Latest / Foul Territory / Rays President of Baseball Ops Erik Neander joins Karl Ravech's Dirt From The Dugout Ahead of the ALDS

Transcript

Rays President of Baseball Ops Erik Neander joins Karl Ravech's Dirt From The Dugout Ahead of the ALDS · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey everybody, welcome once again. Dirk from the Dugga, Carl Ravitch,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Justin Musil. This is the time of year baseball fans
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: salivate over. Baseball playoffs start on Tuesday. Here we are
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: on the day before. There's a handful of teams that
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: got by, so they get a chance to sit, watch, work,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: try to avoid the rust versus the rest argument and
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: fall in favor of getting the rest as a benefactor.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: And very excited about our guest today. It is Eric Neander.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: He's the president of baseball operations for the Tampa Bay Rays. Justin,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: before we start, want to bring everybody up to date
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: on what we're doing here on the Parent Dugout. We
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: invite all of you to join. Tell your friends. Join
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: for free. It is the must-stop for parents of players.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: It is your community. theparentdugout.com. You can join now for
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: free and get a feel for everything that's inside the platform,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: whether it has to do with the interviews that we
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: do on this Dirt from the Dugout podcast or Justin's
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Baseball Recruiting Confidential. I promise you it will benefit you, theparentdugout.com.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: I'm just you excited about this time of year. We
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: got all these teams that have grinded through 162 and
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: now it's the mountaintop they got to get to.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, man.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: I mean, how can you not like playoff baseball, right?
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's such an awesome time of year. It's
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: such a marathon, Ravi. That's what is so great about
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: baseball is it's just the ups and downs of a
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: season and you have to withstand the punches. And so
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: now you have the teams that have withstood some of that.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: And then now the stakes rise, right? And yeah, man,
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: it's an awesome time of year. The playoffs are really
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: shaking out to to be really electric too, man. A
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: lot of great players in it. A lot of great
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: teams in it. I would say it feels really wide open, right?
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: Like I think that's always exciting. Such a great time
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: of year, man.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: No doubt about it. Again, you can ask your questions
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: in the YouTube chat. And let's bring in our guest.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: He is the president of Baseball Operations. He looks like
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: he's 12. He's been doing it for a long time.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: In fact, he's in his young 40s. The very handsome
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: Eric Neander. Very smart. I know handsome's like not the
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: lead person, but really intelligent people out there have to
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: understand how successful this organization has been. There's been like
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: two years since Eric's been in charge of the whole thing.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: They haven't made the playoffs. They're back there this year.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: They are the best team in the American league record
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: wise to Justin's point. They certainly have every bit to
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: say we have as good a chance as any team
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: out there to win the whole thing. And it's a
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: pleasure to have you on. We appreciate it. I know
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: that even with the next five days off, this is
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: crunch time for you. So we're grateful. you're willing to
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: spend some time with us, Eric.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: Well, thank you for all the kind words and somebody
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: around here deserves credit for the 64 losses.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: That's probably me.
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: The 98 wins go to everybody else here. So appreciate it.
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: And the filters here must be right. Cause there's a
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: lot of gray coming in and other things, stress associated,
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: but that's okay. Let's keep rolling with it.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: No, we do that. Cause my, I look like Steve Phillips,
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: but the filters have just colored everything. So it, It's ideal.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: I think this is going to be really interesting, E.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: We're going to go with E as nicknames because Musier,
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: he worked for the Brewers for years. And to me,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: when you look at the regular season and maybe going
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: into the postseason, you two would have a lot in
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: common with the way that the organization is structured. There's Cheerio.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: There's Caminero. There's really good pitching. There's so many similarities
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: about the two organizations. I look forward to hearing you
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: guys interact. But let's start with, given that this is
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: a platform for parents, you were a Cal Ripken fan
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: when you were really young, and then you went to
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: upstate New York at Oneonta. You and I have some
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: of that in common because I was an Ithaca guy.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: I grew up in Massachusetts, went to Ithaca, drove through
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Oneonta all the time. And yet you hurt your shoulder,
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: I think maybe diving for a ball playing basketball, not baseball,
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: which is in our wheelhouse. We love the multi-sport athletes.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: And yet you decided somehow to pivot and turn this
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: whole thing into what this has become. Let's share some
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: of that early journey and then we'll get deeper into
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: where we are now.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, gosh, where to begin?
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: I think I grew up loving the game of baseball.
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: I was born in D.C., lived in Silver Spring, Maryland
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: until I was nine. My mom's family, she grew up
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: in Oneonta, New York, and my grandfather was sick at
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: the time. We made the decision to move back up there.
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: But I was nine years old at the time and
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: loved the game, loved the Orioles. Cal Ripken, that was
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: my guy. And I think the fandom had hardened enough
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: that I could take it with me to upstate New
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: York and deal with being the only Baltimore Orioles fan
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: within hundreds of miles.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: That's right. That's right. So, um, you know, just grew
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: up loving the game, playing the game.
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: Um, I just had a connection with it and had
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: a lot of friends that felt very similarly that, um,
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: just was really strong and it was what we love
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: to do. It's what we love to think about 20
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: minutes from Cooperstown, the Hall of Fame games, the weekends
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: up there. It's just, we loved it.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: Uh, and growing up, I, you know, into college, I didn't,
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: I got hurt.
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: Um, Playing basketball, I would not consider myself a multi-sport
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: athlete or I wouldn't have probably gotten hurt. But yeah,
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: it stopped me from playing and trying to figure out
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: what next to do with my life.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: And really through.
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: College, just could not find anything that matched the passion
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: and the interest that I had for baseball and really,
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: really wanted to coach.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: That was my primary passion.
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: Once I was done playing and got the itch to
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: kind of get back in the game, that didn't materialize.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: Learn more about professional.
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: Baseball, front office work, and kind of the combination of baseball,
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: the subject matter, and just how intellectually stimulating the work
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: was in this area. Something I learned about late in college,
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: but once I kind of went down that path, became
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: really excited about it, was very thankful. The then-Devil Rays,
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: I think on my third or fourth attempt at an
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: internship here, finally said, mercy, we'll take you. Gave me
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: four months of time, and here we are 20 seasons later.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Right. If at first you don't succeed, blow the dang
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: door down until they let you in. Before Justin chimes in, Eric,
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: I'm curious because it's easy to say, I love baseball.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: A lot of people grow up saying, I love baseball,
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: but you could also love hockey or basketball or football
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: or something else. What was it about baseball that grabbed you?
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: What's the romance behind it?
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: You know, I don't know. Really, I don't know. I
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: just always enjoyed playing it. I enjoyed being around it.
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: My parents were always great about supporting my interest and
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: my younger brother's interest in whatever that we had going
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: on that we enjoyed. For whatever reason, it just was
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: always baseball. When I was little, I was pretty good
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: at it.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: I was bigger. I could hit a ball quite easily.
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: Bar for my my size and you know uh and
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: i don't know it's always fun but i just i
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: think growing up maybe it was being 20 minutes from
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: a group now we just had a lot of close
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: friends that love to play the game uh for a
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: small town you know i was lucky to play with
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: an assortment of you know good friends that were drafted
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: you know and um had those experiences i you know
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: did not have those experiences but just It's just.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: What we love to do. And it was available to us.
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: Like I said, Cooperstown, I think that backdrop 20 minutes
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: away probably played a part. And yeah, just kind of
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: a small town area. But baseball was always prominent there.
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: And just, I don't know, love doing that more than
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: I did school, other sports, whatever it might be. I'm
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: glad I'm really happy it worked out, but I.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: Didn't see it coming.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: It's a good thing you didn't grow up outside of Springfield, Mass.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: Maybe it would have been basketball being near that Hall
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: of Fame or Canton, Ohio.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: Probably not.
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's such a cool journey though, Eric. I mean,
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: obviously you've had different roles there, right? And as you've
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: kind of climbed the ladder, so to speak, in any profession,
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: it's really difficult to break in, but then it's really
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: difficult to get yourself into different, more important roles to
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: in a sense of like decision-making and all that. You've
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: had an interesting journey. You've obviously had a ton of success. Uh, as,
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: as I know, and as you know, success in baseball,
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: it's organizationally, right? There's a lot of people involved with that.
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: What are some of the things that are really important
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: for you as a, as a leader, right? We, we
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: talk a lot about leadership on this and, and a
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: lot of, you know, that it can translate to the
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: 15 year old leader on their baseball team or whatever.
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: But like from a leadership standpoint, what are some of
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: the core beliefs that you have in leading that organization
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: to breed that success year after year?
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: It's a great question. Look, I think a few things.
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: I take the job seriously. I don't take myself very seriously.
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: I think there are a lot of people here that
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: can attest to that, right? It's professional, but it's a game.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: It's fun, right? I try... to make sure that we.
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: Never lose sight of that, especially as the stress climbs
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: this time of year. We're really lucky. Any of us
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: that have our livelihoods wrapped up in this game, we're
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: really lucky for that to be the case.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: For us, we've been fortunate to win a lot of games.
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: That's due to the work of a lot of incredible
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: staff that are still here, some that have gone on
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: to take opportunities elsewhere, um, and our players. And, um,
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: you know, we, we all have our small role in this.
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: I think try to lead with, with humility, right?
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: Lead. And like I said, these roles are important. We're
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: not important.
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: Um, we've, we've been fortunate to win a lot of
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: baseball games over the years. Uh, but that doesn't mean
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: we have this all figured out. We have a lot
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: more that we need to learn than, than what we
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: already know. Um, I think just staying really grounded as
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: we go through this. We find ways to get better.
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: We respect different perspectives. We have a very large staff.
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: I think we are very unapologetic when it comes to
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: our belief in analytics, but there's not a choice.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: It's not that or this, right?
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: That is a real large percentage of what we are,
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: but we are many things with many different backgrounds, many
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: different types of people, roles, experiences in the game. I
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: think the one thing that we share is respect for
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: different perspectives and we trust one another and we all
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: know we're just trying to get better. We're trying to
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: do the best that we can for our players. And
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: I think as long as that kind of, it all
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: flows up into just attitude, right? It's, it's how you
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: approach it.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: It's a choice. It's your attitude and try at least behaviorally.
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: I'm not big on plastering signs all over the place
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: and you know, your mission statements is that we try it.
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: I think there's things that we absolutely stand for, but
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: it's really the behaviors. It's how you do it day
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: in day out that has the influence. And like I said, I,
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: I love the game.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: I love the work. I love the challenge.
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: Love doing everything that I can to support our players
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: and our staff and expect all of our staff to
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: do the same and our players for that matter.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: So you're saying we don't have a big yellow and
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: blue sign in the clubhouse that says belief.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: We don't know.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: I think there's a few down there that say other things,
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: you know, but yeah, look, it's, you know what? And
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: I don't know. It's one of those. I've been here
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: 20 years. It is something.
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: In all seriousness that I try to remember, there's a
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: lot of experiences or beliefs that have been instilled in
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: me by, you know, Andrew Friedman, Matt Silverman, James Clicks,
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: Himes Bloom, Himes.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: Bloom, so on and so forth.
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: Over time that like, I really look around, I'm like,
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: most of our staff hasn't been here for all of
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: those experiences. So the perception I have of this place
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: and its history, there are times where it's like, oh,
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: maybe we do need a sign or maybe I do
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: need to say this out loud or communicate its importance because,
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: I'm hanging on to things from 15 years ago that
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: are second nature to me that maybe half our staff
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: have never heard before. I think there's probably a place
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: that I need to look out for that myself, but
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: I just think that once you're in this and you're
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: going day to day to day and you're on the
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: hamster wheel, you just don't have time to look up
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: and look around. Your culture is how you act.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: It's how you operate. It's your attitude.
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: It's how you navigate conflict, how you keep people energized
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: and caring about what you're trying to accomplish.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: And that's a championship, um, you know, and that's, that's
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: kind of, those are our signs. Yeah.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: I'm curious. It strikes me. So you're walking around the
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: hall of fame. I assume you've been to the hall
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: of fame thousands of times. And is that right? I mean,
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: you've been there thousands of times.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: Quite a few. I've been there. I've worked at Sal's
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: on the pizzeria on Main Street there. And yeah, lots.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: I don't know if I should say that.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: So you're walking through there, this analytical way of thinking.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: I mean, are you and your boys in there debating
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: the merits of, you know, Walter Johnson versus, let's say,
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: Clayton Kershaw? Like, are we that deep into the weeds
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: or what? I'm so curious how those conversations went.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: No, really not at all. I think the.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: It's, it's interesting.
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: I like, I think the whole structure of a front
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: office wasn't something that I appreciated until I was almost
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: done with college.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: Um, like I said, I, I loved the game.
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: I love playing the game. I, I suppose, you know,
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: looking back on it, you know, probably nerdier than most
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: in terms of how I thought about it. Um, but
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: I wasn't necessarily well read, well versed, um, anything like that.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: I just, I just love the game.
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: Um, love to, loved its history, loved to study the
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: way people competed, um, the way they found success. Um,
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: you know, even it was, you know, message boards about
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: hitting mechanics and things like this with the internet was like,
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: I just kind of, I wasn't like, just found myself curious, right.
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: And a lot of how the games played, how people
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: find success, how they try to get better and really, um,
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: you know, just kind of turn my brain on in
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: a way that other things didn't, uh, for, for whatever reason. So, uh,
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: truly in many ways, just, a fan of the sport,
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: you know, and I think, I think about how I
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: watch football, I watch other sports. It's, I turn off
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: the brain almost entirely that I'm a fan. And I think,
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: but for it just becoming something I learned about how
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: front offices operate before that, I was more a fan
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: than anything else.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: And then it was, you know, I think, I found
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: my way.
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: I think I probably naturally had more of an analytical
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: mindset just with how I thought about baseball and had
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: a lot of intuitive thoughts that aligned with kind of
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: analytical principles, so to speak, but it wasn't, yeah, just,
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: I kind of found my way into it and found
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: a lot of alignment as I went in terms of
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: just trying to learn and educate and grow.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: It sounds, Dustin, it sounds to me too, like there's
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: a great appreciation. I mean, I, that's what comes across
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: for me, Eric, is you have an appreciation, whether you're
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: walking around the hall of fame or, walking through the
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: Rays clubhouse, like you, you seem to recognize and appreciate
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: how hard it is to play this thing, how hard
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: it is to have success. And I, and your curiosity
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: seems to be something at least just to me that
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: helps fuel the success of the Rays and Eric have had.
• 15:40
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: I want to, I want to ask you, cause like
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: there's a lot of bravado in baseball, right? I mean,
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: there is a lot of ego from organization to organization,
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: how they do it. Um, And I don't mean that
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: negatively to individuals. I'm just saying there is and how
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: things should be done. The one thing that I love
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: about what you do and what your organization does is
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: it is totally outside the box. It is win however
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: we can win. And it's really not. You talked about
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: the analytics side. I think great. And you know this
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: better than I do from within there. But that's a
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: part of it. but you guys just work in any
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: way to be creative. It's not just about that now
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: because now, you know, a lot of organizations are in
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: that world, but you guys just are okay with being
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: who you are. You're okay with doing it different. You're
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: okay with winning differently. Can you just talk a little
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: bit about that? Because I think in baseball in general,
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: there's a lot of coaches and players that try to
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: be like something else and and try to emulate someone
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: else or do it a different way. When in reality,
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: as a human, we should try to be creative and
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: do it the best that we can do it, right?
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: And separate those things out. Can you just talk a
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: little bit about that and how you've stayed comfortable kind
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: of in your own skin and doing it your way,
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: whatever that way is?
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I couldn't define it. I think it
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: might take me a big word to say.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: Accomplish that. But I look, I, we're just, we're just
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: trying to do the best we can.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: Like that's, I think at its core, it's that right.
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: And I think if you're truly trying to do the
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: best that you can, you're, you're willing to put yourself
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: out there. You're willing to do what you think is
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: best without a whole lot of regard for what people
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: think outside the walls of your organization. And, and then
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: based on what happens, you, you reflect, you learn, you adjust,
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: and you modify, you tweak, and you try something a
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: little bit different. And I think that's just the cycle
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: that we operate on, right? And I think in many ways,
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: there's a lot of judgment, I think, that comes with
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: perceived philosophy and how a team operates, this, that, whatever.
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: It's like the undersized, scrappy, make the most of your
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: abilities player is beloved, typically, right? And I think our
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: attitude as an organization is very similar to that. You know, it's, Hey,
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: this is, this is know your people, right? Your staff,
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: your players, um, figure out what works best for you.
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: Lean into that care, support, and build that, that belief
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: without the yellow sign.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: Um, but the, uh, it's really, it's really that, right?
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: Like it's, it's staying grounded. Um, it's staying really curious.
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: It's not just trying to get better.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: And if there are things 20, 30, 40 years ago
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: that still work and they're effective, And we're going to
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: lean on them. And if there's something that, hey, maybe
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: this is a better path for us to win baseball games,
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: then we're going to give it a shot. And it
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: doesn't mean we're always right. We screw up a whole
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: lot of stuff. But it's something that, you know, from,
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: I don't know, our perspective, we're just trying to do
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: the best we can. And we're not afraid to do
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: something different. And if it blows up in our face, yeah,
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: we're good. We never think we got to figure it out.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: On to the next one. That applies to how we operate,
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: applies to trades. We make a ton of trades.
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: There's some that have worked out well, and there's some
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: that you'd like to have back, but it's not going
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: to stop us from taking another shot and trying to
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: do them.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: For sure.
• 19:20
  Speaker 5: I love that.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: By the way, do you watch Ted Lasso?
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: I do.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: I want to make sure the blue and yellow was
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: not lost.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: What the hell is he talking about?
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I've seen probably a dozen movies and maybe a
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: dozen TV shows.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: I don't I don't watch a whole lot.
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: I often get made fun of for my lack of,
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: you know, knowledge of cinema history. But the yeah, that's
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: a show that it's an easy watch. Um, we, you know,
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: gotten into it at home and.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: Right. Okay.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: Exactly.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: Good.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: I just didn't want to be speaking a foreign language
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: to you with that being said, let's, let's get to
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: a question either we get from Maverick because you just
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: literally touched on these trades and he said, you guys
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: have become famous for acquiring players. Other organizations may not
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: fully value yet, or maybe they think the value is gone, whatever. Um,
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: Is there one player that you remember fighting for internally
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: where people in the room looked at you like you're
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: crazy and that doesn't make any sense, but you said,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: trust me, there's something here and it worked out. And
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: I'm sure there's probably more than one of those.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, it's funny.
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: I'm thinking of a few where I had a strong
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: opinion and others didn't see it and.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: They were right. I was wrong. You hang on to
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: those a little bit more so, but I think.
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: and this wasn't, this wasn't, uh, a me versus our
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: staff necessarily, but I, I do think the, you know,
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: the Randy arose arena acquisition was one that, um, you know,
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: it does stand out to me and not, not a
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: me versus our group, but I think those of us scouts, evaluators, analysts,
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: people involved in, you know, studying Randy probably, you know,
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: over a few years. I mean, we had history with
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: them as an amateur and we saw them come through
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: their system and, um, you know, a lot of familiarity,
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: saw some changes in, you know, approach and performance that
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: seemed pretty rapid. And that was a transaction where the
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: people involved, you know, we had gotten ourself to a
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: place where we felt that this was.
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: Worth going on.
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: Um, and, and we believed in our, in our work,
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: but we also recognize that that transaction at the time
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: was one that even in our own organization, if you
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: weren't intimately involved in the years of studying Randy and
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: learning Randy, um, I'm sure when we made that transaction
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: and acquired the 12th best prospect in the Cardinals system
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: at the time for a top 50 pitching prospect in baseball,
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: people thought we were crazy. That was just an example
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: of trusting our work. Libitor was a good arm, a
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: good lefty arm that had a bright future and has
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: done just fine. That was just an example where I
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: think outside of those that were intimately involved in the
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: transaction process, probably looked.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: At that one and questioned, you know, what was going on.
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: But I think a good example of just believing in
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: our work, trusting it and setting the right expectations that
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: that can all be true. And this might not work.
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: And if it doesn't work, it's one of those deals
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: where you look dumb when you made it and you
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: might look dumb through history, you know, on it. And
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: that's and that's OK. But I often hold that one
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: up as an example of the benefits of putting yourself
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: out there and giving a shot.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was one at that time.
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: You know, after 19, we had a little success, but
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: we hadn't kind of fully validated the operation as recently.
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: You know, that 2013 was our last playoff run prior
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: and it had been a while.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: But to put ourselves out there, do that, trust our work.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: We were rewarded.
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: And it's one that I don't know, maybe that one
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: having worked emboldened us to try a few more that didn't.
• 23:01
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: Hang on to those examples.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: Those are all you got to do is be successful.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: Three out of 10 times. It's his baseball, buddy.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: That's right. On the field, yes. In our job, you'll
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: be interviewing someone else.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: Fair point.
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: Oh, man.
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: So good.
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: I got to get to this part of the conversation
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: because I think it's so critical in what you guys
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: do as well. But, you know, when we talk about
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: sort of identities and how we're doing things and organizations
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: and how they do things, you know, you You talked
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: about evaluation. You talked about scouting, right? And then you
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: talked about the analytics. And I know for the Brewers organization,
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: you don't really lump those separately.
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: Everything is talked about together, right?
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: Like outside world, a lot of times identifies them like,
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: what does this department look like? And what does this
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: department look like? Where within the organization, it's like, you
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: don't really talk like that. Everybody's kind of together. Can
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: you talk about how you've united those two? Those two specific,
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: because obviously you have the player development that's really critical too.
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: And all of these things have to come together. And
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: if one is not functioning well, it's hard to get
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: to where you're at. But I want to talk about
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: scouting specifically versus, not versus, and analytics and.
• 24:17
  Speaker 5: How you've merged that so well. Because you talked about Randy.
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: There's obviously things you're looking at numbers wise, but that's
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: also a scouting eval that you're taking and put on.
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: Can you talk about how you found some edges with
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: both of those and how you've merged those?
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I'll do, I'll do my best.
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: I think at the end of the day, you know, our,
• 24:42
  Speaker 4: our job when constructing rosters and not necessarily the day-to-day
• 24:46
  Speaker 4: roster management, but the year-to-year roster management is we're, We're
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: trying to do the best that we can, see the
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: future better than our competitors, make our crystal ball a
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: little bit better than our competitors, understand what we do well,
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: what we don't, and how to acquire talent that fits
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: within us and that we can get the most out
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: of it. I think when it comes to the acquisition
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: side of things, The goal is the same for everyone,
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: regardless of your perspective. Anyone that has a strong belief,
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: a strong opinion about a player's future, objective, subjective, what
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: have you, it all gets thrown in the pot. I
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: think by and large, we hold ourselves accountable to all
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: the information in a moment in time.
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: We look back, we review, and whatever is.
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: Most helpful to seeing the future is what we're going
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: to lean on. And if that is if that is
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: one source, if we have one scout that is better
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: at seeing the future than the rest of us combined,
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: then we're rolling with them.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: One piece of information, you know, you know, one source
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: of data, so to speak, that is more influential than
• 26:00
  Speaker 4: everything else. We're rolling with it because all that matters
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: is we're trying to bring in players that are most
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: helpful to us winning baseball games in the future. And
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: whatever helps us best do that is going to get
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: the weight. And I think that's something that across the board,
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: no one can disagree with that.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: And I think, you know, taking that a step further,
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: oftentimes people just want the chance to compete.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: In a sense, they want to have a chance to
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: compete their opinions, their beliefs. I think if you give
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: people a chance to compete, you can over time.
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: And you hold people accountable to their thoughts and their
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: theories and their opinions and and our data the same,
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: then all right, you get a chance to compete. And
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: if I'm, my, my views are helpful, they're going to
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: have influence. And if they're not, and if something else,
• 26:45
  Speaker 4: or if something else is more helpful, that's going to
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: have influence.
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: And then let me figure out another way to do it. Right.
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: And I think that's the, whatever the source of input
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: is into that process. I think that's largely understood at
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: this point. And it's like, okay, all right. If me
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: holding up a radar gun in a AAA ballpark, is
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: it very helpful anymore than, I'm going to stop lugging
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: around in that setting and let me get into like,
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: all right, throw it away. But how does it look
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: like this guy's throwing? What kind of fastball, what impression
• 27:12
  Speaker 4: is it giving me? And, you know, you're just trying
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: to do the best you can as a group to
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: make the best decisions and find new ways to influence
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: that future, you know, assessment as best as we can.
• 27:23
  Speaker 4: And we just, we just run on that a lot,
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: but I think it really comes down to, you know,
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: trying not to make decisions about what is and is
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: important until it plays out until it's had a chance
• 27:32
  Speaker 4: to breathe.
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: It's had a chance to compete. And then, whatever's most
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: influential wins.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: We go with that.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: That's awesome, man.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: Really good. Let's humanize this a little bit. Here's a
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: question from Dom in our chat as you're watching and
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: listening to Eric Neander, the president of baseball operations for
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay Rays. He says, so you have three
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: kids now. Has becoming a dad changed the way that
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: you look at players in your organization, especially the 18, 19, 20-year-olds?
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: It tends to change the way people look at everything.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: Has it impacted the way that perhaps you look at
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: some of the players in your clubhouse.
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think without, without question, my oldest is 12 now,
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: you know, he's two thirds.
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: Of the way out the house, which is startling. I
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: think that just hit me actually. I didn't, thanks, thanks Dom.
• 28:21
  Speaker 4: But yeah, no, it's yeah, I just, it's, it's perspective,
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: it's wisdom, it's life experience. It just, you know, I
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: think it, how I divvy up my time, how I
• 28:34
  Speaker 4: allocate my time, what is most important for me to do,
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: you know, what is okay to hand off, right? I
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: think that's a, you know, a huge part of all this. And,
• 28:43
  Speaker 4: you know, it's important. The job is really important. The
• 28:47
  Speaker 4: demands of it, like I said, are obvious. But with
• 28:50
  Speaker 4: advancements in technology, you know, you can get a little
• 28:53
  Speaker 4: more creative about how you accomplish the job, how you
• 28:56
  Speaker 4: do it to make sure you're in multiple places as
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: once as you need to. And I, yeah, I just,
• 29:03
  Speaker 4: I don't know, for our players, I just, I wouldn't
• 29:05
  Speaker 4: necessarily attribute it to that, but just as you go along,
• 29:07
  Speaker 4: as you see kids growing up, learning things, you know, the, yeah,
• 29:13
  Speaker 4: we have kids, we have people in our clubhouse, you know,
• 29:15
  Speaker 4: Kami's closer in age to my, my 12 year.
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: Old that he has, right. So it, you know, it just,
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: I think it, it just, it keeps you aware, you know,
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: where they are on their journeys.
• 29:24
  Speaker 4: You know, I, I, thinking back to thoughts or beliefs
• 29:27
  Speaker 4: I had when I was 25 years old versus now,
• 29:29
  Speaker 4: they evolve, right?
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: They do for all of us. You have those experiences.
• 29:32
  Speaker 4: And I think, you know, just growing up's hard. You're
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: learning as you go and it's not all figured out.
• 29:38
  Speaker 4: And the things I have in my head now, are
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: not what I had at 25. And certainly that applies
• 29:42
  Speaker 4: to players all the same. So, yeah, I wouldn't to
• 29:46
  Speaker 4: Dom's question. I don't there's probably a better answer to
• 29:49
  Speaker 4: a little more thought I'd provide it. But I just
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: think that having kids, raising kids, watching them develop, there's
• 29:55
  Speaker 4: there's patience required for that.
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: There's there's care.
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: Right. There's a commitment to doing what's best for them,
• 30:01
  Speaker 4: even if at the moment in time they don't necessarily
• 30:04
  Speaker 4: see it that way. You aim for respect. And that
• 30:08
  Speaker 4: is very similar to helping players fulfill their individual.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: There's cooperation, Eric, and there's collaboration with your wife and
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: those kids.
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: You learn, this is not just Eric.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: This is not just me doing this.
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: Without question. Absolutely. Absolutely. At home and at work, other
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: people do a much better job than I do. That's
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: for sure.
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: I mean, in regard to that, though, so I was
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: talking to a buddy of mine, Matt Hobbs, who you
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: may know, a pitching coach at Arkansas. And at Arkansas,
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: they really preach to their players because they're pulled in
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: a lot of directions, as you can imagine, as you know.
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: And so they preach, you know, wherever your feet are,
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: be 100% in. And it's actually stuck with me. He
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: told me this years ago, just the busyness and everything
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: that they have going on. So if you're at practice,
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: be a hundred percent in, if you're in the weight room,
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: be a hundred percent in. But when you're with your
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: friends or your family, be a hundred percent in on that.
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: It's something that I've always appreciated. It's very difficult to
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: accomplish that in a role like yours. Can you just
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: talk about how you've been able to balance that with
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: your three kids? And, and I think it's a good
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: lesson for maybe coaches out there, right? That listen to
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: this and watch us too. Like, how do you balance
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: that in your life? really being pulled in a lot
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: of directions every day.
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 31:25
  Speaker 4: Um, with an amazing wife, you know, it helps considerably and, uh,
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: and Jess, but I, I think, you know, over, over time,
• 31:36
  Speaker 4: like it goes back, the job is important. You know,
• 31:39
  Speaker 4: I'm not important, you know, our work's important, but I,
• 31:43
  Speaker 4: when you're an intern, you have four months, you're racing
• 31:45
  Speaker 4: to come up with some tangible work product that you
• 31:48
  Speaker 4: can pass along and help someone.
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: I think when you get into a position of leadership,
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: it doesn't matter what you do. It just matters. Do
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: things get done?
• 31:54
  Speaker 4: And I think you'll learn that whether you do something
• 31:58
  Speaker 4: yourself or other people are doing it, all that matters
• 32:00
  Speaker 4: is it gets done. And oftentimes other people can do
• 32:02
  Speaker 4: better than you can. And I think once you, once
• 32:04
  Speaker 4: you kind of reach that.
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: Place, it makes it a little easier to delegate.
• 32:09
  Speaker 4: It makes it a little easier to, to be home,
• 32:12
  Speaker 4: to be present, you know, to find that, that balance,
• 32:16
  Speaker 4: so to speak, the sleep definitely suffers a little bit
• 32:19
  Speaker 4: for it. But just to, just to be there for
• 32:22
  Speaker 4: those moments that have had too many coworkers, you know,
• 32:25
  Speaker 4: go back to talk about us having a lot of
• 32:26
  Speaker 4: different people on our staff. We have people that are
• 32:28
  Speaker 4: in their early twenties, you know, we have people that
• 32:30
  Speaker 4: have been in this game for, for 50 years and
• 32:32
  Speaker 4: those that have been around, you know, just the constant
• 32:34
  Speaker 4: preaching of make sure you're there, make sure you have
• 32:38
  Speaker 4: your present, make sure you, you know, to what you said, you,
• 32:40
  Speaker 4: where your feet are when you're at work, be focused
• 32:43
  Speaker 4: on your work, get it done, when you're home, do
• 32:45
  Speaker 4: your best to be focused at home and the rest
• 32:48
  Speaker 4: of us will have things at work. And that's, and
• 32:50
  Speaker 4: that's largely, largely true. And just try to, you know,
• 32:54
  Speaker 4: I don't know, you have moments where you feel like,
• 32:56
  Speaker 4: oh gosh, I haven't been on this for a week
• 32:59
  Speaker 4: and everybody knows it. And you realize, I wouldn't even
• 33:01
  Speaker 4: realize you, you know, you've been gone for a week.
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: You're not that important. So just, just appreciate it. The
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: job's important, but me, myself, not that important.
• 33:11
  Speaker 4: And I think that helps just kind of, keep me
• 33:14
  Speaker 4: grounded and, and yeah, it gives me a chance to
• 33:17
  Speaker 4: be present wherever I'm at work or home or anywhere
• 33:20
  Speaker 4: in between.
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: Hey, welcome everybody. Dirt from the dugout about to show
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: you part two of our great conversation with Eric Neander,
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: the president of baseball operations with the Tampa Bay Rays,
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: Justin Musil and Carl Ravitch. Dirt from the dugout, all
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: part of the parent dugout. We invite you to become
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: a member and you can do that for free right now.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: It allows you instant access to all that the Parent
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: Dugout offers, which is advice, which is information, which is videos,
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: which is access to both the podcast that we do,
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: Baseball Recruiting Confidential, for those of you ready to take
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: the next step, as well as Dirt from the Dugout,
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: which has a host of incredible guests. The list is long.
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: We consider it a Hall of Fame list. And with that, Justin,
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: we are about to dive into part two of our
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: conversation with the great Eric Neander, who is not like
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: Brian Cashman. He's not like one of his former co-workers,
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: Andrew Friedman. He doesn't yet have sort of the Brinks
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: vault behind him, which would afford him the ability to
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: pay every player. And yet somehow they continue to have
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: ridiculous success. And I know you're familiar with this with
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: the Brewers who don't spend a ton of money in
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: your experiences.
• 34:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it's, it's so, uh, so much about
• 34:35
  Speaker 3: creativity and being outside the box and being willing, you know,
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: how many times we have, did he touch on just
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: being willing to try things, right?
• 34:42
  Speaker 5: Whatever works, whatever's going to work. We try. And if
• 34:45
  Speaker 5: it doesn't work, we try something else.
• 34:47
  Speaker 3: And if, uh, for anyone out there, if you don't
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: know who Eric Neander is and you don't know the
• 34:51
  Speaker 3: work that he's done, it is incredible what he has
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: accomplished in, in, uh, in honestly his young life, right.
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: And what, where he's at in his career. But, The race,
• 35:02
  Speaker 3: the organization, where they're at, his leadership. I mean, so impressive.
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: The conversation has been so good. Part two is awesome
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: as well. The conversation is riveting with his insight and
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: what he's bringing to the table and how they just
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: try to figure it out. And it pulls at me, Ravi,
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: because I am very much an outside-the-box individual. I'm very
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: much a creative sort of thinker. And so when I
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: get talking to people like Eric it's we're connecting because
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: it's just about what works. It's about solutions. And I
• 35:35
  Speaker 3: don't really care what anyone else is doing, what works
• 35:37
  Speaker 3: for us. Like how can we do it different and better?
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: So there's just so many great things here, man.
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: And in so many ways, really symbolic of what the
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: dirt from the dugout podcast and the parent dugout is
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: all about. It is to show you folks at home.
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: There's not just one way to get to wherever it
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: is that your ultimate journey wants to be. There's not
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: just one way. There's a lot. And in the case
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: of the Rays, this is a guy in his young
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: 40s that started out as a kid who just loved
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: baseball growing up in the shadows of Cooperstown and the
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: Hall of Fame. And as we begin part two, the
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: first question we asked him about is one of his
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: first jobs in baseball paid him nothing. It was with
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: Baseball Info Solutions and it framed what has become arguably
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: the beginnings of a Hall of Fame career for himself.
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: Done your homework, Ravi.
• 36:29
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, the world's evolved, right?
• 36:35
  Speaker 4: Even our entry-level positions these days, they pay a little
• 36:38
  Speaker 4: bit better. They don't force you to make some of
• 36:40
  Speaker 4: those choices that we did back then.
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: Happily, I might add. That's part of.
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: It, Eric. I mean, that's the part of it that
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: you want to share with people.
• 36:50
  Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah.
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: No, look, I left school.
• 36:56
  Speaker 4: You know, without going, I left school, I went to
• 36:59
  Speaker 4: baseball info solutions for an internship in 2006. And I
• 37:05
  Speaker 4: thought I wanted to work for a professional baseball team,
• 37:07
  Speaker 4: but I really was ignorant to the whole process. And yeah,
• 37:12
  Speaker 4: I gave myself that internship, you know, you're charting games,
• 37:16
  Speaker 4: scoring games, you're just watching baseball all day long.
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: And I was like, all right, this sounds like fun.
• 37:20
  Speaker 4: It's not the best pay, but it was almost like,
• 37:22
  Speaker 4: all right, we'll take this year, take this opportunity. watch
• 37:25
  Speaker 4: as much baseball as I possibly can every single day,
• 37:29
  Speaker 4: almost try to burn myself out, right? Because it's like
• 37:32
  Speaker 4: the hours that this requires, the odds of it being
• 37:34
  Speaker 4: a career, the money, none of it makes a whole
• 37:37
  Speaker 4: lot of sense. So you better really, really like it
• 37:39
  Speaker 4: in order to go to commit with it. And so
• 37:44
  Speaker 4: that's what I did. And initially had a few roommates there.
• 37:49
  Speaker 4: We shared an apartment, loved it. We all did the
• 37:51
  Speaker 4: same thing. We watched games all day long and it was,
• 37:54
  Speaker 4: it was a blast. Learned, learned a lot of, you know,
• 37:56
  Speaker 4: and at any point along the way, just, it just
• 38:01
  Speaker 4: got more and more energized by it.
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: You know, the more hours in a day that.
• 38:04
  Speaker 4: I spent watching games, being around it, the more I
• 38:07
  Speaker 4: enjoyed it, the more I felt committed to giving it
• 38:10
  Speaker 4: a go. I didn't have a specific goal in mind.
• 38:12
  Speaker 4: I just wanted to try to make a, you know,
• 38:16
  Speaker 4: take a shot at a career in baseball.
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: I just, I was just too energized by it.
• 38:19
  Speaker 4: Enjoyed it too much compared to anything else that I
• 38:21
  Speaker 4: had tried to find interest in through, through college.
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: And, and that was it.
• 38:25
  Speaker 4: But I, yeah, that internship, once the regular season concluded,
• 38:28
  Speaker 4: then I was kind of in for the internship and
• 38:31
  Speaker 4: they allowed me to stay around and, and do whatever.
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: And I was like, all right, yeah, what else am
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: I going to do?
• 38:36
  Speaker 4: So I was, you know, trying to get the attention
• 38:38
  Speaker 4: of clubs, but that seemed like maybe a winter meetings
• 38:41
  Speaker 4: thing at best into the next spring and So it
• 38:43
  Speaker 4: was like, yeah, I'll give it a go and we'll stay.
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: But I did not have a place. It was not
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: getting a whole lot of.
• 38:48
  Speaker 4: When your internship expires, I can't even remember if they
• 38:51
  Speaker 4: maintained my rate or if it was like, if you
• 38:53
  Speaker 4: just want to hang around, you're welcome.
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: We're not going to pay you. I don't remember.
• 38:57
  Speaker 4: I just remember Joel Kammeyer, who was an intern with us,
• 39:01
  Speaker 4: took a full-time job there.
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: He had an apartment.
• 39:04
  Speaker 4: And right inside his front door, he had a walk-in
• 39:07
  Speaker 4: closet that perfectly fit a twin-size bed.
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: So for.
• 39:13
  Speaker 4: For several months, that was my residence. He charged me
• 39:18
  Speaker 4: a very fair rate. I could hang my clothes straight
• 39:21
  Speaker 4: up over top and have that underneath It was great.
• 39:25
  Speaker 4: My wife would come visit from Philadelphia and wonder that
• 39:31
  Speaker 4: then this, this might work out. But yeah, so, you know,
• 39:35
  Speaker 4: that was it, but you just, I don't know. I never,
• 39:38
  Speaker 4: to this day, I, that stuff doesn't bother me.
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: You know, I do whatever. I just, I don't know.
• 39:44
  Speaker 4: Always put a prioritization. If I'm doing something I really
• 39:46
  Speaker 4: love to do, then the rest of it just doesn't,
• 39:49
  Speaker 4: And probably played some role in me finding an opportunity
• 39:54
  Speaker 4: here and tricking them still to this day.
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, Justin, I will say this. I mean, Eric,
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: in our world of broadcasting, in a lot of ways,
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: it's like baseball. I mean, you start in the minor
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: leagues and, you know, I think you have a greater appreciation.
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: I certainly did when you got to the major leagues
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: of the journey to get there. And that applies to
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: this entire podcast that we do. I think those stories
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: are the most relevant because now you are surrounded by
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: other really smart people. Back then you were figuring it out,
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: but you, at its root, you told your, you know,
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: your future wife, I don't know how this is going
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: to work out, but I love doing it. And when,
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: when in a sense, I love something, I'm happier, I'm
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: more productive. It's inspiring. It's motivating. I don't want to
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: stop doing this, but I don't know. what the next
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: guy in Binghamton is going to say to me, or Harrisburg,
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: Pennsylvania is going to say to me, or ESPN is
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: going to say to me, but I love, I know this.
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: I love what I'm doing. And I got a lot
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: of buddies who don't, and they're only 20 or 21.
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah. It certainly seemed like the time to give it
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: a shot. And I, yeah, I, I truly, I had
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: no idea it would lead to anything remotely close to this.
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: I just, I love baseball.
• 41:09
  Speaker 4: This was never a specific goal that I had. I,
• 41:12
  Speaker 4: you know, even once I was here, um, embrace the opportunities,
• 41:16
  Speaker 4: enjoy the responsibilities, you know, as they increased.
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: Um, but yeah, it wasn't a goal, but I, yeah,
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: I just, I loved it.
• 41:22
  Speaker 4: I do think those, those challenges, you know, and putting
• 41:26
  Speaker 4: yourself through them, it's, it's a, it is a good filter, um,
• 41:29
  Speaker 4: to decide, you know, is this really what you want
• 41:32
  Speaker 4: to do?
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: Um, because, um, The hours and the pay, that doesn't
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: make a whole lot of sense, you.
• 41:38
  Speaker 4: Know, and the odds aren't good. So there better be
• 41:41
  Speaker 4: something in the other column that offsets that. And I,
• 41:44
  Speaker 4: you know, I'm really glad that, you know, I had
• 41:47
  Speaker 4: my parents' support, had the opportunities out of school to
• 41:50
  Speaker 4: be able to give this a shot. And I'm thankful
• 41:53
  Speaker 4: to the, you know, this organization that they eventually said, mercy,
• 41:57
  Speaker 4: let me come on in and.
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: Let me hear sense.
• 42:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean, essentially you're talking about sacrifice, right? And
• 42:05
  Speaker 3: to accomplish anything great, you have to sacrifice significantly. And
• 42:10
  Speaker 3: I think there's a great message in that for the
• 42:13
  Speaker 3: younger generation too, even of players, right? And if you
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: want to make it to the big leagues, it sounds great, right?
• 42:21
  Speaker 3: But what goes into that? There's a ton of sacrifice
• 42:25
  Speaker 3: and discipline that it takes, you know, in their version
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: of sleeping in a you know, a closet, like there
• 42:32
  Speaker 3: are things that you have to be.
• 42:34
  Speaker 5: Willing to give up.
• 42:35
  Speaker 3: Can you just share a little bit about the guys
• 42:39
  Speaker 3: you've been around and the sacrifices they've made? Obviously, you're
• 42:42
  Speaker 3: around big leaguers all the time now, but can you
• 42:44
  Speaker 3: just share a little bit about how that lesson is
• 42:47
  Speaker 3: so valuable to the younger generation and just understanding like
• 42:52
  Speaker 3: it's talent, but also work and sacrifice to get to
• 42:56
  Speaker 3: that point?
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, without question.
• 42:59
  Speaker 4: And when does it become that is something that I
• 43:04
  Speaker 4: often think about. Like I said, our oldest is 12
• 43:06
  Speaker 4: years old, and it's at a point now where it's like,
• 43:09
  Speaker 4: I think the way we think about that is we
• 43:12
  Speaker 4: want him to be challenged. We want him to be busy,
• 43:14
  Speaker 4: but we want him doing different things. And that love
• 43:16
  Speaker 4: for whatever it is, that'll come in time, right?
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: Don't want him.
• 43:20
  Speaker 4: Being so hell-bent on a singular path at 12 years old.
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. everything into one basket. And it's like, you
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: got to give up your.
• 43:28
  Speaker 4: Childhood to be the best baseball player you can be
• 43:31
  Speaker 4: or soccer or drums or.
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: You know, the many different things he does.
• 43:34
  Speaker 4: It's like, no, like it's, it's learning kind of those habits,
• 43:38
  Speaker 4: learning how to work hard, learning how to carry a schedule,
• 43:40
  Speaker 4: learning how to be responsible.
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: With your schoolwork.
• 43:42
  Speaker 4: And then over time, if you know, yeah, you, you've
• 43:45
  Speaker 4: just got a better foundation to then kind of take
• 43:48
  Speaker 4: a more focused look at your life and, and, and
• 43:51
  Speaker 4: how you want to invest in it. But I, I
• 43:53
  Speaker 4: think as you get older, you know, going to the
• 43:55
  Speaker 4: players and that side of it, you know, I think
• 43:59
  Speaker 4: players when they're drafted these days, you know, certainly higher
• 44:02
  Speaker 4: round picks, you know, be it college, be it high school.
• 44:06
  Speaker 4: They're more advanced now, I think, in a lot of
• 44:09
  Speaker 4: ways than they were. They're more specialized. You can play
• 44:11
  Speaker 4: pros and cons of that. But they come into the
• 44:15
  Speaker 4: system and how they work, it's with all the right intention.
• 44:19
  Speaker 4: They think they're getting after it. They think they're doing
• 44:21
  Speaker 4: all that they need to do. a very high percentage
• 44:24
  Speaker 4: of them that first off season, when they come back
• 44:26
  Speaker 4: for their first full season year, they look around and
• 44:28
  Speaker 4: they thought they were doing everything they needed to do.
• 44:30
  Speaker 4: And there's just like, oh, wait, there's another level to this, right?
• 44:33
  Speaker 4: There's another commitment that is more than I realized, you know,
• 44:39
  Speaker 4: after even the guys I was around last year. And
• 44:42
  Speaker 4: I think, you know, you watch our major league players
• 44:44
  Speaker 4: and they grew into it, right? But major league players
• 44:46
  Speaker 4: and routines and someone, you know, Nick Martinez, Cedric Mullins,
• 44:50
  Speaker 4: a lot of the veteran guys we brought in, Steven Matz,
• 44:53
  Speaker 4: they're deeper in their career. You understand why they're deeper
• 44:56
  Speaker 4: in their career, why they're still playing, why they're still,
• 44:59
  Speaker 4: you know, have something to give this game, like their habits,
• 45:01
  Speaker 4: their commitment to it, their routines.
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: Are, you know, they're unbelievable.
• 45:05
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 45:06
  Speaker 2: And, and you see them out there and the fame,
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: the attention, the money and all that. And, you know, it's,
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: it is what it is.
• 45:12
  Speaker 4: I said, but like, even, even in our major league clubhouse, right. For, for,
• 45:16
  Speaker 4: to have guys like that compared to the, first, second,
• 45:20
  Speaker 4: third year service players, there can be a difference, right?
• 45:23
  Speaker 4: Like it just, the commitment, you know, if you want
• 45:27
  Speaker 4: to be a professional baseball player, it takes a considerable commitment, right?
• 45:31
  Speaker 2: And discipline that starts early.
• 45:33
  Speaker 4: You know, if it's just playing that sport, other sports,
• 45:35
  Speaker 4: just you have to be committed to improving yourself at
• 45:39
  Speaker 4: a level that few are. You have to be willing
• 45:42
  Speaker 4: to do this stuff day in, day out that can
• 45:44
  Speaker 4: be monotonous and boring. And it And in each additional level, okay,
• 45:47
  Speaker 4: now you're a professional, now you want to be a
• 45:48
  Speaker 4: big leaguer. It's like, yeah, you watch the big leaguers.
• 45:50
  Speaker 4: Some of them have the gifts where they don't have
• 45:52
  Speaker 4: to do it, but most of them, you got to
• 45:54
  Speaker 4: be dialed in, you know, a level higher.
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: And then once you're in the big leagues, it's like, okay,
• 45:58
  Speaker 2: now I've made it.
• 45:59
  Speaker 4: Now I want to stay. You look around, that's a
• 46:01
  Speaker 4: level higher, right? And then those guys that want to stay,
• 46:04
  Speaker 4: it's like, now I want to make it a 10-year career.
• 46:05
  Speaker 4: I want to be an all-star, whatever. You're higher even still.
• 46:09
  Speaker 4: And it's, I don't know, I think for most, almost all,
• 46:15
  Speaker 4: you have to love what you do otherwise. And I think,
• 46:19
  Speaker 4: you know, if it's for parents, for kids, it's like,
• 46:21
  Speaker 4: to me, I would prioritize creating as many, you know,
• 46:24
  Speaker 4: opening as many doors for kids as you can to
• 46:26
  Speaker 4: help them find what they love to do. Because if
• 46:29
  Speaker 4: you don't and you're pulled along, even if you're really
• 46:31
  Speaker 4: good at something, the moment's going to come where you're
• 46:34
  Speaker 4: not as interested in seeing that. So, you know, yeah,
• 46:39
  Speaker 4: it's the sacrifice. It's all that, but it's, it doesn't
• 46:41
  Speaker 4: feel like that if you love what you do. And
• 46:43
  Speaker 4: I think, yeah, Doing everything we can for our players
• 46:46
  Speaker 4: along the way for them to, yeah, it becomes a business.
• 46:49
  Speaker 4: But kind of nurturing that love for the game, the
• 46:52
  Speaker 4: appreciation for it, the joy playing it. And if you
• 46:54
  Speaker 4: do that, then those sacrifices just don't feel like sacrifices.
• 46:59
  Speaker 2: It's fun.
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: So let me bounce just a little bit here, kind
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: of rapid fire. You know, you talk about 12-year-olds and
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: exposing them and not necessarily specializing. And there are pros
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: and cons to all that stuff. Yes or no. Have
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: you ever looked at, because you're like the ultimate judge
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: for somebody that wants to be a major league player,
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: even though there's really very little connection between a 12
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: year old and you, what is the youngest age player
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: you've looked at that you have reasonably said to yourself,
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: we've got to keep an eye on that guy. Is
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: it 14? Is it nine? Is it 18? Like, what
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: is that?
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: I wait as long as possible. It's wrapped for me.
• 47:40
  Speaker 4: That I, I mean, it's probably close to draft eligible year,
• 47:44
  Speaker 4: you know, myself, obviously Latin America, you got a international market.
• 47:50
  Speaker 4: It's just the way it is. You got to start
• 47:51
  Speaker 4: thinking about those things sooner.
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: You see it. I just, you know, be it your
• 47:58
  Speaker 2: enjoyment to doing something, your work habits.
• 48:01
  Speaker 4: You know, navigating puberty, like there's so many, like there's
• 48:05
  Speaker 4: a lot that changes from 12 to 17.
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: And I, And 17.
• 48:10
  Speaker 4: To 22 and even, you know, big leaguers that are
• 48:12
  Speaker 4: established like last year versus this year, it's like, that's
• 48:14
  Speaker 4: still a hard thing to see the future. So, um,
• 48:18
  Speaker 4: I don't know. I, I, you know, I, our sons are,
• 48:21
  Speaker 4: you know, we, our kids are involved in sports and
• 48:22
  Speaker 4: activities and like, yeah, like it's, I'm wired or it's like, Oh,
• 48:26
  Speaker 4: that person, you know, moves naturally and fluidly and well,
• 48:29
  Speaker 4: and now this person, like I could see them projecting
• 48:32
  Speaker 4: to carry a lot more strength. Like, yeah, you're, you're
• 48:34
  Speaker 4: around it too much or like you have some of those,
• 48:36
  Speaker 4: you know, things cross your mind.
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: You're watching a soccer player and you start to think, boy,
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: he moves down. Stop, Eric, stop. He's 11.
• 48:45
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 48:46
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: But it's, it stays there.
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: It's just natural. I kind of take it back as like,
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: it's learning.
• 48:53
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 48:53
  Speaker 4: Like I think about things. No, it, it, they change
• 48:57
  Speaker 4: too much. And I really, it's like, did you have fun?
• 49:01
  Speaker 4: Did you get better? Did you learn something?
• 49:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 49:03
  Speaker 4: You want to come back the next time, right? Like
• 49:05
  Speaker 4: that's a, you know, and like just kind of keep
• 49:07
  Speaker 4: an eye on that.
• 49:08
  Speaker 2: But yeah, no, I've, I try to shut off most
• 49:11
  Speaker 2: of my brain.
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: And then one more, then one more quick one for me.
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: This does have to do with kids because whether you're
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: 12 or 15 or eight, you're going to play teams
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: that you look at and say, well, that's not fair.
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: Look at how big they are. Look at how strong
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: they are. We're just a little engine and we're just
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: eventually going to run into an opposition where we can't.
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: And in some ways, the analogy to the Rays or
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: the Brewers is this debate about big markets, small markets,
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: They spend all this money. We don't. It's no secret,
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: you know, it's been a while for the Brewers and
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: the Rays haven't won a World Series championship. I know
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: you believe you can.
• 49:51
  Speaker 2: I do.
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: I'm sure Justin does as well. How do you navigate
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: that hill mountain to block that stuff out and know
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: we absolutely can go in there, whoever wins the Yankees
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: Red Sox series and beyond and beat them all?
• 50:09
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 50:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 50:11
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's you can recognize and acknowledge the facts,
• 50:15
  Speaker 4: which are we have not won a World Series.
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: We've appeared in two. We did not win either. That
• 50:22
  Speaker 2: is what it is.
• 50:22
  Speaker 4: And until you find a way to do it, that's
• 50:25
  Speaker 4: a question or an observation that is deservedly going to
• 50:29
  Speaker 4: stay there. I know this is the case for me
• 50:34
  Speaker 4: and I know it's the case for everybody else that
• 50:37
  Speaker 4: works here is. no one's here collecting a paycheck. The
• 50:43
  Speaker 4: hour is the pay for most of these guys.
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: It doesn't make sense. There's got to be more to it.
• 50:47
  Speaker 4: And for all of us, it's the belief that we
• 50:50
  Speaker 4: can win and we can win here and not just
• 50:52
  Speaker 4: win regular season games, but ultimately find our way to
• 50:56
  Speaker 4: winning a championship. And that belief is what in many
• 50:59
  Speaker 4: ways keeps us going. It's what motivates us to learn
• 51:03
  Speaker 4: and to grow because we haven't figured it out yet.
• 51:06
  Speaker 2: But we do think it's possible.
• 51:08
  Speaker 4: I think you know, winning 98 games as we did
• 51:12
  Speaker 4: this year in the American League East, this division is
• 51:14
  Speaker 4: as tough as any division in sports.
• 51:16
  Speaker 2: Year in, year out. That's not an accident, right?
• 51:21
  Speaker 4: If you can win this division over 162, you can
• 51:24
  Speaker 4: win a World Series. But, you know, the playoffs, you're
• 51:28
  Speaker 4: going to go best of five, best of seven, best
• 51:30
  Speaker 4: of seven, and anything can happen in a few games,
• 51:33
  Speaker 4: and only one team wins. And there's teams that have
• 51:35
  Speaker 4: been around a lot longer than us that that haven't
• 51:38
  Speaker 4: won one that are also capable of winning one. And
• 51:40
  Speaker 4: you know, it just what it is, but I do,
• 51:43
  Speaker 4: as long as we're learning, as long as we're trying
• 51:45
  Speaker 4: to find a way to get better, try to not
• 51:47
  Speaker 4: take any opportunity when we are competitive for granted, right.
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: That's this year, you know, the, this team played.
• 51:53
  Speaker 4: Better than certainly I think outside prognosticators expected. And you
• 51:58
  Speaker 4: recognize that you get to the deadline, you try to
• 52:00
  Speaker 4: fortify this team.
• 52:01
  Speaker 2: We did that.
• 52:03
  Speaker 4: And, and you give it your best shot. So the, the,
• 52:06
  Speaker 4: The fact that we haven't yet isn't going to affect the.
• 52:09
  Speaker 2: Way we approach this season.
• 52:11
  Speaker 4: We're going to do everything we can to to be
• 52:14
  Speaker 4: the last team standing to support our players. And, you know,
• 52:18
  Speaker 4: the more we pour ourselves into it, if we fall short,
• 52:20
  Speaker 4: the more it's going to hurt. But let's let's just
• 52:23
  Speaker 4: figure it out.
• 52:23
  Speaker 2: You got to keep going. You got to find a way.
• 52:25
  Speaker 3: 100 percent. Ravi, let's get to the kitchen sink. We
• 52:29
  Speaker 3: got Eric's obviously busy here. I want to go to
• 52:32
  Speaker 3: the first one here. The most memorable car ride you
• 52:34
  Speaker 3: had driving the race people to and from the airport
• 52:38
  Speaker 3: in 2007.
• 52:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah, probably one of the early ones. I was offered
• 52:45
  Speaker 4: an internship in, it was after the winter meetings in 2000,
• 52:51
  Speaker 4: December 2006. I had to, in order to do the
• 52:54
  Speaker 4: four month internship, I had to sign up for I
• 52:58
  Speaker 4: had enrolled at a school somewhere for school credit, you know,
• 53:01
  Speaker 4: for it to be a stipend.
• 53:02
  Speaker 2: I was done with school. Schools closed over the holidays.
• 53:05
  Speaker 2: I called a hundred.
• 53:06
  Speaker 4: Schools before I could find one. Shout out to Kalamazoo
• 53:09
  Speaker 4: Valley Community College for being kind enough to be the
• 53:13
  Speaker 4: one to let me do a field study and to.
• 53:17
  Speaker 2: Be employed by the Rays. But yeah, right on the
• 53:19
  Speaker 2: other side of the holidays, getting that.
• 53:20
  Speaker 4: Done was the org meetings. And my first day was Oh, man,
• 53:28
  Speaker 4: I was running to Toys R Us to get risk
• 53:30
  Speaker 4: for pick up risk for Dan Feinstein and.
• 53:33
  Speaker 2: James Click to play at the org meetings.
• 53:35
  Speaker 4: I'm running to the airport and introducing myself to people
• 53:39
  Speaker 4: that then didn't know who the heck I was. And they,
• 53:41
  Speaker 4: you know, introduced themselves to me four times more over.
• 53:44
  Speaker 2: The next few days.
• 53:46
  Speaker 4: That initial experience, just back and forth to the airport
• 53:50
  Speaker 4: and picking up. you know, a lot of people that
• 53:52
  Speaker 4: time that was after 2000 and, um, 2006, you know,
• 53:56
  Speaker 4: the still another year, the double raise before the raise,
• 53:58
  Speaker 4: the world series, everything got turned around and, um, many, many,
• 54:02
  Speaker 4: many car rides picking up staff, you know, the Joe
• 54:05
  Speaker 4: Maddon's Jim Hickey's that around scouts, it was a crash
• 54:09
  Speaker 4: and meeting a lot of people that wanted to find
• 54:11
  Speaker 4: a way to.
• 54:12
  Speaker 2: Turn this franchise around and those initial trips and, and
• 54:15
  Speaker 2: I was happy to do it. I did it, you know,
• 54:19
  Speaker 2: you know, I was happy to.
• 54:20
  Speaker 4: Go to Toys R Us, whatever, whatever was needed, but those,
• 54:23
  Speaker 4: those initial trips were all special. And I don't know, um, got,
• 54:28
  Speaker 4: gave me an opportunity to just show at least, you know,
• 54:31
  Speaker 4: the attitude and the willingness to do whatever was needed
• 54:33
  Speaker 4: to help us be better.
• 54:36
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: Next question here on the kitchen sink, Eric, these are, uh,
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: You graduated with a degree in food, nutrition, and exercise.
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: Which of those three have best served you in life, food, nutrition,
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: or exercise?
• 54:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't eat all that well. I don't exercise
• 54:50
  Speaker 2: all that well. A degree well put to use.
• 54:53
  Speaker 4: I was better practicing what I'd preach to our players
• 54:58
  Speaker 4: years ago, trying. I need to get myself back in order.
• 55:01
  Speaker 4: But yeah, not a not a whole lot of application. Um, I, it, it,
• 55:06
  Speaker 4: it comes in handy from time to time, but yeah,
• 55:09
  Speaker 4: I started in engineering and with the full benefit of hindsight,
• 55:11
  Speaker 4: I probably would have stuck with that if I could
• 55:14
  Speaker 4: have connected it all later on.
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: Eric, it has served you really well. It has served
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: you well.
• 55:19
  Speaker 2: It's worked out.
• 55:22
  Speaker 5: Let's go to the third one here, man.
• 55:24
  Speaker 3: What is, uh, what has been the most interesting thing Joe,
• 55:27
  Speaker 3: Joe Maddon has ever told you?
• 55:29
  Speaker 4: Oh man.
• 55:30
  Speaker 2: Um, Oof.
• 55:34
  Speaker 4: I cannot remember any specific off-the-top-of-my-head thing, statement, comment, quotable,
• 55:42
  Speaker 4: doesn't come to mind aside from just to have a
• 55:45
  Speaker 4: major league manager leading a club that hadn't experienced winning before.
• 55:52
  Speaker 4: His open-mindedness, willingness to just say, screw it, let's find
• 55:58
  Speaker 4: our own way, right?
• 55:59
  Speaker 2: It was....
• 56:01
  Speaker 4: You know, that was from him, from Stu Sternberg, our
• 56:03
  Speaker 4: owner at the time, Andrew Friedman, how much that just
• 56:08
  Speaker 4: freed up the entirety of our culture.
• 56:09
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 56:10
  Speaker 4: And Hey, let's just, let's start swinging, you know, let's,
• 56:14
  Speaker 4: and if we don't connect, let's, let's swing somewhere else.
• 56:16
  Speaker 4: Let's just continue to try it. And he was really his,
• 56:19
  Speaker 4: his mentality, you know, to just say, why, why not us?
• 56:23
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 56:23
  Speaker 4: Like to create that initial belief, um, to find a
• 56:26
  Speaker 4: way to motivate people and to really like, you know,
• 56:31
  Speaker 4: not be worried about taking on risk, you know, only
• 56:33
  Speaker 4: seeing the benefits of something going right that rather than
• 56:36
  Speaker 4: what could go wrong. And, um, that's something from the
• 56:38
  Speaker 4: very beginning, Joe was always great to me. Um, he
• 56:42
  Speaker 4: listened to me on things certainly with a benefit of
• 56:45
  Speaker 4: hindsight more than he should have.
• 56:46
  Speaker 2: And it, uh, in numerous instances, but it didn't matter, right.
• 56:49
  Speaker 4: It was, it was, it was late. You got a
• 56:52
  Speaker 4: thought and idea that makes sense. Let's try it. If
• 56:54
  Speaker 4: it doesn't work, who cares? We're going to keep on going. And,
• 56:57
  Speaker 4: That was a very powerful way of thinking for an
• 57:01
  Speaker 4: organization that at the time hadn't found success and was
• 57:04
  Speaker 4: desperately trying a way to get there.
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: Well, he has a great amount of respect for the
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: work you did in the organization.
• 57:11
  Speaker 2: I know that.
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: Last one on the kitchen sink. You worked in that pizzeria.
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: You mentioned Sal's. What's the worst combination of toppings on
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: a pizza you've ever seen?
• 57:18
  Speaker 2: Oh, man. Oh, boy. Yes, I worked on Sal's.
• 57:23
  Speaker 4: I'm trying to think about things that are appropriate for
• 57:25
  Speaker 4: a Dirt from the Dugout, parents-focused broadcast. Yeah, there's some
• 57:32
  Speaker 4: kitchen sink orders that would get the anchovies, would get
• 57:36
  Speaker 4: the whole collection of stuff.
• 57:37
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 57:37
  Speaker 4: I mean, that pizza was so good, and I'd eat
• 57:40
  Speaker 4: it with just about anything on it, other than olives.
• 57:43
  Speaker 2: Olives are not my thing. Perfect.
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 57:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: That's the Lou Holtz story, by the way. I've told
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: this story on this show before. So a few of
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: us are fortunate enough to go to Augusta with Lou Holtz.
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: He was a member there. We played Augusta. We literally
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: get there, and he says, fellas, you know what the
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: best part of Augusta is? And you're like, well, the course,
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: for sure. I don't know, the accommodations, the flowers. He says,
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: the olives. Uh-uh.
• 58:09
  Speaker 2: No.
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: In no world, it can't be.
• 58:13
  Speaker 2: Nope.
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: It can't be.
• 58:15
  Speaker 2: No, no. Olives. They, I don't, I don't understand it.
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: Thank you very much.
• 58:20
  Speaker 4: Anything and everything, but olives out.
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: Thank you. Wrap it up. Give them the MVP.
• 58:25
  Speaker 4: All right, man.
• 58:27
  Speaker 5: Eric, we appreciate your time so much.
• 58:28
  Speaker 3: So MVP, we ask everybody this, who is the most
• 58:32
  Speaker 3: valuable person in your life, whether it's growing up or now, uh,
• 58:36
  Speaker 3: who is that for you?
• 58:37
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I look, I, I gotta go Jessica, but my wife,
• 58:41
  Speaker 4: I mean, it's, um, we met just as I was
• 58:45
  Speaker 4: foolish enough to try to chase this career after, after college,
• 58:49
  Speaker 4: same hometown. She was home, uh, after finishing her master's,
• 58:53
  Speaker 4: I was home after Virginia tech. And, um, you know,
• 58:57
  Speaker 4: she's been, she's been there as a chased the absurdity
• 59:00
  Speaker 4: of what was this career and certainly in the early
• 59:03
  Speaker 4: going and it's worked out well, but three amazing kids. And,
• 59:07
  Speaker 4: you know this is every everything I and we want
• 59:11
  Speaker 4: in this game she supported it we found it here
• 59:14
  Speaker 4: with the Rays we're grateful for that it's been a
• 59:16
  Speaker 4: wonderful place to raise our family it's been a wonderful
• 59:19
  Speaker 4: place to win to do it with incredible people but
• 59:22
  Speaker 4: yeah without Without her, I would be the most unbalanced
• 59:26
  Speaker 4: disaster of the human being. Definitely not on this podcast.
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: I speak from experience, and I know I speak for him, too.
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: We're the same way. It's a train wreck without him,
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: so we know that. Hey, listen, man, we know this
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: is such a difficult time for you to spend the
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: hour with us. We know that our subscribers and members
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: have benefited tremendously from all of your insight and your
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: experiences today. We wish you nothing but the best of
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: luck this postseason and in the future. And, Eric, thanks
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: very much for being on Dirt from the Dugout. We
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: hope you've enjoyed it as much as we have.
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 2: Without question. Thanks, Ravi, Justin. I appreciate it. Good luck.
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 4: We're going to need it, and we're going to keep
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 4: trying to find a way to win 11 more and
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 4: be the last team standing.
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 5: That's awesome, man. Eric, thanks a lot, man. Appreciate it.
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 5: Nice to talk with you, man.
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: Thanks, man. That's Eric Neander on Dirk from the Dugout,
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: all part of theparentdugout.com, your number one community and resource
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: for all parents of baseball players, no matter the age.
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: Fun show, Justin. Talk soon, buddy.
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 5: All right. See you, Ravi.