. That's right.
20:03
And so I don't. Know that's the whole argument
20:05
of why our All Star game is better than every other sport is
20:08
because we don't know. We can't physically take that
20:12
off. You're not going to see a
20:13
pitcher who averages 95 1/2 start throwing 82.
20:18
We don't do that. Our game can't do that.
20:21
There's no way around it. It's going to happen in spring
20:23
training. It's going to happen during this
20:25
tournament. Yeah, you're just not going to
20:27
leg out a double. You might shut it down, right.
20:31
That's the difference. And that's it.
20:33
Everything else, the at bat, you're going to you want to hit
20:36
a nuke, You're you're not going to, you know what I'm saying?
20:39
I, I just, yeah, I don't know, I I think.
20:44
I think unfortunately, the one thing that, you know, to kind of
20:47
caveat what I was saying earlier about more guys being in around
20:51
the league and trying to find whatever country they can play
20:55
for. I think the cool crazy, you
20:58
know, I'm a plumber by day and I'm a closer by Czech Republic
21:03
that WBC every three years by night.
21:05
Like I think those stories are probably going to come to an
21:08
end. It's most likely going to all be
21:11
big league talent for the most part.
21:13
And same thing with the, you know, the story of of, you know,
21:17
a 17 year old being in the league and and still being a
21:20
senior in high school. Like some of those things I
21:22
think are going to start to fade.
21:24
Then that's maybe the difference between a WBC and an Olympics of
21:28
being a professional athlete versus not.
21:31
But I think this is a rocket. Ship to that to that point, it's
21:37
very I mean, I, I, I don't know how great this take is, but it's
21:42
the first thought that came to mind.
21:43
It's very like 1980s. I know I, I mentioned the 1980s
21:47
hockey team way too much, but like if you, if you go back and
21:50
like you watch the documentaries, you watch them,
21:52
you watch miracle, you get a little bit of a background on
21:57
the, the state of that, that tournament with, you know, the
22:01
Olympics at that time. It sort of was kind of like this
22:05
where it was, there were a lot of amateurs involved.
22:08
There were, you had your, you know, you had your, your
22:12
juggernauts. In this case it was, you know,
22:14
supposed to be United States, but then it was, it was the
22:16
Soviets. But then, you know, enough time
22:19
passes, players get better, teams get better.
22:23
Those, those stories start to fizzle out where you don't have
22:26
the amateurs, you don't have these plumber stories.
22:29
You get to a point where the, the, the finished product is a
22:32
little more polished. I think that's where we're
22:35
headed, but it's, it's hard to say, but I think I think at the
22:46
very, at the very least, those stories have been cool and
22:49
they've helped fuel the momentum at the at the very least, it's
22:54
just a matter of, like you said, how, how long that's going to
22:58
continue. Well, I, I, what about this
23:00
though? I mean, because let's think
23:02
about what Pasquantino said about talking to like the the
23:08
kids of Italy, right? So if you start to get more
23:11
interest in baseball globally and you see like a team like
23:16
Italy or a team we haven't even seen all of a sudden put a team
23:20
in because now they're like, we want a piece of that.
23:23
So now you are gonna get, I mean, how far is Italian
23:27
baseball in, in 15 years? Mm hmm.
23:30
Or whatever. When we have another one of
23:32
these and all of a sudden you saw a 10 year old who's now 25
23:37
who was part of the big boom of baseball.
23:41
He's not quite MLB, so he's got a job because there's nowhere
23:46
else to do it. But he's like a he's he's a
23:49
better baseball player and he can actually hang.
23:51
So I think that you still might get some of those where it's
23:54
like, yeah, but this guy actually did play a lot of
23:57
baseball and he was very good. He's just now there's no more
24:03
baseball to play because he lives in Italy.
24:06
And so, like, yeah, I mean, how long does it take to develop a
24:08
lot of those guys and create a league like that's going to
24:11
take, you know, 30-40 years? I don't know, maybe, maybe not.
24:16
But I, I don't know, maybe there is still more.
24:20
Henry brought up a good question, though.
24:22
Kyle, if you want to pull that up.
24:24
He's talking to me about Bryce. Would he have changed his mind
24:28
if he didn't have the moment like that?
24:35
Well, that there, there. I feel like there's two parts to
24:37
that question. Do does would he have changed
24:41
his mind on this tournament that he just played in and does it
24:48
change his mind about the tournament in general moving
24:52
forward? General moving forward.
24:59
I would say yes to both. I think I honestly for for his
25:05
sake, for the sake of him being an ambassador for this event.
25:09
Cleaning Lady. I think that last bat for Bryce
25:14
was the best thing that, I mean, obviously outcome wise, yeah,
25:19
that's that's exactly what you would have hoped for in that
25:21
situation. But I think just in terms of his
25:25
perception of the event, that's the best thing that could have
25:28
happened in that moment for him again, being ambassador moving
25:32
forward. Because if he doesn't get that
25:34
moment, if he doesn't get that rush of adrenaline, that chill
25:38
running down his spine, the point to the flag, the saluted
25:42
third seen Lone Depot come unglued with the whatever
25:47
percentage of American fans were there.
25:49
I don't know that there was enough that happened this
25:52
tournament for him to change his mind from where he stood at the
25:57
beginning of the tournament. It was, remember those comments
26:00
were after the first game, he had one game under his belt
26:04
against Brazil. And he said, well, it's not the
26:07
Olympics. It's like, OK, Bryce, just wait
26:11
till the later part of this tournament, not even not even
26:14
the end of the tournament. Just wait till you get going a
26:16
little bit and you'll see. And I think I, I think he saw
26:22
and I think, I, I think by the end of it with that home run, I
26:26
think he saw what we've been trying to get into his brain
26:30
this entire time. Yeah, I want you to.
26:33
Sting of losing, too. You know, what were we going to
26:37
say? I was going to, I was going to
26:39
say I want you to break the tie here because I was going to say
26:43
I think that his mind changed and that's how that happened.
26:48
But I'll also say that as far as the ambassador thing goes, I
26:54
think that his voice doesn't carry without that moment.
27:00
That's a great point, yeah. But I think Nate has more to say
27:03
on it, so I just wanted. To no, I, I think it's I think
27:06
it's the sting of the loss, right, like obviously that I
27:11
don't know what carries more weight.
27:12
I don't know what keeps a guy, you know, obviously these guys
27:15
are going to potentially lose lose sleep a little bit right of
27:19
of a loss versus winning it. And I think the comments when
27:25
you stack everything up right, like Casey kept talking about
27:29
like the the number of quotes that we've gotten from the USA
27:32
team and and the number of distractions, right?
27:35
And it's the Bryce quote. It's the Mark DeRosa, you know,
27:39
punching the ticket quote, maybe not fully understanding the
27:42
rules. It's the Cal Raleigh not shaking
27:44
hands. And it's like this weird, like
27:48
underlying tone that USA wasn't tapped in, right?
27:53
Like you guys aren't fully there and Casey and I have talked
27:59
about being in person at the last one in Chase Field.
28:02
When you see other cultures in, I'm going to specifically, I
28:07
think just highlight Latin cultures are so much fun when
28:14
they watch these games. These fans are just it's, it's a
28:18
very different energy. And I don't think any of these
28:22
players have gotten to experience it.
28:24
Because like when you get to play in a World Series and you
28:28
get to hop back and forth between your home crowd and the
28:32
away crowd. And obviously it's fully this
28:34
way and it's fully this way. But when you're in a crowd
28:37
that's back and forth the whole time, how often do these guys
28:41
get to experience that, right? How often they get to feel a
28:45
Mexican crowd get extremely loud for their team and then AUSA
28:50
chance starting and and they're rivaling each other.
28:53
That doesn't happen in any of our crowds at any point during
28:57
our regular normal scheduled program, right?
29:00
So I think when you have that, you have the experience of
29:04
playing in it, then you have some of these younger guys where
29:07
Roman Anthony has a game of his life and he comes out and says,
29:10
yeah, I grew up watching Bryce Harper.
29:12
I wanted to be him. How often do you get to have
29:16
those opportunities in an environment that matters?
29:19
Because All Star Games we talked about.
29:21
You you're. You're.
29:23
You're. Trying to stay healthy.
29:25
You're enjoying the moment more for the fans versus the players.
29:30
This is just as much for the players, so for them to
29:34
experience that entire environment, they're in a dugout
29:37
with guys that potentially looked up to for years that
29:40
you're seeing towards the end of their peak.
29:42
You're entering into the conversation that's always going
29:46
to be that way. Then you match that with other
29:50
countries that are just putting their names on the radar for the
29:53
first time. It is the perfect balance.
29:57
Pudge said it earlier with one of his comments.
29:59
That's what makes baseball the best.
30:02
It's because it's any, it's any size at any moment, whoever just
30:09
figures out how to win the moment.
30:11
And that's what Venezuela did. And we didn't really feel that
30:14
way the whole time. Our team was kind of blah.
30:17
And it's shame on them for not fully being bought in.
30:21
Shame on some of these guys for not fully understanding what it
30:24
is. Because I watched plenty of
30:26
other cultures and plenty of other backgrounds know exactly
30:29
what this is. And that's why you're seeing
30:32
guys in the in in on the field crying right now.
30:34
It's because they knew exactly what this is coming in Guys that
30:38
have been working for it. I think we're a little spoiled
30:40
as a crowd, specifically with the red, white and Blue Man, and
30:44
it sucks. The entitlement was off the.
30:47
Charts, It's crazy and I'll continue to wear this jersey and
30:50
I'll continue to root for them and that's never going to
30:52
change. But I think when you see this, I
30:57
think Venezuela winning moved this tournament and progressed
31:02
it way more than a repeat Japan or AUSA dub, and I'm OK with
31:10
that. I mean, they're grown men.
31:15
They just got done a few minutes ago singing the what I can only
31:19
imagine was the Venezuelan national anthem.
31:22
And like 80% of the guys were just shedding tears.
31:26
Like actually like alligator tears.
31:29
We're not just talking about like, oh, it's, it's dusty in
31:31
here. Like alligator tears just
31:34
falling down the cheek and you're going to sit.
31:38
I, I, I'm, I don't want to beat a dead horse, but it's like, how
31:42
in the world can you sit there and see that and not be moved
31:48
whatsoever as a person or as a baseball fan?
31:52
And how more importantly can you look at this and go, this means
31:57
nothing? Like what are we talking about?
32:02
How many more like 2023? I get it.
32:05
It was it was a great tournament.
32:07
And I think the people that were really tapped in could see the
32:10
potential. I mean, there's a great
32:11
tournament, especially the Finnish, Japan, USA, great
32:13
finish. But I think the people who were
32:15
tapped in could could already see what this was going to
32:18
become. But there are no excuses, having
32:22
watched this tournament, to not be on board for the next one or
32:26
or to spend the next three years going It just I I'm sorry.
32:31
It doesn't do anything for me. I don't know what to tell you.
32:35
You either don't have a pulse. Yeah, or you're just not.
32:38
I'm convinced you're not a fan of baseball.
32:40
It's one of those two. Or wasn't watching, you know
32:42
what I'm saying? Like if you're not watching, I,
32:44
I, I can't expect you to, to buy in right away.
32:48
So I think that's the only thing there.
32:51
So a couple things because I remember I looked this up.
32:54
I told you that the argument about the meaningless exhibition
32:59
doesn't even have to happen. This is a sanctioned tournament.
33:02
It is not exhibition, it is sanctioned.
33:05
So I, I don't know what for, but the point is that we can
33:09
officially say, but it's not, I mean somebody.
33:13
Brought it up in the chat or the comments, I can't remember.
33:15
They said there's a trophy. So at the very least they're
33:18
they're playing for something like this isn't just like, all
33:21
right, guys, we'll see you back at spring training kind of
33:23
thing. It's also not on MLB Network.
33:26
This is on Fox. You know what I'm saying?
33:28
Like this is nationally televised and and I don't know
33:32
how. Do good on MLB for that by.
33:34
The way, yeah, this is a this is a win.
33:37
This is a win. This is a through and through
33:39
win. Sucks that USA didn't pull it
33:42
out, but overall it it just it we kind of all had that in the
33:47
back of our minds the whole tournament.
33:49
It just something felt a little off.
33:51
Something felt like this wasn't the most important mountain to
33:56
climb for some of these guys, the immediate mountain to climb.
33:59
I get that there's a season coming.
34:04
I I would love to like sneakily pay attention to how some of
34:09
these guys produce for their teams entering into the
34:12
beginning of the season. I'd love to see specifically how
34:15
some of these hitters, how quickly they tap in, right.
34:18
And and you've seen like Louis arise popped off Roman Anthony,
34:23
you know what I mean? Like like a lot of yeah, true,
34:27
but a lot of names, dude, just I mean, Tovar, like there's
34:33
there's guys from Korea that have that have popped off and
34:36
like, what does that do for the KBO?
34:38
What does that do for the Japanese league?
34:40
Like how many of these guys are wanting more of this level of
34:44
competition, knowing that this is what majority of MOB is like,
34:49
right? This it's great for baseball.
34:54
And look at them on the stage, man Confetti flying like job
34:58
well done, Jobo done on MLB Jobo done on this tournament.
35:02
It's getting the I've, I've had a few people text me who don't
35:06
follow baseball at all at all, asking me about this tournament
35:11
and that's. I think that's one of the
35:13
beautiful things about right 100%.
35:15
Don't watch, get them to watch. This is what did it.
35:18
It's instant, right? The whole thing is this whole
35:21
thing is a Sprint. It's instant gratification.
35:24
You're directly in. There is no like, I think that
35:27
what this thing does is like I I say I've said it a lot, it's
35:32
postseason atmosphere right away, but it's also completely
35:36
different, like I don't. It's anti.
35:39
It's anti MLB in a way. I will say, I will say this like
35:43
when I saw judges comment about it being better the World
35:46
Series, I think he's off his rocker.
35:48
I think he's feeling the moment right now and I'm totally fine
35:51
with him. For the moment, well, well,
35:52
context, context. I, I interpreted that way too.
35:55
But somebody had to come in and correct me.
35:57
And they said he did. And I went back and read the
35:58
full, the full quote, like in its entirety.
36:01
He was talking specifically about the atmosphere.
36:04
He wasn't talking about the event as a whole, but I think a
36:07
lot of people just interpreted that is like a counter to what
36:11
Bryce had said. And they're like, OK, he's just,
36:14
he's just swinging it the other way.
36:15
I don't know it's. What we do with quote cards,
36:16
unfortunately. So that's fair.
36:18
Thank you. But The thing is, is like to
36:20
what you said, Kyle, about the fact that there was like the
36:22
Mexico, the US and you don't get that anywhere else because
36:25
you're playing on home turf. It's typically going to be
36:28
favored to one side. And in this tournament, you did
36:31
see those matchups where it is an even like, it's a what do you
36:38
call that when you play at a stadium?
36:40
It's not in either one. Neutral site, even playing
36:43
field? Yes.
36:44
In neutral site and so like it's totally different in that way
36:47
you know what I'm saying where you can have fans from both
36:51
sides like every home run is cheered for and it's totally
36:55
different. I think what you know for for
36:57
the baseball purists that that might listen to this and think
37:00
like you're crazy you're you're this just happened.
37:04
That's why we're pumping this up, but also when you get to and
37:08
we can talk about the tears and how immediate and how emotional
37:11
this is because emotions are like that.
37:14
That's how they work, right? Everything's a Sprint.
37:16
Everything is you get one chance.
37:20
If you're winning the World Series, you kind of have an idea
37:22
you might win this tonight. You know what I mean?
37:24
So there's might, maybe you're a little more prepared for that
37:27
and, and emotionally you can you can handle that a little more.
37:30
Not to mention you had a 200 day grind before getting to this
37:36
spot. So I think when you say like you
37:38
play for the name on your chest, you're, you're playing for that
37:40
clubhouse, that clubhouse of guys that you just spent six
37:43
months with. And so I think that the
37:46
postseason in the World Series, it's just it, it's just
37:50
different. I, I don't like, I, I'm not
37:53
going to say whoever you are, you can pick which one you like
37:57
better. But all I'm saying is like
37:59
you've, you've almost developed that atmosphere.
38:04
Well, that atmosphere you did, but you've almost developed that
38:06
same level of, of play in two weeks.
38:11
Yeah. And, and I think that fits our
38:13
culture. Yeah.
38:15
And when you're trying, you know, to your point about
38:17
spreading the game. Coming out of football like
38:20
you're in March Madness, like you know, there's a lot of that
38:23
like, you know, one and done kind of I mean, I get that for
38:27
sure. I think one other thing, if you
38:29
look at the the other sports that are trying to tap into this
38:33
and we use soccer as like an easy reference because of the
38:36
World Cup. How much if you talk to soccer
38:40
fans, they're like country means more than the MLS.
38:44
Like the MLS is like no one really cares about that.
38:48
So there's such an outweigh that way, right?
38:51
And then you have like, OK, the NHL, they're started to ditch
38:55
the All Star game and let's go to like, you know, the the four
38:58
countries thing. And then you have the NBA
39:02
starting to get into this, this US versus the world thing.
39:05
And then like we're starting to tap into these other cultures
39:09
and starting to see what that's about a little bit more.
39:13
I think we're just scratching the surface.
39:15
And I, I don't know, man, I, we're the biggest melting pot.
39:19
I don't care what anyone else says.
39:21
Major League Baseball is the biggest melting pot of being
39:24
able to grab other cultures. And you can't tell me that some
39:31
of these other countries watching some of these kiddos
39:34
don't get more fired up and tapped from seeing some of their
39:40
countries represented. Do you know what I mean?
39:42
Like, it's one thing to be in Venezuela and you're Michael
39:47
Garcia fan for the Royals and you see the world, the Royals go
39:50
win it all. That means something.
39:52
But when you see the flag and, and you know, you're, you're
39:58
struggling in some of these countries, in these third world
40:00
countries and, and you're using a tire as second base, you know
40:05
what I mean? Like you can't tell me this
40:07
doesn't mean something to them. And I think that's what a lot of
40:10
these guys are at this point, right?
40:13
A lot of these guys that are crying or thinking about, I
40:15
remember when I was playing barefoot in dirt and trying to
40:19
find a way out of my country to find an opportunity for my
40:21
family. Like that's what this does.
40:25
And if we can continue to just pour into that, I think it's
40:29
incredible. And luckily, I, I think US fans
40:35
probably don't feel that same thing.
40:38
You know, we've probably all been blessed with our upbringing
40:41
to be able to play in, you know, normal fields and, and have a
40:44
pair of cleats and a nice glove. And like you see some of these
40:48
other countries that just, that's just not an option for
40:51
some of those those worlds that they're in.
40:53
So I love what this does then I don't know, The more I talk
40:58
about it, the more I'm on board with Venezuela winning because I
41:01
think what it does to this tournament and what it does for
41:03
baseball in general is just so much more special.
41:07
And we're spoiled and we're and we're obviously blessed.
41:11
And it's like we're going to turn it up in three years.
41:14
We're probably going to try and align that The Avengers again or
41:17
whatever that team looks like in three years.
41:21
What I love that it's probably going to be a lot more
41:23
competitive and you're not just going to see one or two, you
41:27
know, names on a Great Britain team, on a Major League roster
41:30
and everyone else is on high a like, you're going to see names
41:34
everywhere and it's just going to get harder.
41:38
And I, I think going looking at the, the, the topic of
41:42
personnel, like you're saying about high A and things like
41:46
that. I think one of the one of the
41:50
issues, one of the concerns was people like, well, you've just
41:53
got a bunch of Americans playing on these, on all these other
41:56
teams around the tournament. I if things like.
42:00
This not a melting pot, right? Right.
42:03
But it's like if things like this continue to happen, A-Team
42:05
like Venezuela gets in there, wins the thing and teams like, I
42:10
don't remember which of you said at the beginning, but like it
42:13
makes other teams feel like they have a shot, a real legitimate
42:17
shot. You're going to the the game of
42:22
baseball. I mean, say what you will about
42:24
Rob Manfred, one of his goals, I think is to get out of this
42:28
being a a, a regional sport, make it a global sport.
42:31
And something like this certainly helps that.
42:33
But I think as baseball continues to grow, you continue
42:36
to have more driving around Italy in a van type stories.
42:43
The game is going to evolve. Players are going to get better.
42:46
And then I, I honestly think we're going to get to a point
42:48
where they're going to, they're going to tighten the
42:50
restrictions a little bit on who can represent a certain team
42:54
because the, the talent pool that they're going to be
42:57
choosing from is going to be a lot deeper because the game has
43:00
evolved because of things like this.
43:02
Yeah, absolutely. You guys think Dero's done?
43:08
You think this was his? Last ride I'm wondering now if
43:11
he just increased his chances with some of this stuff because
43:16
if he takes a Major League team, he's not doing this and I I
43:19
would wonder the same thing. Like, you know, I saw a comment
43:21
and you're saying I think it was Jacob saying Cervelli's going to
43:24
build Italian baseball. He may have just earned himself
43:27
a Major League job. It's.
43:30
Very true. I mean, I, I know that, you
43:33
know, obviously, you know, being around Pittsburgh and
43:36
everything, that's all the chatter right now.
43:39
Don Kelly, can you get this guy on your staff?
43:41
You know what I mean? Yeah, I'm a sucker for a retired
43:45
catcher in a dugout. I think everybody knows that.
43:48
But I I mean, when we wanted it was it was Jim Leland, right?
43:55
So. Yeah, I think so.
43:58
That's an interesting conversation.
44:01
I like what you're saying though, about like how this
44:04
tournament can potentially provide new opportunities for
44:07
some of these guys, whether it be player or coach, you know,
44:10
potentially finding a job with a Major League team.
44:15
I'm very interested to see how USA pivots and you look at some
44:20
of these other names. If if a school bull is still at
44:24
the top of his game at this point, you'd like to think that
44:27
he's probably smack dab in the middle of his contract and not
44:31
going into a walk here. How does this line up for Paul
44:35
Skeens with as far as his control, you know, is he fresh
44:39
onto a new team? Is is is he about to walk into a
44:43
new team? Is, you know, some of these
44:46
other names? Do you see other names pop up
44:48
that are suddenly, you know, freaks and want to produce this?
44:54
PCA is suddenly in his prime and he lives up to be what everyone
44:59
thinks he's going to, You know what I mean?
45:00
Like. Did they announce 2029 already?
45:05
Oh, I mean, it's every three years, right?
45:06
Like that's a lot. Well, unless.
45:08
I mean, obviously it missed 2020, we missed 2020 and then it
45:13
was like, when are we going to do it again?
45:15
I think, I don't think the lockout pushes anything.
45:18
I think there's enough of a. Well, no, it was.
45:22
I was just thinking. Wasn't it 27?
45:23
It was 2017, right? Or am I?
45:26
Am I misremembering that? I think that's yeah.
45:29
And then we wanted missed, missed 2020.
45:31
And then they just, they picked it back up in 23. 23 That's what
45:35
I think that's what he's asking, is that if it's going to be a
45:39
any kind of lockout, if that affects anything, I think the
45:42
lockout's being smack dab in the middle of.
45:45
The. Time in between is probably a
45:47
good thing, but I yeah, I'm just really interested to see how
45:53
things change, how things progress, how some of these
45:56
players view it on the USA side. Like we were kind of talking
46:01
about you got to probably say thanks to half this roster,
46:10
you're not going to see these guys returning.
46:12
You may see Skeens and Bobby Witt.
46:17
I don't know, I, I could see a, maybe this is just me being
46:23
hopeful and I'm maybe I'm just being a victim of the moment,
46:25
but I feel like maybe you see a Harper, not as, as a, as a
46:32
integral role three years from now, more like a Goldschmidt,
46:37
but I could see, I could see that happening.
46:41
Gunner's only 24. Gunner.
46:43
Bryce Tarang still I think 25 or 26.
46:47
Yeah, but I mean you, it's interesting to see.
46:50
I mean, if it is a new, if it is a new, you know, manager at the
46:53
helm, Trey, Trey Turner didn't even get a call then.
46:57
He was hands down our best player in the last tournament.
47:00
So. Well, and you just don't know.
47:02
I mean, you're talking three years too.
47:04
You don't know, there's some guys that are breaking in the
47:06
league right now who, you know, in three years might be.
47:10
I mean, just look at Roman Anthony right now.
47:11
I mean, he's 21, you know what I'm saying?
47:14
Like you're going to start tapping into that.
47:16
Of course, our guy Connor Griffin would be a guy that
47:18
would be interested in something like this and you know what I
47:22
mean? So that how many more of those?
47:25
Well, not even the guys, not even the guys breaking into the
47:28
league, but it's I'm, I'm going to be curious to see who's the
47:30
batch that's sitting at home right now watching this
47:33
tournament because it happened this tournament.
47:36
With last tournament, you had a batch of guys who were already
47:40
here. They were established, but they
47:42
were going, man, I want to be a part of that.
47:44
And then they sign up for the next tournament.
47:46
I'm curious who's who fits that mold that's going to be joining
47:49
the team next tournament. So here's another take.
47:52
I don't think in three years you're going to change pitching
47:55
philosophy. Pitching is way too.
47:58
They have the upper hand right now.
47:59
It's it's fantastic what they're doing out there.
48:02
And yes, it leads to injuries, but instead of maybe saying, oh,
48:05
let's do more insurance things, they're just, they're not going
48:08
to they're not going to change a lot of that.
48:10
And the more you make, the harder it is to pay the
48:12
insurance or the the harder it is to agree to the insurance
48:15
and, and, and whatnot, but increase the number of pitchers
48:19
on the roster. Let's get them all in.
48:22
And then we don't have to worry as much about he just threw it
48:26
like, OK, but we got another dog.
48:29
We don't have to run this guy dead because we've got 7 closers
48:35
sitting out there or whatever. You know what I'm saying?
48:37
I mean, 7 might be a lot, but but you know what I'm saying?
48:40
Like let's don't change anything on the offensive side, but let's
48:44
just add more arms to the roster that are able to pitch.
48:47
And then and then we'll lighten the load off of these guys to
48:51
say and like, no, we have to have him for 95 pitches.
48:55
You don't, you know, if you've got 2 starters out there and you
48:58
can split the thing in half and 60 each, I mean, my goodness,
49:02
you're through a game. So you know what I'm saying?
49:05
Like, let's increase the number of guys we can have on the
49:07
roster. I'm a baseball purist, but if if
49:11
building this thing up even more than what it was built up to
49:15
this time around. If, if in order to do that, if
49:19
it means adding or, or or giving teams the option to have 35
49:25
pitchers on the staff, I don't care.
49:28
But like, do like do what you need to do because I know, I
49:31
know I'm, I'm all like, this isn't an exhibition.
49:34
This isn't a meaningless exhibition thing.
49:35
I know I'm all that. But at the same time, I
49:37
understand that it is like a, it's a, it's a marquee event.
49:41
So it, it's, it's, it's different than, you know, your,
49:45
your typical Major League Baseball, but because of how
49:49
much momentum it has right now, don't, don't have what we don't
49:54
have the same storylines that we saw around the tournament next
49:58
time, like just do what you got to do.
50:00
You know, if you have to appease these big league clubs,
50:04
whatever. But like, don't don't tweak it
50:08
to somehow reverse the momentum that it's it's built up thus
50:12
far. Yeah, on the counter side, I
50:15
think, I don't remember what team was it, Cuba, where you saw
50:23
a position player need to be held back from his manager
50:27
because he basically only had like two or three ABS the whole
50:31
tournament and one of which was like a pinch hit.
50:34
Yeah, down by a bunch in the last inning.
50:38
Cuba which? Is a separate story.
50:39
I don't know I don't know if it was Cuba.
50:41
I don't a separate story, no need to really peel back that on
50:45
in too much. But I think that like there's
50:49
probably going to be more rules around position players getting
50:54
a minimum of, you know, number of at bats.
50:56
You know, barring any injury injuries.
50:58
I think there's going to be a lot of like roster rules are
51:02
going to come about this. But one thing I wanted to say
51:04
was, and I mean, I'd like to think that a lot of people, you
51:09
know, listening right now are fairly similar in our age and,
51:13
you know, grew up watching the same names.
51:16
I'd, I'd love to see the comparison of retired legends in
51:22
this tournament compared to the last tournament.
51:25
When you look around and you have an Albert Pujols, a Miguel
51:29
Cabrera, a Matt Holiday and Andy Pettitte of, you know, Cervelli,
51:34
like you've Jorge Posada, like you've got names kind of all
51:38
over the place. You know, three years down the
51:42
road, what is that? What does that mean for a Paul
51:44
Goldschmidt? You know what I mean?
51:45
This a Clayton Kershaw, some of these names that are obviously
51:48
calling it a career anytime now, Do they get more involved and
51:52
does that continue to feedback into the attraction of this
51:57
tournament for current players? When in any point in my career
52:02
do I get to be in a room for an extended period of time with
52:05
these names? And Oh yeah, by the way, Ken
52:08
Griffey junior is our photographer who I can probably
52:10
chat it up with, right? Like, there's so many names that
52:14
can give back to this thing. And I think again, when some of
52:19
these guys are getting to wear their flag for the first time,
52:25
that's only going to make this more exciting.
52:27
To your point about being in the same club or, you know, same
52:31
locker room as some of these other names, I know we've talked
52:35
to Derek Schuble a decent bit this tournament, But I, I did
52:39
hear something he had to say about, you know, the rest of the
52:45
roster. And he they're, they're asking
52:47
about, you know, what was what his experience was like.
52:50
And he said something to the effect of, you know, it's only
52:55
been, it's only been like a week, but I feel like I've
52:58
known, I feel like I've, I've known these guys for months, if
53:01
not years. And I'm like, that has to
53:04
account for something like that. That's got to be something.
53:06
I mean, I know it's not going to be the end all be all, but it
53:08
it's got to be somewhat of an incentivizer for some of these
53:11
guys, whether position players or pitchers, to just be in the
53:14
same room as like literally the like everybody else, the the
53:20
entire roster potential like MVP winners.
53:23
We're talking here, perennial MVP winners.
53:25
And it's it's, I don't know, I just don't know how.
53:31
So going back to like my my larger point, I just don't know
53:33
how you can look at what comes from this tournament and think
53:38
that it it doesn't help the state of the game.
53:43
Yeah. And even if, even if you're
53:45
somebody who's not a like, if the flag, if wearing the flag
53:51
doesn't move you the way that it does somebody else, there is
53:55
still enough baseball about this event.
53:59
That is, that is worth it. You know what I'm saying?
54:03
And I just think that like just watching for one, the level of
54:06
competition, the fact that like when you go to an All Star game,
54:10
I mean, you hear the young guys. I mean, I, you know, I've seen
54:12
a, a million interviews with Paul Skeens and he'll tell you
54:16
like, I get to pick your brain in an All Star game.
54:18
And I, I'm, I'm glued and I'm doing that.
54:20
And he mentioned about this. He's like, no, I just sat in a
54:23
dugout with with Scubble for two weeks and just non-stop talked
54:30
pitching. And so like, that is not, I got
54:33
a couple days. I got you know what I mean?
54:35
Like I, and I mentioned this, I mean, you guys were a little bit
54:39
tapped into our show last night. And I was like, if you're a fan
54:43
of thank you, if you're a fan of, of a team and your guy got
54:48
to go to this thing. The the experience of the
54:52
atmosphere, the, the tension of the moment and the fact that
54:56
they got to spend 2 weeks with essentially an All Star team, no
54:59
matter what team they played on, these guys that were in it for
55:02
that long, those all are souped up teams.
55:05
Like they're all stacked. And that alone will pay
55:10
dividends for your team, for your hometown team.
55:14
And I think that that's a that to me has so much value to it
55:19
that yes, I know it increases injuries.
55:22
Yes, I know that O'Neill Cruz was a backup on the Dr. and he's
55:25
had like 15 plate appearances this spring.
55:28
And I'm a little bit worried about what he's going to look
55:30
like on April 1st. But at the same time, look at
55:34
what he was surrounded by and got an opportunity to to be a
55:39
part of. I mean, that dude had five plate
55:41
appearances and did he make the most of it?
55:44
You know what I'm saying? Like he got out once or twice,
55:47
but still like what a moment to to put those guys in.
55:52
I I can't get over. I mean, you guys know me.
55:55
I'm I'm all baseball and I can't get over how much baseball won
56:01
in the last two weeks. And, and this is what I keep
56:03
telling you guys, like you guys were locked in.
56:07
I liked the last one. This is what this was a whole
56:10
different level of, of what we, of what we've seen so far.
56:14
And I, and I will, and I will raise my hand too and say that
56:18
part of that is because I was locked in at an earlier stage.
56:23
I didn't watch pool play in 2023, right?
56:25
But I, I watched every game after that.
56:28
Get Me Out of the pool play and I'm in.
56:30
And you know what, if that's where you're going to be as a
56:32
fan and you're listening to this like that's, that's probably
56:35
worth it because that Brazil game was rough.
56:38
Watching Brazil was, was, was worse than watching spring
56:42
training baseball. I, I will stand by that
56:44
statement. But once it gets out of pool
56:47
play baseball was, I mean, this was a show.
56:52
This was on display and it was. It was fantastic.
56:56
One thing I was thinking about. So we had, when I say weed in
57:03
Phoenix, Chase Field was a host site three years ago.
57:08
Miami was the other host site as far as US goes.
57:12
And then this year obviously switching to Houston and then
57:16
still Miami. I'm curious to see what this
57:20
does for host sites. I'm really interested to see
57:24
maybe what other countries pop up.
57:28
You know, Casey, you had like a kind of a cool opportunity to be
57:31
down in in Puerto Rico for a vacation.
57:35
You got to see like the hype before it started and like that
57:39
was, you know, getting a lot of attention.
57:41
I'm curious to see if there's other places that they're
57:45
looking at for host sites. I'm curious to see with the
57:48
Olympics being in LA in 28, does that change from being in a Dome
57:54
site for one of these host sites in the US for the 29 WBC?
58:00
Do they do it again in LA? Does, you know, do you do this
58:03
at the Angels place? Do you do it, you know,
58:06
somewhere in Florida, like somewhere that you're not going
58:08
to have to deal with weather at this time of year?
58:10
Like those are some of the things I'm I'm really curious
58:14
about a. Lot of questions, a lot of.
58:23
Questions I'm I'm going to miss it.
58:25
I'm I'm kind of sad, like I hate.
58:26
It dude, I remember this last tournament.
58:29
It's you go into this like weird depression until the season
58:32
starts and honestly even even like a week into the season.
58:36
I remember last time being like opening day was sick.
58:39
Like I love it. I'm never going to not like
58:42
opening day, but like I kind of miss the WBC to be honest with
58:45
you. It takes a while for that to
58:46
wear off. Yeah, it does.
58:49
I'm glad it's only a week until. I can't get it now.
58:51
I can't get it. I'm a sicko.
58:53
So I, I, I, I locked into spring training.
58:58
As soon as I went there, I sat back in my seat and I said I
59:00
love this baseball team. We're we're at we're at the WBC
59:04
in Houston and and Josh is just like we're, we're like throwing
59:08
darts in the Airbnb and Josh is in there watching him like he's
59:11
like cutting up clips, not clips of pirate spring training.
59:16
It's like the six string guys. I mean, I have, I have content
59:20
to produce to, right? So I didn't know what I was
59:23
talking about. But I think that's that's the
59:26
aspect of it, you know, almost in like a fantasy baseball kind
59:31
of way. And I get that maybe fantasy
59:33
baseball isn't for everybody. Even baseball fans that I know
59:37
that love baseball are like, I can't do fantasy baseball.
59:41
I get that. But I think with this
59:43
tournament, like you got to see a lot of other names that you're
59:45
like, you know what, maybe I will watch some of their ABS,
59:48
you know, for whatever team they go play for during the regular
59:51
season. Like maybe I won't be so like,
59:54
you know, tapped into my own team.
59:56
I'll turn on other games in the background.
59:58
So I hope I, I just hope this tournament did that for you.
1:00:03
If if you're if you're listening and if this was your first
1:00:05
tournament watching, like I, I would highly recommend.
1:00:09
I said this last episode like. I'd highly recommend trying and
1:00:12
getting to, you know, some of these games if you get the
1:00:15
opportunity. JBI think probably lived it the
1:00:20
best was getting to go to the WBC games and then going to get
1:00:23
to see his team in spring training.
1:00:25
Like I think there's some opportunities here and I'm just
1:00:28
getting to see some of these other other cultures.
1:00:33
It's just it's one of the coolest things, man.
1:00:35
It's one of the coolest things. I'm I'm going to miss it for
1:00:37
sure. Now I'm going to go yell at my
1:00:41
Yankee team for the next 6 months and say we're dead 72
1:00:46
times before the season's over. You mean it during one game?
1:00:51
Yeah. Yeah.
1:00:54
Well, this I think accidentally turned into Episode 599 because
1:01:00
I was, I think I was planning to planning for us to do a little
1:01:04
WBC recap tomorrow, our usual Wednesday recording night.
1:01:07
But I think just going to go ahead and shop the last hour of
1:01:11
this and use this as our episode.
1:01:13
So there's episode 599, episode 600 on deck, which talking
1:01:21
regular season slash opening day.
1:01:24
That will be our our next episode is the hot takes and
1:01:27
predictions episode. Hard to believe we're already
1:01:29
here 6. 100 it's hard to believe for me man, that's. 6 hundo been
1:01:35
doing this a long time, but it's going to be good man.
1:01:38
JB is going to be in the corner. He's going to have some takes.
1:01:40
You better bring your takes and we're going to we're going to
1:01:43
try to do a little differently this year.
1:01:45
We'll we'll try to incorporate some some new things and maybe
1:01:48
we haven't done in previous hot take episodes, but this is the
1:01:51
most highly anticipated episode of the year for the three O
1:01:55
take. Keep an eye out for the story
1:01:58
too. I think there's going to be a
1:01:59
lot of prompts. I mean, we love reading off hot
1:02:01
takes every episode. We love to to mix in some of
1:02:04
your guys's hot ticks. So please DM us, comment on the
1:02:08
stories like that's going to be this is we're a little
1:02:12
irrational, but that's what's cool is that we're fans and we
1:02:15
get to be. So that's what you're going to
1:02:16
get the next episode. Well, keep an eye out for it.
1:02:23
It'll be coming next week and opening day will be next week as
1:02:26
well. So I'm excited.
1:02:27
I'm a little depressed right now.
1:02:29
It's going to take take some time for this to wear off This
1:02:31
this one's stung. But tonight's point, if you're
1:02:34
looking for a silver lining, I think the the all the
1:02:38
alternative outcome here that we witnessed tonight, I think
1:02:45
whether you want to believe it or not, I think actually did a
1:02:47
lot more for baseball then then had had our our boys in the red,
1:02:52
white and blue pulled it out. So I think there was I think it
1:02:56
was a win win either way. Granted, you know, who would
1:02:59
have loved to see in the US pull it out.
1:03:00
But I'm excited to see you like you guys were saying and like I
1:03:04
agree as I agree with, I think I'm excited to see what this
1:03:09
does for the sport of baseball, both at the WBC level, but also
1:03:15
just around the world. So unless you guys have any
1:03:18
other thoughts, I think that is a good good place to wrap it.
1:03:23
JB, what you got? Shout out Jake and Jacob and
1:03:27
Murray still hanging out in the chat 4 hours later.
1:03:31
The boys love it, love that. JB we've said this before, I've
1:03:38
used this this line before and I think tonight is probably the
1:03:44
best time for me to say go baseball.
1:03:51
You guys are incredible. Come back next week, it's going
1:03:53
to be just as fun. Don't go chasing curveballs.
1:03:55
We love you all as always. Looking forward to talking more
1:03:57
baseball with you guys soon. Until next time, stay filthy.