Latest / Foul Territory / FT Live in Milwaukee: Contreras owns October, JP Feyereisen joins

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FT Live in Milwaukee: Contreras owns October, JP Feyereisen joins · Foul Territory

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Appreciate it. Brewer territory, of course. JP Fire Rising is
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: joining us now. Good to be with you. Thank you
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: for joining us. Love the stash. I love it. You
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: look like Bernie Brewer a little bit. I mean, just
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: a tad. Just a tad, JP.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: So I would like your overall assessment, sir, of game
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: one between two of your former clubs.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Overall assessment. I mean, pretty much these two teams played
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: the games exactly how I thought they were going to play.
• 0:30
  Speaker 4: Tight baseball. Good pitching.
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: Going to come down to the end. The birds, I know,
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: especially have been a team that scored late in the game.
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: I mean, they're the number one team, I think in
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: the eighth inning of scoring runs and Tampa Bay obviously
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: is a similar, similar exact. The team has built the
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: exact same. It's just a different players. In my opinion, they're,
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: they play defense extremely well. They pitch the ball really
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: well and they make clutch hits when they need them.
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: And I mean that, that game last night was exactly
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: what I was expecting tight.
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: The whole way.
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: And then, I mean, the Brewers had to win that
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: game with Miz on the bomb. But obviously with Tampa
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: Bay saving my boy Rasper tonight, it's going to be
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: another dogfight tonight. So it's just great baseball. I mean,
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: these are two unbelievable teams, the best two teams in baseball.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: And they play the game the right way, and they've
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: been a blast to watch so far. So hoping for
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: the same on this next one.
• 1:25
  Speaker 5: A nobody, maybe nobody better to ask this question to
• 1:28
  Speaker 5: because you played for both of these great organizations. Both
• 1:31
  Speaker 5: of them known great for developing pitching. Can you kind
• 1:35
  Speaker 5: of tell me the similarities versus the Brewers in terms
• 1:37
  Speaker 5: of development and maybe strategy versus Tampa?
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: both of them are, are as far as like analytic
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: wise and getting in the lab and developing pitches and
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: making pitches, they're both top of the tier with that.
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: They, they know how to get guys tweak something with
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: a certain pitch, make it exactly how they want it.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: And then tell them to throw it a bunch more and,
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: and it works out for them. But as far as
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: like developing guys, Milwaukee, they've been unbelievable at just, you know,
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: drafting guys. And then, and like Ms.
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: I mean, you're showing all these guys that they've drafted and,
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: and developed and then Tampa Bay is just extremely well
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: at getting guys that, you know, maybe aren't successful somewhere
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: else and, and telling them how to be successful when
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: they get there. I mean, Freddie Peralta is number one.
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: I mean, goes off and he's, he's with the Mets
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: and then all of a sudden comes to Tampa Bay
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: and it's back to, you know, Milwaukee, Freddie. So both
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: these teams are so good at, at taking guys and
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: teaching them, the best way to pitch and how they
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: should use their stuff and how they should attack hitters
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: and mentality wise. I mean, when I got traded from
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: Milwaukee to Tampa, the first thing they told me is like, Hey,
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: we just throw O O O O pitches right down
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: the middle and get first strike. That's the way we
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: attack hitters. And, and like when you kind of get
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: that mentality of pitching, it's like, Hey, my stuff doesn't stink.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: I'm going to throw it down the middle and let
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: it rip and see what happens. I think all these guys,
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: especially on these two teams because of the stuff that
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: they have and the velocity and the pitches combined with
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: all of them. I mean, When you put good stuff
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: and mentality together, it makes it tough to score runs,
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: and you know that better than anybody, right? When these
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: guys are on the bump and they're confident and throwing
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: the stuff that they've been doing all year to get
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: where they're at, I mean, both development and obviously putting
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: it on the game field and doing what they're doing,
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: they're the best in the business at it.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: JP, I mean, of course, we've talked a lot about,
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: you know, Wild Bill behind the dish and the challenges,
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: you know, his pitch calling with the bullpen, with Miz
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: and everybody. How important is Wilson Contreras for this team,
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: for the guys? I mean, you know, Murphy's talked about
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: it plenty, right? He's the pit bull. You got to
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: put him in the cage after the game. And how
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: important do you think it is to have a guy
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: like Wilson Contreras back there for this staff and for
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: this bullpen?
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, he's the quarterback, right? He's calling every
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: pitch for the guys that are throwing the baseball and
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: we've been talking about all year. I mean, he commands
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: every one of these guys exactly how you want to.
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: We talked about it last night. Him and Ashby are
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: on like another level right now. Those two are literally
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: whatever they're thinking together. They've been just lights out and Um, he's,
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: he's the fire starter too, right? Corey, he's, he's the
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: guy that, uh, he he's got the pump up. Yelly's
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: the leader in, in the clubhouse and keeping everyone even
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: keel and wild bill is the wild bill.
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: He's the wild West.
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: He he's celebrating. He's shooting cannons off at second base.
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: He's got all these celebrations. Um, and I mean, It
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: looks like he is locked in more than he ever
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: has been as far as the Colin challenges and tapping
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: his helmet. And I mean, first inning last night, he
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: kind of gave like a, yeah, we're going to challenge it.
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: And he was locked in from the get-go and you
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: need this. You need this to win the world series.
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: I mean, you got to have a guy that's able
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: to command a pitching staff like you have handle them
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: in the zone, out of the zone. calm them down
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: when they're getting too antsy. Just kind of keep them
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: on that plane. And then you need that guy that's
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: going to show up in the batter's box and just
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: light a fire under everybody. And while Bill's been exactly
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: that right now, obviously Jackson Churio too, every time he's
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: come up in a big spot, but while Bill's kind
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: of been that guy all post-season, that's just been that,
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: he's every time he comes up it's like it's either
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: a homer or good ab so i mean yeah he's
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: been unbelievable cory it's it's been awesome to watch him
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: play both sides because if you have a bad ab
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: and you bring it to behind the dish it makes
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: it so much harder as a pitcher to work through
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: stuff so now uh he's been he's been exactly what
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: the brewers have needed Yeah.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: William's been good. Let me ask you this. I want
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: your initial reaction, JP, when you saw Cooper Pratt had
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: the ball in glove, but not the foot on the bag,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: what was going through your head?
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: Well, first of all, we all celebrated it. And then
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: all of a sudden we looked back at it and
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: we're like, wait a second, he's off the base. And then, yeah,
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: I mean, it was kind of like a panic there
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: for a little while. And like, if you did this,
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: I mean, I've seen it all over X now and everything.
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: And if you looked at somebody turned into 10 years ago,
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: that's an out every single time. They didn't even touch
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: the base back in the day. How many times was
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: Kevin sliding into second base? And the guy's like a
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: foot off the base of catching the ball and they're turning.
• 6:16
  Speaker 6: Two on them.
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 6:18
  Speaker 6: I used to call in the neighborhood, right?
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: But yeah, in the neighborhood is exactly right.
• 6:23
  Speaker 5: I do want to ask you about two guys that
• 6:25
  Speaker 5: I believe you had an opportunity to play with both
• 6:26
  Speaker 5: these guys and maybe cause obviously you've been in the clubhouse.
• 6:30
  Speaker 6: Drew Rasmussen and the.
• 6:32
  Speaker 5: Big woo guys that I've dealt with injuries in their career,
• 6:35
  Speaker 5: just kind of take us behind the scene of both
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: of those guys. You know how difficult it is to
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: come back and just kind of how proud you are
• 6:41
  Speaker 5: as a former teammate of what.
• 6:43
  Speaker 6: They've been able to do post injury. Yeah.
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: I mean, as far as big woo and, and Rass
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: and their injuries and the people that they are, they're
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: two of the hardest workers you've ever been around. They,
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: both of them are literally, they get, they get in
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: the weight room. They, they, pump iron, they're in the
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: training room doing whatever, prehab, rehab, whatever they need to do.
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: As far as teammates and people, they're just phenomenal people. And, like,
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: you can't have better teammates than those two guys. And,
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: I mean, seeing Big Wu get back on the roster
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: for the World Series and be a part of this,
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: I'm so happy for him to be a part of
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: it because, I mean, we know what the injury grind
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: is like. And to get back and feel confident enough
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: that you're like, you know what, if I get thrown
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: in the World Series, I feel good about it. And
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: then brass too. I mean, yeah, he's been, what does
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: he had three T or two TJs and an elbow
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: stint already put in. I mean, but I just know
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: him too. They're, they're both just guys that like, they
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: put their nose down and they're just going to keep
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: working until they get to the point that they want
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: to be. So for both of them to be in
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: this situation, super, super happy for them. Um, and RAS,
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: I'm just really proud because when we got traded together,
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: it was kind of like a whirlwind for him. It
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: was already my third time getting traded, but it was
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: his first. And, were in, in the locker room and
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: in Cincinnati and he's like, what do we do now?
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: And I was like, well, we go get a beer.
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: That's what we do.
• 8:03
  Speaker 6: We got nothing to do.
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: We're going to watch the game.
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: We're going to watch the Brewers play on TV.
• 8:07
  Speaker 6: They're not our team anymore.
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: We got traded. So we're going to Tampa. So just
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: enjoy yourself. Let's take a break and we'll, we'll recoup tomorrow.
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: So now to see them both where they're at and
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: all the rehab and all the work they've done to
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: be where they're at and who they are still in
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: this game, just extreme, extreme, just happiness and proudness of
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: those guys. I mean, I, we know what Corey and
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: I both know what it's like to go through a
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: surgery or two. So, uh, to see these guys at
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: the top level and, and RAS just doing what he's doing.
• 8:36
  Speaker 5: It's, it's awesome.
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: Very Wisconsin. You view to just go grab a beer
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: out in there, right? Yes, exactly.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: Wait, wait, can the camera pan to the table? Hang on.
• 8:46
  Speaker 6: Pick it up.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: I think he's giving you grief.
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: Look at that little.
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: Little badgers in there for us too.
• 8:56
  Speaker 6: Go ahead. Man.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: So of course, like obviously pitching, we know we love talking,
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: pitching always, always do on the show. But we were also,
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: you know, in a place where maybe in 2020 with
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: the Brewers, the defense, you know, was great, not as
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: good as what we're seeing now. And also in Tampa,
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: I mean, we're seeing phenomenal defense, too. Last night we
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: seen Mesa over there in right field cutting off that
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: ball from Hamilton, getting it in, perfect throw, great defense.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: I mean, how important, obviously, is last night having no errors?
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: I mean, I know we've talked, the Brewers have been
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: this postseason making more errors than they have all season.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: Do we expect the same kind of look locked in
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: just like last night from both teams, no errors the
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: rest of the series here?
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: How important would that be?
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think that's how you win this series.
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: I mean, both these teams play elite defense. I think
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: that you look around the entire field for both of
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: them and they play extremely, extremely good defense. So no,
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: like I said earlier in the playoffs, like we keep
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: making errors like this, you're not going to win ballgames.
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: So the fact that they had none, I mean, maybe
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: a mental error here and there for both teams, base
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: path-wise and stuff like that. But, yeah, both teams need
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: to avoid errors because literally they both play the brand
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: of baseball that is you can't really screw up.
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: It's mistake-proof.
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: You know, they don't– neither one of them are– granted this,
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: this post-season Brewers have been hitting more homers than they
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: have all year. Um, but neither one of them are
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: these teams that just like, you know, hit the ball
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: out of the park all the time. So they need,
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: they need to put good AB, ABs together, good base running,
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: good defense and play these games because they're going to
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: be like, I mean, three to two is, is, is
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: a high scoring game a lot. I've been on both
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: those teams and there was a lot of games where
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: it was two to one, one to nothing. Um, so it's, you,
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: it's tight. You can't have mental errors or, or physical
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: errors happen and give up runs because it, it makes
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: it a lot harder to win baseball games at this
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: time of year.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: JP, I want to have you brag on Christian Yelich
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: for a hot second. This is a guy that just
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: got named captain. He's obviously, when I think of Yelly,
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: I think of the Brewers. I don't even think about
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: his time in Miami. He's very unassuming. He's very quiet.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: He also has a $ 30 million pad in Malibu. He's
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: like a guy that has a very interesting life. Um,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: but he takes the job seriously, not an everyday player anymore,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: which is interesting that you can be a captain in
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: that role. What does that mean to you?
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: I mean, it just, it's Yelly, right? Like Corey knows it.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think everyone around the league knows Yelly
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: and like the guy he is, I mean, just super cool, calm.
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: Like you just never see his facial features really change.
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: You don't ever see his process and the way he
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: works ever changed. Like, I mean, that's why he's, been
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: one of the best. And like, I mean, another guy
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: that if, if injuries weren't, didn't derail him, we might
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: be talking about Yelly in a different state of mind
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: right now too. So, but like what he did last night,
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: I thought that was like literally writing a book 44 years,
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: Milwaukee hasn't had a world series RBI and the captain
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: of the team first inning comes up and wax one
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: goes off the tip of Johnny's glove, triple scores, a
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: run gets on base scores, run also like, I mean, Yeah.
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: Yelly's such an awesome human being, such a great teammate.
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: What a, what a perfect person to have to see
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: on their chest for this team. And the fact that
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: he's able to not really, you know, because some guys
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: in his position, if you told him he wasn't an
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: everyday player, they might react differently, but Yellich isn't that guy.
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: He wants to win winning culture in Milwaukee has been
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: that way because of him. I think as one of
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: the mainstays consistently there, and I mean, can't speak anything
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: more about him. He's just, the perfect person to wear
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: the seat and do what he's doing for the team
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: right now.
• 12:45
  Speaker 5: Hey, tell us a little bit about Kevin Cash behind
• 12:47
  Speaker 5: closed doors, because obviously Murph is out there and he
• 12:51
  Speaker 5: allows his personality to come out and we know how
• 12:54
  Speaker 5: he's a great connector, but I've heard from people that
• 12:56
  Speaker 5: played in Tampa that Kevin Cash.
• 12:58
  Speaker 6: Is very similar. He just doesn't come off that way to.
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: The media as much. Yeah.
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: He's a lot more reserved. He doesn't really say the
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: stuff out loud and out front like Murph does. Like
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: he's just not like completely okay with saying some of
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: the stuff Murph does, which the videos you see like, Oh,
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: what's the best thing that Murph has ever said to
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: you and all the, all that stuff. Like cash doesn't
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: say that stuff openly in front of people. He does
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: it more in the locker room. And I mean, both
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: of them are phenomenal managers and cash is the man.
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: I mean, you, you, you love playing for him. You
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: love being a part of the team that he's leading and,
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: I mean, that whole Rays staff, they're all phenomenal people.
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: So that's, I mean, there's no doubt in my mind
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: that's why these teams are here is because their staffs
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: are so, I mean, throughout from manager down, like, I mean,
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: pitching coaches, bench coaches, you know, vibe guys like Jace Peterson,
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: like the Brewers have on the bench, like all these
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: teams just, They don't bring in guys that you're not
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: going to get along with either. That's another thing. They
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: like to have good people in their clubhouses, and Cash
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: does that exact same thing. If you're not a good
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: clubhouse guy, Cash probably isn't a fan of you. So
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: they like to keep their clubhouses light and keep the
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: people in them as good dudes.
• 14:10
  Speaker 5: Are you sitting on, like, a Packers chair? Or is that, like,
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: a Packers jersey behind you?
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, it's just a Packers, like, couch cover right now, yeah.
• 14:18
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean.
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, this, I got, I got pictures around me right now.
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: This is my parents' house.
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: Cause they had the party, but there's like Brett Favre
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: getting tackled by Clay Matthews and the Packer Jersey and
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: Brett Favre's in the Vikings Jersey.
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: There's yeah.
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: Brewers Packers. It's Wisconsin here. Badgers like, you know.
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: It's it. We stick.
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: Wisconsin people stick with Wisconsin people.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: No doubt about that. JP, thank you so much. Enjoy
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: the game tonight. Hopefully your brew crew and your raise,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: I guess. Hopefully it's just a bit serious throughout the way.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: And you can certainly catch more of JP as well
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: as our guy, Corey, on their podcast. Follow, subscribe, Brewer
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Territory on YouTube, wherever you get your pods. Also, do
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: not forget that you can also get our awesome Brewer
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: postseason merchandise at FowlTerritoryShop.com. We'll be right back.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: Hi, Max, the bald eagle from Marathon here. We asked
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: people if they could do an impression of me.
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: Have a listen.
• 15:26
  Speaker 6: You can save up to a dollar a gallon with
• 15:27
  Speaker 6: the Marathon Rewards app.
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: That last one was pretty good. Marathon, where fun runs
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: on full.
• 15:34
  Speaker 6: Available at participating Marathon locations. Terms and conditions apply. See
• 15:37
  Speaker 6: MarathonRewards.com for details.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: It's incredible what he's been doing all year, what he's
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: been doing in the postseason for this entire staff.
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: So it is, it's, Wild Bill is... What does.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: This mean for you guys? I guess particularly you, but
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: I want your opinion as well because you've been in
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: this league for 13 years. While catching every inning for
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: the Brewers this postseason, he's batting. 394, three home runs, a.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: 487 on base percentage, and a. 1184 OPS. The reason
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: I ask you guys that is because really the primary
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: role of a catcher is to manage their pitching staff, right?
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: You put down the– or whatever. We used to put
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: down things.
• 16:18
  Speaker 6: You push the button.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: Now you push the button. But the point is, manage
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: your pitching staff. Navigate those guys. Whatever offense you get
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: from the catching position is a bonus. He's doing it all.
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: He is.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: And, I mean, yeah, I loved having catchers that were
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: strictly catchers, obviously.
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: Like, that's what I'm focusing on, okay?
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: But, yes, it's very impressive to see that, He is
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: catching every single game this postseason. Obviously, you've got Gary
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: Sanchez back there who gets a couple pinch hits in,
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: but he's back there every game, ready to go, locked
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: in from pitch one to the final pitch of the game.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: And it is– it's incredible to watch what he's been doing. And,
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: I mean, I don't think any pitcher would rather have
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: anybody else behind the dish right there.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: Let me ask you this.
• 17:05
  Speaker 6: Hold on.
• 17:06
  Speaker 5: I was going to say, because we were watching the
• 17:08
  Speaker 5: game together last night. And it's not because I don't
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: know the Brewers' roster. It's just because he catches all
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: the time. If Gary Sanchez didn't pinch hit late in
• 17:16
  Speaker 5: that game, I would have been like, who the hell
• 17:19
  Speaker 5: is their backup catcher? And it's not because I don't
• 17:21
  Speaker 5: follow the game. It's because typically he never takes a
• 17:24
  Speaker 5: day off. And even with the greatness of, you know,
• 17:29
  Speaker 5: you covered the Dodgers for a long time, even with
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: the greatness of a guy like Will Smith, Austin Barnes
• 17:33
  Speaker 5: will get a game in the postseason, our game in
• 17:35
  Speaker 5: the World Series, and allow– you know, Will Smith to
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: get off his legs for a little bit. And maybe
• 17:40
  Speaker 5: it wasn't the entirety of the game, but maybe it
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: was for the first four or five innings. And then
• 17:44
  Speaker 5: Will would come in and pinch it and finish the
• 17:46
  Speaker 5: fact that he can do that offensively and never take
• 17:49
  Speaker 5: an inning off.
• 17:50
  Speaker 6: And, and, we watched the game last night.
• 17:53
  Speaker 5: You think about some of those pitches that, you know,
• 17:56
  Speaker 5: either the Miz was going and Uribe is no joke
• 17:58
  Speaker 5: to catch some of these pitches that he has to
• 18:00
  Speaker 5: block his sacrifice in his body to get in front
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: of him. He's getting foul tips for him to catch
• 18:05
  Speaker 5: every inning and still go out there and perform offensively.
• 18:09
  Speaker 5: And I probably the most underrated thing from him.
• 18:11
  Speaker 6: And you can get away for it. You could get
• 18:13
  Speaker 6: away with it.
• 18:14
  Speaker 5: Maybe in the outfield sometimes, but, that you can carry
• 18:16
  Speaker 5: your offense and defense. You can zone out and be like, man,
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: if I would have swung at that pitch or what
• 18:21
  Speaker 5: the hell was I doing?
• 18:22
  Speaker 6: You're thinking about your swing, the catcher position. You can't
• 18:25
  Speaker 6: get away.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: You have to have an instant.
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: You have to have an instant flush when you're like,
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: you could take it. And fortunately for him, he's not
• 18:31
  Speaker 5: taking a whole lot of bad at bats.
• 18:33
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: But even if he was, he doesn't have the luxury
• 18:36
  Speaker 5: to be like, I got to think about my swing
• 18:37
  Speaker 5: or what are they going to do to me? He
• 18:39
  Speaker 5: has to lock in and control this pitching staff that
• 18:41
  Speaker 5: has gross stuff.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: What about navigating like a young guy through it, right?
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: Jacob Mizorowski, he might throw 105 miles an hour. It's
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: his second year in the big leagues. It's his first
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: World Series. Like, I don't care how tall you are,
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: how great you are, how hard you throw, but that's
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: an intimidating situation to be in. And then you have
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: William Contreras behind the plate navigating a young kid through it.
• 19:05
  Speaker 6: That's important.
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: Exactly. Good on them to have a guy like Wild
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: Bill back there. to trust, right?
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: Don't, don't overthink this. I'm going to put down the sign.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: This is what you're going to throw. I know what
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: I'm doing. And yeah, it takes a lot for a
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: pitcher who has great stuff, a pitcher that's got, I mean,
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: a lot of us pitchers. Yeah, we do have a
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: lot of high egos, right? I mean, I'm not going
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: to throw that. I can throw this pitch. This is
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: exactly what I want to throw. I know I need
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: to throw my curve ball here. But while Bill's telling
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: me to throw a fastball, I'm not going to shake
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: him off, man. Contreras knows exactly how to run the game.
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: Trust the man.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: And yeah, if he sees something he doesn't like, he's
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: going to come out and talk like he did last
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: night with Ashby. I mean, Ashby's doing everything that he
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: needs to do.
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: Even Miz was doing the same thing.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: And then Contreras knew these moments where I need to
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: come out there, calm down, let's switch something up.
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: Maybe I'm seeing something.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: So a good guy to trust, a good guy to have.
• 19:58
  Speaker 5: Well, I'll ask you too, because you pitched for a
• 19:59
  Speaker 5: long time and you played for a bunch of different
• 20:01
  Speaker 5: teams and you had a bunch of different catchers. And
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: I think what people don't understand is, Yeah, game calling
• 20:07
  Speaker 5: and pitch calling is really important, but to understand what
• 20:11
  Speaker 5: makes each individual pitcher tick, the way he can talk
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: to you. Some pitchers want their catcher to come out
• 20:17
  Speaker 5: and maybe con him. Some want to be talked directly.
• 20:20
  Speaker 6: Some need a joke. Some need to be told different things.
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: So not only are you a catcher and a guy
• 20:25
  Speaker 5: like Williams also hitting in the middle of your lineup,
• 20:27
  Speaker 5: You also have to be a psychologist instantaneously for him
• 20:31
  Speaker 5: to know that. And I think he referred, I think
• 20:33
  Speaker 5: Ashley referred to the conversation as a one-way conversation, meaning
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: he didn't say anything. He got everything he needed to
• 20:40
  Speaker 5: hear in that conversation.
• 20:41
  Speaker 6: Talk about maybe some of the guys that.
• 20:44
  Speaker 5: you had opportunity to have be your catcher, your battery mate,
• 20:47
  Speaker 5: and maybe the different styles that they had and talking
• 20:50
  Speaker 5: to you.
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: It is huge. I mean, right.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: Every catcher needs to know each individual pitcher. It's not
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: just your starter that day. You have to understand you're
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: going to see your starter, but you don't know which reliever,
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: which of these eight, nine guys at a pin are
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: you about to see today? And so, yeah, you need
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: to know every single one of them. And of course
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: I hate, I got to say this on air here,
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: but Eric Kratz obviously was one of my favorite guys.
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: Of course.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: That guy, I mean, he'd come out there and he
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: changed my game up for me, man. The way he
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: was able to just come out there and speak and
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: just like basically stop being soft.
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: Get in here. I'm going to put this pitch down.
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: I mean, the guy's massive. You know, we've seen him.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: We've touched his hands. And I'm going to.
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: Put my glove right here. Throw your fastball. right to it.
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: That's it. It's simple as that.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: Stop trying to aim it. And so, I mean, obviously
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: there's different catchers.
• 21:41
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: That have those different conversations. Will Smith comes out, you
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: have a conversation with them.
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: It works. Sometimes it doesn't mean that.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: It's just, there's different feelings you get from these catchers
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: that are, they're putting these conversations off and be like,
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: I'm sure wild bill is doing.
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: That to these pitchers.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: But how long did it take for Kratz to get
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: to know you? Because I mean, does that start in
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: spring training? Is it something that has developed throughout the year?
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: You had mentioned they needed to be a psychologist and
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: they do much like a manager where you're trying to,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: deal with all 26 different personalities to an extent, the
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: 40 man personalities, like every guy is motivated differently. Some
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: guys want you to be up in their face, yelling
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: at them, cussing at them. Some guys want a joke
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: to Kevin's point. Like how does that relationship develop? And
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: why do you think William has done a good job at,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: developing those relationships and those motivational types.
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: And you're spot on too, right? I think a lot
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: of this starts in spring training.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: And in my eyes, I don't understand why catchers aren't
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: the highest paid player on the field.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: I'm married to one. They should be.
• 22:43
  Speaker 6: They should be. They are.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: I mean, they've got so much on their plate. And, yes,
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: and spring training also. I mean, what a grind for
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: the catchers, too. You've got 40 pitchers. You have to know.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: I mean, you don't have to know all of them,
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: but you have to know that there's a good chance
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: you're going to see– more of these pitchers throughout the
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: season and so yes it it all starts in spring
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: training and it's all throughout the year because everyone's going
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: to go through those struggles whether you're a hitter you're
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: a pitcher whatever it is you're going to go through
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: struggles that's what baseball is and it's how you bounce
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: back from those struggles what makes you tick what gets
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: you through that right and that's what Contreras has had
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: to do a great job all season of doing that
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: and he's had guys behind the dish helping him which
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: I think Gary also is obviously the guy's been he
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: just got his 10 years this year Amazing. He's been
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: doing it with so many different teams and also has
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: a lot of respect there. So to have him and
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: Contreras as both your guys, like amazing for the Brewers.
• 23:39
  Speaker 5: And I'm sure you know this cause you married a catcher,
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: but after the game tonight, both these teams are going
• 23:45
  Speaker 5: to fly to Tampa and you know, people have different
• 23:49
  Speaker 5: styles on the plane. You know, I wasn't going to
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: be one who was going to go to sleep. I'd
• 23:53
  Speaker 5: be hanging out with the boys. We'll be in the
• 23:54
  Speaker 5: front playing cards, having a couple of drinks, talking about
• 23:57
  Speaker 5: the game. getting away from the game. And then there
• 23:59
  Speaker 5: might be a section where there'll be some guys sleeping
• 24:01
  Speaker 5: and there'll be one light on in the back of
• 24:03
  Speaker 5: the plane. And it's your catcher already thinking he's already
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: moved on. He's already moved on to the next game.
• 24:08
  Speaker 5: Thinking about how do I get, how do I get
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: Dustin May or how do I get you know, Bob gas,
• 24:15
  Speaker 5: or how do I get Freddie Peralta or whoever, you know,
• 24:17
  Speaker 5: the catcher is going to be the one guy up
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: away from the team, making sure he's the most prepared
• 24:22
  Speaker 5: person on the field. At some point, that preparation might
• 24:25
  Speaker 5: be over and he might join the guys, but I've
• 24:27
  Speaker 5: been on many cross country flights where either guys are
• 24:29
  Speaker 5: playing cars where people are sleeping and you'll see that
• 24:31
  Speaker 5: one light on as the catcher. looking at swings, looking
• 24:34
  Speaker 5: at heat maps, you know, trying to discover the best
• 24:37
  Speaker 5: plan to allow the entire.
• 24:38
  Speaker 6: Team to be successful.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: Let me ask you a question. This, I would know,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: I would imagine you'd have multiple conversations with your back sock.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: Obviously you guys are a tandem as a pitcher, but
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: how many times as a position player, because the catcher
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: is basically the quarterback of the entire team, the only
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: person that has a hand literally in every single play,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: in the game how many times would you pick a
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: catcher's brain about certain things well.
• 25:01
  Speaker 5: All the time and I think more so early in
• 25:04
  Speaker 5: my career because we weren't necessarily being told we're in
• 25:07
  Speaker 5: a position but early in my career I would always
• 25:10
  Speaker 5: you know the the starting pitcher and the catcher and
• 25:13
  Speaker 5: the pitching coach would meet and they would go over
• 25:16
  Speaker 5: all the hitters and stuff and I would be a
• 25:18
  Speaker 5: fly on the wall.
• 25:19
  Speaker 6: I would sit there.
• 25:19
  Speaker 5: I wouldn't, you know, give my opinion on what I
• 25:22
  Speaker 5: think they should do, but I wanted to know, Hey,
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: how are we going to get these guys out? You know, if, if,
• 25:27
  Speaker 5: if you were, if you were to hang a pitch,
• 25:29
  Speaker 5: you know, where are they most likely to do damage?
• 25:31
  Speaker 5: Is it going to be the pool size is going
• 25:32
  Speaker 5: to be the opposite field gap.
• 25:33
  Speaker 6: So now I can prepare myself.
• 25:35
  Speaker 5: Hey, do you want me, you know, and I'd asked
• 25:37
  Speaker 5: the starting pitcher a lot of time, Hey, I had
• 25:39
  Speaker 5: a guy like Marcus Stroman who said, hey, I want
• 25:42
  Speaker 5: you to take everything that's in front of you. If
• 25:44
  Speaker 5: I make a mistake, that's on me. If you can
• 25:46
  Speaker 5: go get it, great. But if you get beat over
• 25:48
  Speaker 5: your head, that's on me. I want you to go
• 25:50
  Speaker 5: out there. When I execute pitches, I want to get out.
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: If I make mistakes, that's on me. So just having
• 25:54
  Speaker 5: that conversation, the fluidity to be able to talk to
• 25:57
  Speaker 5: your catcher, to be able to talk to your pitcher,
• 25:59
  Speaker 5: I think it still happens a lot in the game.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: Defensive alignment.
• 26:02
  Speaker 5: I mean, you're pretty much told what to do now,
• 26:05
  Speaker 5: but I think having an understanding of sitting down with
• 26:08
  Speaker 5: a catcher and be like, Hey, in this certain situation and.
• 26:12
  Speaker 5: for a lot of these guys and while Bill's been
• 26:15
  Speaker 5: there a long time and I was fortunate to, you know,
• 26:17
  Speaker 5: when I was in Toronto, I played with the same
• 26:19
  Speaker 5: kind of core group of guys. So I didn't have
• 26:21
  Speaker 5: to do it as often. And we were playing the
• 26:22
  Speaker 5: same group of guys in our division. I didn't have
• 26:25
  Speaker 5: to ask those questions, but I already knew like, Hey, okay.
• 26:28
  Speaker 5: If you got Mookie two strikes, this was the out pitch.
• 26:30
  Speaker 5: If he was going to do damage, it was going
• 26:31
  Speaker 5: to be on this pitch, this gap. I knew how
• 26:33
  Speaker 5: my pitcher said, Hey, I want you to protect the
• 26:35
  Speaker 5: left center field gap because that's where he's going to
• 26:37
  Speaker 5: do damage. He's only going to hit singles that way.
• 26:39
  Speaker 5: So those conversations are really important. I think that, You're seeing,
• 26:42
  Speaker 5: and I think we... kind of saw it a little
• 26:44
  Speaker 5: bit with Taylor walls. And when you had an opportunity
• 26:47
  Speaker 5: where people had opportunity to interview him about kind of
• 26:49
  Speaker 5: his intellect of playing the position going beyond just the athleticism,
• 26:52
  Speaker 5: but you know, and I think their bench coach referred
• 26:56
  Speaker 5: to him as cheating because he's so in tuned with
• 27:00
  Speaker 5: what the pitcher catcher do that. He's almost moving before
• 27:02
  Speaker 5: the pitch. I think that was my secret sauce as
• 27:05
  Speaker 5: a good defender. I was so prepared from understanding what
• 27:08
  Speaker 5: the pitcher and catcher wanted to do that.
• 27:10
  Speaker 6: A lot of times I was leaning in the direction.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: You're already going that way before the ball is.
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: Did you do that? Obviously, I mean, nowadays, right, they've
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: got the pitch call. I think center field has pitch call.
• 27:18
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and it's an argument sometimes first base because you
• 27:21
  Speaker 5: only get four on the field. So get five, pitcher, catcher, shortstop,
• 27:25
  Speaker 5: second baseman, and then it's an argument between the first
• 27:28
  Speaker 5: baseman and center field.
• 27:29
  Speaker 6: I wanted to know because if I knew that.
• 27:33
  Speaker 4: You were on the mound.
• 27:34
  Speaker 6: I knew, hey, you're calling Kerbo with two strikes. If
• 27:37
  Speaker 6: you executed, the guy was out. But if you hung it, more.
• 27:40
  Speaker 5: Than likely, the guy was going to pull in the
• 27:41
  Speaker 5: air to the full side.
• 27:43
  Speaker 6: So I might go defend the mistake. But I know
• 27:46
  Speaker 6: if you executed, he's out.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: How much of that was instinctive? Does that take the
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: instinct away if they're telling you what's coming? That's why
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: I love watching you play because you were so good defensively.
• 27:56
  Speaker 5: The game changed too because we went away from the signs.
• 28:00
  Speaker 6: I used to also know the signs.
• 28:01
  Speaker 5: Not that I could always pick up the signs from
• 28:03
  Speaker 5: the outfield, but I'd certainly try. And then there was
• 28:05
  Speaker 5: a time you'd use outside signs so that I would know, okay,
• 28:09
  Speaker 5: it's a breaking ball, it's a changeup.
• 28:10
  Speaker 6: Then I started to anticipate, but.
• 28:13
  Speaker 5: Kind of contradicting to what you're saying, I think knowing
• 28:17
  Speaker 5: allows the instincts to really play. I think when you
• 28:20
  Speaker 5: don't know what's coming, yes, you have to solely rely
• 28:23
  Speaker 5: on the instincts. You're kind of guessing a little bit.
• 28:25
  Speaker 5: But if I know, hey, two strikes, we're going to
• 28:28
  Speaker 5: slide her down and away. Hey, if you go slide
• 28:30
  Speaker 5: her down and away, these are the three scenarios. He's
• 28:32
  Speaker 5: going to punch him out. He might flare one to
• 28:34
  Speaker 5: right center field. Knowing the hitter, if he hangs him,
• 28:36
  Speaker 5: he might pull it that way. And understanding who's on
• 28:39
  Speaker 5: the mound, the situation in the game, I might say,
• 28:41
  Speaker 5: you know what?
• 28:43
  Speaker 4: Two outs.
• 28:43
  Speaker 6: Let's take away that blue pit, right?
• 28:45
  Speaker 5: If they hit a double right here, we're still in
• 28:47
  Speaker 5: good situation. If it's a leadoff batter, I might say, hey,
• 28:50
  Speaker 5: let's not give up the extra base hit. Let's give
• 28:52
  Speaker 5: up the blue to right center field. No one's hurt
• 28:54
  Speaker 5: with a runner at first.
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: Kevin Pillar.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: We are in the weeds. It is Alana Rizzo, Kevin Pillar,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: and Corey Kniebel with you live in Milwaukee as we
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: are about 32 minutes away from first pitch. I believe
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: about 35, 36, however you do it. All right, so
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: this is an interesting thing. We were talking about this
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: in our production meetings, not only earlier today with Claudia,
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: but yesterday as well. So Ben Nicholson-Smith from Sportsnet wrote
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: about how invested some of the players are in this
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: whole World Series, right? even the ones that aren't playing,
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: but you might be surprised, or maybe you wouldn't, I
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: don't know, that there are some players that could not
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: care less about the World Series, right, if they weren't participating.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: in it they don't even they don't even watch so
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: what is your opinion on that if you guys if
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: you weren't on brewer territory you're not working on foul
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: territory as a host like would you be paying attention
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: to the world series.
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: I mean when i even when i was playing Yes,
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: obviously we had games on in the clubhouse and there
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: was just something about the postseason for me.
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: I've watched every World Series.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: That's just, that's what I like to watch is the
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: best of the best playing against each other. And I mean, yeah,
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: if I didn't play baseball, it might be a little different.
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: I might watch a lot more games, but even after
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: I retired, I mean, I still watch some Brewers games
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: and obviously Brewer Territory has forced me to watch a
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: lot more Brewers games, which I mean, I love, I
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: love baseball.
• 30:28
  Speaker 4: I love watching it. And that's just, that's me though.
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: My husband played in this great game of ours for
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: 14 seasons. And it took him a couple of years
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: before he even wanted to watch a game. I think
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: part of it was because, you know, there are a
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: few people in this game that get to go out
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: on their own terms, right? That they've won the world series,
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: that they've retired healthy, that they've done everything they want
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: in this game. Most of us, most of you, not me,
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: most of us, don't necessarily get to go out on
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: our own terms. So it took him a hot second
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: before he was willing to watch a game again, but
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: because of my job, he was kind of forced to,
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: what is it like for you?
• 31:02
  Speaker 6: Yeah. I didn't get to go out on my own terms.
• 31:05
  Speaker 5: And I think initially I wasn't watching a ton of
• 31:09
  Speaker 5: baseball right away. And luckily this great show about territory
• 31:13
  Speaker 5: shortly after retirement invited me to come out, kind of
• 31:16
  Speaker 5: re-energize my love for the game. But for me personally,
• 31:20
  Speaker 5: I was a fan of the game before I was
• 31:22
  Speaker 5: a player. I grew up a fan of baseball. I
• 31:24
  Speaker 5: grew up going to Dodger games. I grew up playing
• 31:26
  Speaker 5: the game in the backyard. I grew up watching the
• 31:27
  Speaker 5: Dodgers at home, you know, with my mom and my
• 31:30
  Speaker 5: dad and my brothers. So, um, you know, even when
• 31:33
  Speaker 5: I was playing as difficult as it was sometimes, um,
• 31:37
  Speaker 5: You know, I wasn't necessarily the person who might play
• 31:40
  Speaker 5: a game at seven o'clock, get back to the hotel
• 31:43
  Speaker 5: room at 11 and then go watch the next game
• 31:45
  Speaker 5: that was on the West Coast. I might wake up
• 31:47
  Speaker 5: in the morning and go through, you know, the highlights
• 31:50
  Speaker 5: on the TV the next day and see what was
• 31:51
  Speaker 5: going on in the game. But now that I'm done
• 31:55
  Speaker 5: playing and after I got over the kind of the
• 31:57
  Speaker 5: bitterness and once again, it's people forget it's.
• 32:00
  Speaker 6: Our job to that.
• 32:02
  Speaker 5: We were very fortunate to play something that I enjoy
• 32:04
  Speaker 5: doing for most of it, but there's also parts of
• 32:06
  Speaker 5: everyone's job. There's also parts of everyone's job that you
• 32:10
  Speaker 5: don't love. And at some point, you know, in baseball,
• 32:13
  Speaker 5: as much as it's fun and it's a great way
• 32:16
  Speaker 5: to make a living, it is a job.
• 32:18
  Speaker 6: And there was parts I didn't like at the end
• 32:19
  Speaker 6: of it.
• 32:20
  Speaker 5: I needed a little bit of time away, but yeah,
• 32:23
  Speaker 5: because of foul territory because of my relationship with the
• 32:26
  Speaker 5: Toronto Blue Jays and sports that I've been able to
• 32:28
  Speaker 5: kind of refine that love as a fan of the
• 32:30
  Speaker 5: game again and you'd be surprised and I know you
• 32:34
  Speaker 5: have some quotes in there too that not everyone grew
• 32:37
  Speaker 5: up the same way maybe me and him did there's
• 32:39
  Speaker 5: some people that maybe play baseball because they liked it
• 32:42
  Speaker 5: and they were good at it but they never really
• 32:43
  Speaker 5: watched it on tv I just was fortunate.
• 32:46
  Speaker 6: That I had parents that We're sports fans. I grew
• 32:48
  Speaker 6: up a fan of the game first.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: I mean, there's some guys that literally have some World
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: Series memories, like active core memories, vivid memories, Corey, but
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: there's some guys that would literally do anything other than
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: watch a World Series that they're not participating in. Where
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: do you fall?
• 33:04
  Speaker 4: I mean, yeah, I'm going to watch it. That's just,
• 33:08
  Speaker 4: that's the way I am.
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: And yeah, I grew up obviously watching my Astros and
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: that's just how it was.
• 33:14
  Speaker 4: But I really.
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: Do love seeing D-May's comments about, I mean, the guy's what?
• 33:21
  Speaker 4: Two World Series rings?
• 33:22
  Speaker 6: Three World Series rings?
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: He's been in three World Series and obviously, I mean,
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: he was hurt for what?
• 33:30
  Speaker 4: Two of those? So... I mean, look, it's just, it's
• 33:34
  Speaker 4: incredible to me.
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: And obviously he's a Texan too. It's just, you know,
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: we played baseball year round. I'm sure he was going
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: to Rangers games. He's up in Dallas and it just, yeah.
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: I mean, some people just don't like.
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: Full circle moment. How about this? So he grew up
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: in Houston.
• 33:47
  Speaker 6: Okay.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: I actually met three of Logan Henderson's like childhood classmates today. Like,
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: and they're here for it. Attended games with his mom
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: or excuse me, his dad and his step-mom. And now
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: he's pitching in game two of the World Series. So, like,
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: that's a guy that you're thinking, okay, even if he
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: wasn't in it, he's probably watching the World Series. But, like,
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of guys that are like, you know what?
• 34:08
  Speaker 6: What about the Jackson Cheerios on there?
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: There you go.
• 34:11
  Speaker 5: To kind of go back to what you talked about
• 34:13
  Speaker 5: in the very beginning, and where's that quote at on
• 34:16
  Speaker 5: there about he said he doesn't never, like, really watch.
• 34:19
  Speaker 4: The World Series?
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, right there. The truth is I'm not going to
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: watch a lot of games.
• 34:22
  Speaker 6: But I think that's also true.
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: I feel like it's a little bit boring.
• 34:24
  Speaker 5: Yeah, but I think, but I also feel like that
• 34:28
  Speaker 5: is part of his superpower. When you talk about the
• 34:31
  Speaker 5: confidence that he has in the field, when you didn't
• 34:34
  Speaker 5: kind of growing, when you don't grow up making such
• 34:36
  Speaker 5: a big deal of the world series, and then you're
• 34:38
  Speaker 5: playing in it, the moment's never too big for him. He's,
• 34:41
  Speaker 5: he's cool, calm and collected out there where me, you know,
• 34:44
  Speaker 5: I've been watching the world series since I can remember,
• 34:46
  Speaker 5: you know, so, you know, and then watching, you know,
• 34:50
  Speaker 5: games on TV. And then when I started going to
• 34:52
  Speaker 5: a lot of these big league stadiums, like, I remember
• 34:55
  Speaker 5: seeing him on TV. So the moment always felt so big.
• 34:57
  Speaker 5: And then obviously you play a long time and you
• 35:00
  Speaker 5: get accustomed to those things. But I think that's part of,
• 35:02
  Speaker 5: you know, the innocence or the ignorance that some of
• 35:05
  Speaker 5: these players have that don't, you know, maybe grow up
• 35:07
  Speaker 5: watching the game that the stage is.
• 35:08
  Speaker 6: Never too big.
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: I want to bring that up too, because obviously like
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: you're saying about Jackson, it's probably really beneficial. Maybe I
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: shouldn't have watched baseball because my debut was against the
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: Rangers who, I mean, I love the Astros, but I
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: also watched all the Rangers.
• 35:20
  Speaker 4: I'm in Texas. So they were both on and Adrian Beltre.
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: That's almost like you're watching these guys.
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: I'm watching these guys my whole life. And then now
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: all of a sudden I'm pitching in my debut and
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: here comes Elvis Andrews, Adrian Beltran. I mean, I'm a
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: 21 year old kid and I get to, this is
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: a huge moment for me. And then I get a
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: ball hit off of me off of Beltran. Everything is
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: just exciting. And, and yes, all those moments just seemed
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: much bigger. Compared to a guy like Jackson, like this
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: is just a normal moment. There's nothing special about it here.
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: How much of your makeup though is what you've done?
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: I find that, and I'm not trying to compare my
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: life to yours by any stretch of the imagination, but
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: sometimes when your job shifts, all you know is what
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: you do, right? And that's kind of your identity. And
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden, when you're not playing baseball anymore,
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: you're not doing a certain thing anymore. It's kind of like,
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: who am I now? What do I do with my hands? Like,
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: what do you do at this point? Like how much
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: of that is for you.
• 36:18
  Speaker 6: Guys, if at all?
• 36:19
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I was that.
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: I mean, I got out of baseball and obviously same
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: thing as KP.
• 36:25
  Speaker 4: It wasn't planned.
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 36:26
  Speaker 4: It just happened.
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: I was out of there and I didn't know what
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: to do. So I spent a lot of time, obviously,
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: with my kids and loved every minute of it. I
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: coached all their sports. And then Kratz came to me
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: one day and said, hey, here's what we want to do.
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: We want you on part of foul territory, covering the Brewers.
• 36:46
  Speaker 4: And like, you know what? I love baseball. That's what
• 36:49
  Speaker 4: I know. That's really all I know still.
• 36:51
  Speaker 6: To this day.
• 36:51
  Speaker 4: And I love the first. So yeah, exactly.
• 36:55
  Speaker 5: Well, the thing that I find really interesting, sorry on
• 36:57
  Speaker 5: this topic is I feel like, and we talked about
• 37:01
  Speaker 5: kind of the instincts that I had. I feel like
• 37:02
  Speaker 5: a lot of the part of the game that I
• 37:04
  Speaker 5: learned was what I observed on watching the game on TV.
• 37:07
  Speaker 5: And I find it more and more now. And granted,
• 37:09
  Speaker 5: my kids are young, my six-year-old, but I'll be out
• 37:12
  Speaker 5: on the field with them sometimes. And we'll be teaching
• 37:15
  Speaker 5: them like the fundamentals of the game. And I'll ask
• 37:17
  Speaker 5: them like, hey, why.
• 37:18
  Speaker 6: Don't you field that ball?
• 37:19
  Speaker 5: Like, who's your favorite shortstop?
• 37:21
  Speaker 6: And they'll be like, oh, I don't watch baseball.
• 37:22
  Speaker 5: And I'm like, it's kind of crazy to me that
• 37:24
  Speaker 5: there's more kids that aren't watching it where I feel
• 37:26
  Speaker 5: like I learned a lot of my kind of basic
• 37:29
  Speaker 5: knowledge of baseball. And fortunately, I was still playing at
• 37:33
  Speaker 5: the time where my son remembers me playing a little bit.
• 37:37
  Speaker 5: So I do feel like he has a leg up
• 37:38
  Speaker 5: because he does watch the game, but it's crazy to
• 37:40
  Speaker 5: think that there's guys out there that are super talented,
• 37:43
  Speaker 5: that are very.
• 37:44
  Speaker 6: Successful at the major league level.
• 37:46
  Speaker 5: Didn't grow up watching the game because I felt like
• 37:48
  Speaker 5: I got so much of my basic knowledge of the
• 37:51
  Speaker 5: game from just watching it. You know, I learned how
• 37:53
  Speaker 5: to do rundowns or cuts and relays and all like
• 37:55
  Speaker 5: the little intricate parts of the game. Obviously you got
• 37:57
  Speaker 5: to go out and learn them yourself, but there's so
• 38:00
  Speaker 5: much you can observe from the game instinctually.
• 38:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: Jackson Murphy was talking about how Junior Caminero was doing
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: really well. And Pat's like, really, dude, he's not even
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: on our team. So that reminds me of when Knox Kelly,
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: Joe Kelly's son, when asked who's his favorite player, he
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: said Mookie Betts. And Joe's like, I pitched. Did your
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: kids ever do that? If you ask who's your favorite player,
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: it's not dad. They look at you guys as dad.
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: You're not major league players to them. You're just dad.
• 38:27
  Speaker 4: I mean, do you have any boys? I got one boy.
• 38:29
  Speaker 4: I have all girls.
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: So, obviously, I mean, we got softball, but I do
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: love when we came to Milwaukee and my six-year-old, she's
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: my second, she tried to tell me, like, no one
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: knows who you are.
• 38:44
  Speaker 4: I'm like, maybe... I love you. I know. I know.
• 38:48
  Speaker 4: And I'm like, Hey, you know what? I did play
• 38:49
  Speaker 4: baseball in this city. And she goes, no, it's not
• 38:54
  Speaker 4: that big of a deal.
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: You didn't, you didn't play baseball like on TV because
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: she wasn't old enough to remember that. And I got
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: my oldest telling her, no, she was, he was on TV.
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: You know, we got to watch him on this TV
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: right here. Like we're like, daddy's watching TV right now.
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: And so it is cool to see those, like both
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: of them have different experiences.
• 39:12
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 39:14
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, my kids are, I got out, my
• 39:16
  Speaker 5: kids were still kind of fairly young. They obviously don't
• 39:20
  Speaker 5: remember me playing in Toronto very much, but I think
• 39:23
  Speaker 5: the memories that they have from the time when I
• 39:26
  Speaker 5: was with the Braves, because we went to the postseason
• 39:29
  Speaker 5: that year too, is kind of what they remember.
• 39:31
  Speaker 6: I got a chance to play with the Angels at the.
• 39:33
  Speaker 5: End, the Rangers a little bit, but the Braves, you know,
• 39:37
  Speaker 5: a lot of it too at such a young age
• 39:39
  Speaker 5: is not necessarily who's a great baseball player, but who
• 39:42
  Speaker 5: treats them really well.
• 39:43
  Speaker 4: And I had a lot of.
• 39:46
  Speaker 6: A lot of great teammates in Atlanta.
• 39:48
  Speaker 5: Matt Olsen, Austin Silley, Travis Garneau, Michael Harris, Austin.
• 39:52
  Speaker 6: Some of the best human beings on earth.
• 39:54
  Speaker 5: So if you ask my kids who's their favorite players,
• 39:58
  Speaker 5: they'll say dad. But besides that, they would name all
• 40:02
  Speaker 5: those guys because they just treated them You know, really,
• 40:05
  Speaker 5: really nicely.
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: Honestly, you're with these people more than you're with your
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: own family.
• 40:08
  Speaker 4: We are.
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: We are a family. There's that. I mean, that's it.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: Thank you guys for the perspective. That's awesome.
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: I wanted to say, too, I mean, obviously about teams.
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: I mean, we've got our teams. Some of them are
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: our favorites. Some of them, you know, probably not so much.
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: And obviously the Brewers are mine. But my kids' favorite
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: was the White Sox because with the White Sox, I
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: was rehabbing for a while in Arizona, and they were
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: out there living with me. And every day when I'd
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: come home, I'd got to bring them gum, just sugar-free gum.
• 40:34
  Speaker 4: And so, of course, to them, the White Sox. That's
• 40:36
  Speaker 4: my favorite team.
• 40:38
  Speaker 6: Good year to be a White Sox fan, though.
• 40:40
  Speaker 4: Good year to be a White Sox fan.
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: It was a very good year. And Camelback Ranch with
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: the White Sox for spring training is awesome. For the
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: people is what we are doing. All right, so here's
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: the deal. World Series comments from fans lately about the
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: World Series. This is what we're talking about. FT posted
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: about Richie Palacio saying he wants to be on a
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: team like this the rest of his life. A fan's
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: seasonal occupation commented, I'm sorry, but this Rays team is generational.
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: Every single guy plays for the guy beside him and
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: none of them think about their egos. It's bigger than them.
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: It's what this beautiful game was designed for in spirit.
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: Our fans have their backs and we'll walk with them
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: through the fire. I don't know that that has anything
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: to say with Richie wanting to be there forever. I
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: just think it shows you how much this team loves
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: each other.
• 41:28
  Speaker 5: Let me take this one. Please do. We watched this
• 41:31
  Speaker 5: a lot for the Toronto Blue Jays last year. The
• 41:34
  Speaker 5: great equalizer in the game is winning. Winning cures everything.
• 41:37
  Speaker 5: And obviously you've got to have good culture, but winning
• 41:40
  Speaker 5: will also create a good culture. So for a guy
• 41:42
  Speaker 5: like Richie to come out and be like, of course,
• 41:44
  Speaker 5: when the team's winning and everyone's doing well, that's what
• 41:48
  Speaker 5: everyone said about being a Toronto Blue Jay. And not
• 41:50
  Speaker 5: to say that they're not saying that, but then you
• 41:51
  Speaker 5: come back a year later and they're not winning. Not
• 41:54
  Speaker 5: everyone's as happy as they were the year before. So
• 41:57
  Speaker 5: I think this has a lot to do with getting
• 41:59
  Speaker 5: caught up in the moment. But it's not just him.
• 42:01
  Speaker 5: I know a lot of people that, and Freddie Peralta's
• 42:03
  Speaker 5: come out and said it too. There's something about what
• 42:06
  Speaker 5: the Rays do in terms of getting the best out
• 42:08
  Speaker 5: of you. But I think it has a lot to
• 42:09
  Speaker 5: do with the way that they treat your families. They
• 42:12
  Speaker 5: make you feel comfortable. People want to stay there for
• 42:15
  Speaker 5: a long period of time.
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: It's odd because what he was just saying, Bori, about
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: the fact that Richie Palacios is saying he wants to
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: be on a team like this for the rest of
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: his life. And then you have Freddie Peralta saying, I
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: want to be the Ray for the rest of my life.
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: That's not common, at least not in the era that
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: you guys played. You wouldn't hear guys being that candid,
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: that honest, or putting that out there. Like I want
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: to stay here forever. I want to retire here.
• 42:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah. I mean, it is odd.
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: And I, no one has said it, but I can
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: guarantee you a lot of people are feeling the same
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: way about Milwaukee too, but it is, I mean, that's just, these.
• 42:48
  Speaker 4: Are both two teams that are generational.
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's, it's family. Family first, right? It's what
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: both teams are, and that's exactly what we're seeing. And obviously, look,
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: there's something special going on in both clubhouses. Both players,
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: both teams feel like, yes, winning isn't everything, but it
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: is a fun clubhouse to be in, and we're going
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: to go out there and win games.
• 43:11
  Speaker 4: And, I mean, they've both been doing that. Yeah.
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: This is funny, too. So the Mets, this is from 121, 1893.
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: The Mets hired the brain in charge of the Brewers,
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: talking about David Stearns. And he's in over his head
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: in Queens. Just because you hired the chef doesn't mean
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: you get the menu of the old restaurant. That's a
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: pretty way.
• 43:31
  Speaker 6: Okay.
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: David Stearns is obviously a very bright man. He's a
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: good baseball mind, but Milwaukee is very different than Queens, right?
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: And you can't necessarily take the formula that's worked here
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: and implement it in a market like New York. Granted,
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: he's new in that position, but it's not apples to
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: apples or the big apple to the big apple.
• 43:49
  Speaker 6: No, it's not apples to apples.
• 43:51
  Speaker 5: And I think time will tell what David Stearns is
• 43:54
  Speaker 5: able to do in New York. And obviously he's inheriting
• 43:56
  Speaker 5: a lot of players that have already been there. But
• 43:59
  Speaker 5: I need to see where you could take kind of
• 44:02
  Speaker 5: the brains of a small market, implement them into a
• 44:05
  Speaker 5: big market and try to operate the same way.
• 44:07
  Speaker 6: The secret sauce in some of these small markets is
• 44:10
  Speaker 6: operating on the margins.
• 44:12
  Speaker 5: Sometimes you want a very smart man like David Stearns
• 44:15
  Speaker 5: to go to a big market that has the ability
• 44:18
  Speaker 5: to spend a little bit more money. And you're trying
• 44:20
  Speaker 5: to spend a lot of money and win the margins.
• 44:22
  Speaker 5: And maybe there's not a recipe for success. Although I
• 44:25
  Speaker 5: will tell you, Andrew Friedman, figured out going from a
• 44:27
  Speaker 5: tiny market. But that's the thing.
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: It's like that crazy carousel from Tampa Bay that has
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: just like exploded across the league. I mean, Andrew Friedman
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: and like all of the guys that have come from
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: that crush free. Playing balloons out there. Really had success
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: in other places.
• 44:44
  Speaker 4: And like you said, Tampa has produced a lot of that.
• 44:48
  Speaker 4: They're all over in the baseball world now.
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean, there is something to say about
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: what Tampa's been doing. And Tampa was one of the
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: first teams to to do this small market rebuilding here.
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: So it is, it's, it's been, it's been pretty crazy
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: to see what Tampa is, what, what they've done and
• 45:06
  Speaker 2: now what they're passing on to other teams trying to
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: do the exact same thing.
• 45:10
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: No question about it. Continuing here on for the people.
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: So in another post, Ken Rosenthal was talking about how
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: teams have tried guys to emulate the Rays and the
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: Brewers like the Reds. and how it hasn't necessarily worked
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: out in their favor. A fan comment said, again, I
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: was just talking about it, the Mets hired the brain
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: in charge. So it doesn't always work for every team.
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: We talked about the fact that Tampa Bay was the
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: originator of the opener, and then everybody started trying to
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: use the opener. It doesn't always necessarily work, but I
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: think one of the beautiful parts about Tampa is they
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: stick within themselves, and they don't deviate from what makes
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: them successful.
• 45:46
  Speaker 5: And I think this goes back to, some teams and
• 45:51
  Speaker 5: you could take pieces from an organization and try to
• 45:54
  Speaker 5: put them there. And I think the Mets are trying
• 45:56
  Speaker 5: to do that with David Stern. They're trying to take
• 45:59
  Speaker 5: kind of the brain trust and put them there, but
• 46:00
  Speaker 5: you're talking about not having the menu. To me, the
• 46:03
  Speaker 5: menu is the culture that's already created. And there are
• 46:06
  Speaker 5: certain places that I went and I know you traveled
• 46:08
  Speaker 5: a little bit too. Like I knew when I left Toronto,
• 46:11
  Speaker 5: when I went to San Francisco, the culture was already set.
• 46:14
  Speaker 5: This is what we're about. People are going to come
• 46:16
  Speaker 5: and go in that organization. But this is the culture.
• 46:20
  Speaker 5: When I went to Atlanta, this is what Atlanta is about.
• 46:22
  Speaker 5: You knew the culture going into it. So I think
• 46:25
  Speaker 5: teams like Tampa, teams like Milwaukee have already kind of
• 46:29
  Speaker 5: established their culture, where teams like the Reds are trying
• 46:32
  Speaker 5: to kind of operate on that same sort of budget,
• 46:35
  Speaker 5: that same sort of idea, the small market. But they
• 46:38
  Speaker 5: haven't necessarily established its culture. If someone's coming over to
• 46:42
  Speaker 5: the Cincinnati Reds, they don't necessarily know what that means
• 46:46
  Speaker 5: to be a red, right? You know, when the Dodgers
• 46:49
  Speaker 5: on a much bigger scale, the market is enormous and
• 46:51
  Speaker 5: their payroll is enormous.
• 46:53
  Speaker 6: But when I signed there, it's similar to you. You
• 46:55
  Speaker 6: knew why you were going there.
• 46:56
  Speaker 5: No, not only to win, but they knew that I
• 46:59
  Speaker 5: knew that they were going to get the most out
• 47:00
  Speaker 5: of me. I was kind of broken goods at that point.
• 47:03
  Speaker 5: I was past my prime. I felt like the history
• 47:06
  Speaker 5: of the Chris Taylor's, the Max Muncy's that they could
• 47:08
  Speaker 5: reinvent me and get the best version out of me.
• 47:11
  Speaker 5: So that culture was already set before I walked in
• 47:12
  Speaker 5: that door.
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: I get it. Listen, I was fortunate enough to cover
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: that team for seven seasons. And I remember when, you know,
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: we got Chris, we like I'm the team, like when
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: they got Chris Taylor, the, The trade was Zach Leeds
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: and the Mariners.
• 47:26
  Speaker 6: And we're like, who is Zach?
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: Who is Chris Taylor? And then he ended up being
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: like a co-MVP in 2015 or 25 or whatever the
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: heck it was in terms of the NLCS. And Chris
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: Taylor was a very good Dodger. Same thing with Max Muncy.
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: The athletics... He DFA him. He did not have a job.
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: He was sitting on the couch and at Coletti gave
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: him an opportunity to join the Dodgers. And the man
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: has hit 30 home runs for the last five seasons.
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: And he's now continuing to rise up the ranks in
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: terms of one of the all time greatest Dodgers in history.
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: So they do know how to get the most out
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: of their guys, right?
• 47:58
  Speaker 4: They spend the money and yes, they have the money.
• 48:00
  Speaker 4: They spend the money on, increasing performance.
• 48:04
  Speaker 2: Everything is for the players, which, yes, I do have
• 48:07
  Speaker 2: to credit a lot to the Dodgers for what they
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: did for me as well.
• 48:09
  Speaker 4: I mean, we really worked.
• 48:10
  Speaker 5: Together and we were both broken goods, but we talked
• 48:13
  Speaker 5: about just how fortunate we were because.
• 48:16
  Speaker 6: Like we said, they spent a lot of.
• 48:17
  Speaker 5: Money on their payroll, but they also spent a lot
• 48:20
  Speaker 5: of money on going out and getting.
• 48:21
  Speaker 6: The best of the best.
• 48:22
  Speaker 5: We knew we were in great hands with the surgeon
• 48:24
  Speaker 5: that operated on us, with the training staff that they had,
• 48:27
  Speaker 5: with the medical staff, the physical therapist.
• 48:29
  Speaker 6: I mean, we were getting the best treatment.
• 48:30
  Speaker 4: In the world.
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt about it. I mean, they're a very
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: good organization. And not all clubs of the 30 are
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: created equal by any stretch. I remember when AJ Pollock
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: was a free agent and he signed– from the Arizona
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: Diamondbacks to come over to the Los Angeles Dodgers in
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: spring training. And I've told this story a number of times,
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: but in spring training at Camelback Ranch, all of the
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: outfielders at the time were lined up in the clubhouse
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: at Camelback all together. And I remember Jock Peterson telling AJ,
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: who was older than him, more experienced than him, Coming
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: over from the Diamondbacks, welcome to the big leagues. It's
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: just a different vibe.
• 49:07
  Speaker 6: It is.
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: Not all organizations are created equal.
• 49:11
  Speaker 6: That is jock two.
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: That is jock two.
• 49:12
  Speaker 5: Rolls out of bed and just knows how to hit.
• 49:14
  Speaker 5: On that same note, too, we talked about it a
• 49:16
  Speaker 5: little bit, too. I think part of the secret sauce.
• 49:20
  Speaker 5: of why the Milwaukee Brewers are great and why Tampa
• 49:22
  Speaker 5: Bay rates is you talk about levels, not every, not
• 49:27
  Speaker 5: every big league.
• 49:28
  Speaker 6: Team treats the families the same way too.
• 49:30
  Speaker 5: And I think when you have organizations like the Milwaukee
• 49:33
  Speaker 5: Brewers that value the You as a human being, as
• 49:36
  Speaker 5: a father, as a husband, as someone's dad.
• 49:39
  Speaker 6: It's why people buy in.
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: Because the wives are by themselves all season long.
• 49:44
  Speaker 6: Buying in. That's it.
• 49:46
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of things, especially the Rays, you know,
• 49:49
  Speaker 2: as a starter, right? You're an established starter. Now you're
• 49:52
  Speaker 2: going to have an opener. You know, we're going to
• 49:53
  Speaker 2: change something and we're going to have an opener. It's just,
• 49:55
  Speaker 2: it's buying it, right? It's not easy to do. And
• 49:58
  Speaker 2: nothing to say, I mean, about the Dodgers, but like.
• 50:00
  Speaker 4: This is 2026.
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: We got the Brewers and the Rays in the World Series.
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: I love it.
• 50:05
  Speaker 6: And this is it.
• 50:06
  Speaker 2: Everyone on both sides are buying in. And this is
• 50:09
  Speaker 2: the kind of baseball that we love to watch.
• 50:11
  Speaker 4: I love it.
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: We're about eight minutes away from being off the air.
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: And the crowds are continuing to grow here in Catalina Square.
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: We love it. Milwaukee is rabid for this. They have
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: been waiting for this for four plus decades. Did you
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: guys play? with a sort of a hype man that
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: would get you pumped up for for any big game
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: was there someone in your in your life that was
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: like the guy that would get you like yeah you
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: need to be motivated i'll tell you he's actually pretty
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: famous in the game and unfortunately i i had him
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: when i was playing um.
• 50:41
  Speaker 5: With the angels and we weren't very good but there
• 50:44
  Speaker 5: is a there is a coach.
• 50:46
  Speaker 6: He's just a coach.
• 50:47
  Speaker 5: Cause he doesn't really, he's not a coach of anything.
• 50:49
  Speaker 5: He's actually just kind of a hype guy. And his
• 50:51
  Speaker 5: name's Tim Bussey. And he was Joe Madden's guy for
• 50:54
  Speaker 5: a long time.
• 50:54
  Speaker 6: Okay.
• 50:55
  Speaker 5: And he is the old, and what's his name in
• 50:57
  Speaker 5: LA too?
• 50:58
  Speaker 6: Um, Travis. Oh, Travis. Yeah, Travis.
• 51:04
  Speaker 4: There's not a.
• 51:04
  Speaker 5: Better height guy in the game than Travis Smith. He's
• 51:07
  Speaker 5: got handshakes with all the players. He's loud and obnoxious.
• 51:10
  Speaker 5: When I would go in after I short-stint with L.A.,
• 51:13
  Speaker 5: when I would play other teams and we were playing
• 51:16
  Speaker 5: the Dodgers, I would nudge him and be like, dude,
• 51:18
  Speaker 5: you want to know part of the reason why they're
• 51:19
  Speaker 5: really good?
• 51:20
  Speaker 6: Watch their strength coach. He's the best hype guy. He's
• 51:23
  Speaker 6: the loudest. He's having fun.
• 51:25
  Speaker 5: Everyone's got a handshake with him. I'd sit in the
• 51:26
  Speaker 5: dugout and be like, man, I'd give anything to be
• 51:29
  Speaker 5: over there just one more time just to have a handshake.
• 51:31
  Speaker 4: He is, man.
• 51:32
  Speaker 2: You walk into the weight room and he's automatically hyping
• 51:36
  Speaker 2: you up, man.
• 51:36
  Speaker 6: Hey, what we got today, man.
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that whole staff.
• 51:39
  Speaker 6: That whole staff is phenomenal.
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: LA's got a lot of special people over there. I'm
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: not going to lie. Continuing the most interesting postseason tradition
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: that he did in New York and Cleveland. Raised baseball
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: ops president Eric Neander. Walked from the team hotel in
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: downtown Milwaukee, which is basically where we are right now,
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: to the stadium, which is four-plus miles. It took him
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: one and a half hours.
• 52:11
  Speaker 6: Wow.
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: What are we doing?
• 52:12
  Speaker 4: I mean, they have lime scooters around here.
• 52:14
  Speaker 6: I mean, take an Uber.
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: Car service. Maybe he just does it to clear his head.
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: What are we doing?
• 52:18
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I'd imagine he does it to clear his head.
• 52:20
  Speaker 5: I've only ever taken the highway there, so I don't
• 52:22
  Speaker 5: know how he's doing it. But more impressive than making this,
• 52:26
  Speaker 5: you know, four-mile walk is apparently he did it in
• 52:28
  Speaker 5: New York.
• 52:29
  Speaker 6: And no matter where you stay in New York, yeah,
• 52:31
  Speaker 6: he stayed in New York. Yeah.
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: I mean, like, the mid- I mean, like, that's insane.
• 52:36
  Speaker 4: What is he?
• 52:37
  Speaker 6: He's walking, rowing, swimming. He's doing the whole thing. Just
• 52:42
  Speaker 6: to get.
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: To the end. We hope you guys enjoyed it. It's
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: been an absolute blast for us to be here. Thanks
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: so much for being here with us. For Corey Kniebel
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: and Kevin Pillar, I'm Alana Rizzo. Enjoy the game. We
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: will see you on Monday. Guys, don't forget, we have
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: post-game tonight with the guys on Foul Territory.
• 52:58
  Speaker 6: Good night.
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: All right, the biggest matchup of the year is here,
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: you guys. Enjoy an MLB World Series SGP Boost Token
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: and net a bigger payout on a winning same-game parlay.
• 53:14
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