Latest / Foul Territory / D'Backs Manager Torey Lovullo joins FT: Burnes splash, Monty's revenge

Transcript

D'Backs Manager Torey Lovullo joins FT: Burnes splash, Monty's revenge · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: My first conversation with Corbin was you know, hey, congrats
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: you're here. We're so proud of that. And he says,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: you ready to win an shi t ton of games.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Heyj If you think that the option versus PHANTOMI L
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: conversation was dumb, just wait until you see this one.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Nick Madrigal, who signed with the Mets, showed up to
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: camp with a Cubs douffle bag because he was on
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: the Cubs in the past, and people in the comments
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: were quite displeased about the duffel bag. Brent Rooker, superstar
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: on Twitter and on the baseball field with the A's, said,
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: the number of people in the replies mad about his
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: bag is so incredibly funny. Y'all think he just has
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: a Mets duffle bag laying around his house to bring
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: to camp. In twenty twenty three, I walked into a
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: spring training with a Royals duffle bag and a Padres
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: bat bag.
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: Agreed, I mean crass. You switched teams a lot. I
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: switched teams a bunch too. You know what, you don't
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: have a duffel bag of the team you're going to
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: play for next. You get that in spring training when
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: you get there. So if you took a picture of
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: every guy walking in the switch teams, guess what they're
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: gonna have the bag of their old team. You know
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: what that team does, They send it back to the team.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: He was just on they send it right back now. Listen,
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: I got this picture and Crafts can't relate to this.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: But when I was in Chicago for eight years and
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: then I went to Texas, so spring training is in Arizona.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: I had a full pod of stuff that they brought
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: to Arizona just to get rid of out of Chicago,
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: and they dumped it right here. They dumped it in
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: the Ranger spring training parking lot and we're like, you guys,
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: deal with it now. So that was what they dumped
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: and that was what the Rangers like, well, what are
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: we going to do with it? I'm like, I don't know,
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: but we got to figure it out. People. So they
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: shipped it all to the house. That was just your
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: That was just but did you but did you see
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: the white Sox bag. There was a white Sox bag there.
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: Oh no, he showed up to spring training. On the
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: bottom right, that's a white Sox bag and there's all shoes,
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: catching gear, all kinds of stuff. I don't know. It
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: looks like there was like a human head in there too.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: I don't know what they were doing with that.
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: I was gonna say, did they give you a mannequin?
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: That?
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: What people need to look at closely is those Nike
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: boxes have the white label on them, and the white
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: label signifies that AJ got all these custom shoes that
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: he never used. He's so boogy that all this stuff
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: was just packed away in Chicago or probably maybe even
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: on the truck, so they had a waite space for
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: all of his stuff. I'm glad they dumped it there.
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: I'm glad they dumped it there. I hope you didn't
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: touch a single a single and got all new blue
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: stuff and some money.
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: Biggers are wearing some A. I gave all that stuff away.
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: I gave almost all that stuff away. And I would
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: only go through a couple pair of shoes a year,
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: and they would send me so many. I was like,
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: I mean because I didn't go through a lot of
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: shoes or sketching gear.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Hey, we've got Tory Leavello, the manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks,
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: joining us on FT. We've been working on this for
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: a minute. How you doing Tori. We wanted to wait
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: until you got Corbyn burn and you were all loaded
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: up for the season's.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: I know, I know. I apologize. Last year, I totally
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: game faced you guys and said, no, it just didn't
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: It didn't work, And it might be the first time
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: I've ever said I will do it later. So I
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: appreciate Gus hang with me.
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: Hey, we're on every day. I know why it worked. Hey,
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: I know why you did it. Tori. It's okay, I
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: get it. I understand. It's cool. It's my fault. It's
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: my fault. I understand. You know. You know that's cool.
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: I get it. I get it. It's cool. We won't
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: dig into why, but it's cool.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: I was gonna agree with you on the shoe situation.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: I don't remember you changing shoes that often, and the
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: fact that you got like twenty five boxes delivered to you.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: I'm thinking, did you ask for those or did they
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: just send them to you? Because I felt like you
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: were were one set of gear for the entire year.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Now that's how I remember you, so that.
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: I would switch it. I would switch it at the
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: All Star break. I would wear unless something it broke
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: or got cracked. I'd wear one set the first to
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: have once at the second half. That was a shoes
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: maybe once a month, maybe, depending on if it was
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: going bad. I just changed everything. Plus sometimes my shoes
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: started stinking when it was hot, so I had to
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: change them a little bit more often. But I had
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: Homan Road at home and road, so you know it
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: made a little different too.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you wore the plastics. You didn't wear spikes, if
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: I can remember correctly.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: Right, that's right. I always wear plastics. U my feet.
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: My feet are sensitive sensitivo torri sensitivo catchers.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: You guys are little divas, right, I mean Eric, Eric
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: said it a little bit. He said that you're a
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: little bougie. I know, Eric, you were a catcher too.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: I'm kind of throwing you in this mix here, but
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: you were a little bit of a grinder man. You
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: absolutely did. AJ was a total white collar catcher, you
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: know what I mean? Total white.
• 4:47
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• 4:52
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• 4:55
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• 5:01
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• 5:15
  Speaker 3: Think about everyone in your fam that deserves some love.
• 5:17
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• 5:19
  Speaker 3: at college, and it lit up her day. I also
• 5:21
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• 5:24
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• 5:24
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• 5:48
  Speaker 4: Ft total white collar, total clubhouse. Like didn't want to
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: show up the spring training. We've already We've already hit
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: all this stuff. But did AJ got all those shoes
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: in barsin camp in spring training?
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: When you were there?
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: You weren't you?
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: Weren't hefe you were?
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: You know, you're kind a lone man on the coaching
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: totem polt it. Did he help you out? Did he
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: give you anything? Or are you the exactly? And so
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: that's why AJ got fired. AJ's time in Boston was
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: not good. I get it. We might not hit on it,
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: but it's because he just didn't share the goodness.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: He didn't share the goodness. Wait, I don't remember what happened.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: Did you get traded or did you get fired?
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: Oh? I got fired, I got I got poop canned.
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: It's fine, it was I'll be honest with you. I'll
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: be I'll be happy with the Tori. And I was
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: just giving you crap at the beginning because I actually
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: do like you a lot and we've talked. But I'll
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: say this, No, I got, I got, I got s canned.
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: I can't say the word on national TV. But actually
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: when it happened, uh manager John called me and was like, hey,
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: we need you to come in like nine in the morning.
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: And I was like, am I getting DFA to release.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: He's like, we can't talk about it on the phone,
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: just be here in half an hour. And I was
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: like okay, and my wife looked at me. He goes,
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: that was a weird call. I go, yeah, I'm good released,
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: so start packing and she's like, why aren't you upset?
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: And I'm like, cause we suck and now I got
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: a chance to go to a good team. And I
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: ended up in Saint Louis. So I was like most
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: people will be like, oh I got I got fired,
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: I got released. I was like, you know what. I
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: actually looked at Ben Cherrington. I still see him when
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: I go to pirates stuff, and I'm like, thank you, Ben,
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: I really do appreciate that. I really do appreciate you
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: guys moving me on and I got to go to
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: a better place. And actually it got me two more
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: years in the big leagues because I wouldn't have gone
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: to Saint Louis. I wouldn't have played two more years.
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: So actually, thank you guys. I say that all the time.
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: I love my time in Boston. I love the organization
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: and I love the guys I got to play with,
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: and I got and I got to experience the bad
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: side of Boston, which not a lot of people get
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: to say.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: Like, I had a lot to do with that decision
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: to aj right, you're.
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: I know you did it. That's why. No, I know,
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: that's why. That's but it's fun, you know, Listen. It
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: wouldn't be fun if I couldn't give you crap about it.
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: What I mean, I expect people to give me crap back,
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: So listen, I mean, that's all good. I don't care.
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: I do not care.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: Big knock you had and the right center field gap.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: I feel like we three managers got thrown out that
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: day and it was a game winner. You remember that
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: I walk.
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: Off triple, walk off triple before we old on, before
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: we dig in the dimembacks. I know we got to
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: get to because you got stuff to do, but I
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: do have to tell this story. So David Ortiz gets
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: we're facing David Price in Tampa. Right, Ortiz would not
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: play against David Price because we were just waiting for
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: him to hit him. And so you're like, you guys
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: come to me. You're like you're dhing and I'm like, wait,
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: David Price is pitching. They're like, yeah, yeah, you got it,
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: and I'm like, okay, guys, thank you. Right. So then
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: Griffy's there, Griffy bets me dinner. Anywhere in the world
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: if I hit a home or first pitch, I hit
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: a three run homer and run around third base, I'm like,
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: you owt me dinner, Griffy.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: And David's like, I couldn't have done that. I'm like, exactly,
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: So you got one decision, right, guys.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: There you go. I love that. I don't remember that.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Are you making that up? I'm gonna go to.
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: The books on that as day a true story.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: Love it all right.
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: I believe.
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: I love that you guys threw him in there against
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: the lefty too. That shows you exactly where he was
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: getting DFA super Soon let's get to the Diamondbacks.
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: Let's get to the Diamondbacks.
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: You know you're getting fired when you're getting when you're
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: getting the DH spot against the ace of the American
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: League East. But anyway, let's get to your team. Not
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: only not only did this team come very close to
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: winning a World Series last year, they raised you guys
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: won more games than you did the year before when
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: you made the World Series run. Was there a point
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: in the end of the season where you, guys felt
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: that confidence we're winning these games. No way, We're not
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: gonna make the playoffs, no way this is gonna happen.
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: And yet you looked up at the end of the
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: year and you were watching games and it didn't work
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: out for it.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the really frustrating part of how the year
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: ended up. I was so proud of what we did
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: and what we accomplished during the course of last season.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: We won eighty nine games and we tied for the
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: last position to enter and we lost in a tiebreakers.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: So we live in that space. We talk about that space,
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: and every little detail, every little inch matters here. So
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: it's just really going to amplify my message just spring
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: training that we can't lose any moments and we got
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: to go out there and close deals and win every
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: game we're supposed to. But I'm so proud of what
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: we did in the final stretch. We hit a little
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: dry patch in early August, and that's something that we've
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: done over the past few years. We're that early August,
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: we hit a little speed bump, and we've got to
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: figure out how to avoid those. But we were well
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: in control of our own destiny. We had everything going
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: in the right direction. And you guys know what it's
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: like when you wake up and you go to the
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: ballpark and you just know when you look at the
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: guys that they got it under control. You look at
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: the group that's going to go out there and compete,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: and they make the staff and the coaches and the
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: manager feel better because they're going to go out there
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: and win baseball games. We won a lot of baseball games.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: We just came up half a game short. And that's
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: where that's where we're going to make up a big
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: difference this year and try and make that, make undo that,
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: make something good happen.
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: Well, of the ways that you can undo that is
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: by getting an ace added to your already really good
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: starting rotation. How quickly did the whole burns thing like
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: start to culminate and start to and all of a
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: sudden look at it and you're like, what was your
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: reaction when you're like, this actually might happen.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know. I got a phone call, Actually I
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: got a text. I was on an airplane coming back
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: from Buffalo, New York, where my wife was born and raised,
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: so we spent a lot of time there in the
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: off season, and I was on an airplane and getting
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: a text message from our owner like why aren't you
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: picking up your phone? Where are you? What's going on?
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: And I'm like, oh my god. I talked to him
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: probably seven to ten times a year, once or twice
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: by phone or text. Mostly it's in person, and I'm thinking,
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: what is happy? So I said, I'll call you as
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: soon as I land. I did, and he said to
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: me that the Corbyn Burns thing has fallen into our lap.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: He's talked about how eager he is to play for
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: the Aros and the Diamondbacks for an assortment of reasons,
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: and we want to we want to close this gap
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: up and try and make something happen, you know, a
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: how do you feel? What do you know about about him?
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: And we just started to vet vet the whole process
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: and really, within within thirty six hours, our owner had
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: basically done that deal and made it happen. So we're
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: very grateful for the great ownership that we have. And
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: what it does is it takes us from somebody that
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: a team that is, you know, really out there grinding,
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: to a team that is strongly considered to go out
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: and win a lot of baseball games and hopefully stand
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: at the top of the mount at the end of
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: the year. My first conversation with Corbyn is was, you know, hey,
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: congrats you're here. We're so proud of that. And he says,
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: you're ready to win an s h I T ton
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: of games because I'm gonna go out there and help
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: this team go to where they want to go to.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: So when I heard that, I was like, let's get
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: the season started right now. Nice?
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: Nice, of course you better listen. Yeah, you got some
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: interesting rotation options. You obviously have a bullpen options, you
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: have lineup options. Is there pressure on you and the
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: Diamondbacks after the Corbyn Burns signing? Does this ramp up
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: the pressure along with being in the Dodgers' division? Who's
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: gonna go undefeated and win one hundred and sixty two games?
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: So how much pressure is on you and your team?
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: For sure? And that's what we signed up for. Right
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: I can only control one thing, and that's the manager
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: Arizona Diamondbacks. And there's pressure on me every single day
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: to respond, to react, to do the right thing, to
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: make good baseball decisions, have the right baseball conversations. So
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: nothing's going to change for me. But yeah, at the
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: end of the day. This is an industry where it's
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: full of pressure and you got to perform. If you
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: don't perform, you know, you get fired and you're out.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: So I try I don't worry about that. I believe
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: in these players. I believe in the relationships that have
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: been built. I believe in the relationships that I've built
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: with them that's going to enable them to go out
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: there and be the best version of themselves and perform
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: pressure free. Because the game is hard enough, so I
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: try to eliminate that. I remember what it was like
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: as a player. I felt like I had to go
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: five for four every single day either either I was
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: gonna get fired or sent down. So I try to
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: eliminate that barrier, and I just tell to be the
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: best version of yourself. Let's train that way, let's talk
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: about that, and let's see where that leads us. And
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: it seems to have worked. But yeah, there's pressure on
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: this team, no doubt. We embrace what happens inside of
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: our division. You got the Padres, you got the Dodgers.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: They're gonna do what they do, and we love that challenge.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: We go out there and play the best baseball game.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: Theori is on the dime. Bas can play.
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: Two parts to this question. Ken Kendrick came out and
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: said some things about Jordan Montgomery. After a disappointing year
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: for Jordan Montgomery, what is his status gonna be for
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: you guys going forward? He's part of that six men
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: that you have in the rotation. But also, how do
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: you approach one of your players like that when an
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: owner comes out in public and says what Ken Kendrick said,
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: right or wrong?
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, correct, that's the owner of our baseball team, and
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: he's entitled to say anything that he wants to. And
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: you know, we knew that that there were gonna be
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: some pieces to pick up, and understandably, so I reached
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: out to Jordan and I just let him offload. I
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: you know, I said, hey, I'm aware of and I
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: gave him some time. I let it simmer a little bit.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: I didn't call him the next day. I called him
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: about a week later and just said, how you doing,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: where are you at? And this is this is what's
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: happening today. We're living in the present. How are you
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: gonna make this better? And move? Move the ball downfield?
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: And he was able to offload a little bit and
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: he made a commitment to this, this group, to me,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: to to this organization, that he's gonna come into to
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: uh this spring training the best shape of his life.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: And he looks great. You know, I could already tell
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: you know when somebody walks in the door and they
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: dropped as much weight as he has. You know, they
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: had a really, really disciplined offseason and they're ready to
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: go out there, pull the trigger and make good things happen.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: And I'll approach it the same way I always do,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: with honesty and to be honest. The situation is, there's
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: so much uncertainty. There is a ton of uncertainty with
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: starter four five and four, five, six, seven, eight nine,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: you know, So I'm gonna I'm gonna outline that to
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: the guys. I don't know what's gonna happen. Your performance,
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: the way you go out there and conduct your business
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: is gonna really matter from this point moving forward, and
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: we got to make some tough decisions.
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: Tory best shape of his life. I love that line.
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: How much did spring training missing effective? I love that.
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: I mean, the best shape of my life? Oh, I'm
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: in Everyone's always in the best shape of their life, right,
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: I don't know sometimes people were round as a shape too. Okay,
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: let's not forget that.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: But okay, this is what you're so good at. You
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: like that was a quick detail I threw in there
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: because you have heard it. Right. Oh, this guy's in
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: the best shape of his life. I know, I totally
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: get it, but I saw him. I put eyes on,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: I saw him.
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: Listen. Monty's awesome, So I can't. He's been awesome, he's
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: pitched awesome, he's won World Series, the whole deal. But
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: how much do you think I want to know how
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: much of missing spring training affected him, because he came
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: out and said that, remember last year when he got
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: to you guys, ladies like man, this missing spring training
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: thing was a bigger deal than I thought. So now
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: he gets a full off season, a full spring training.
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: How much better do you think he can be?
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: Okay, I'm a firm believer spring training, you know, maybe
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: six weeks a little long. I know there's a build
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: up for pictures. I totally understand that, but it's that
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: special time aj when you form relationships, when you when
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: you get to know your teammates, you establish the bonds,
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: And for me, there's no greater relationship than a pitcher
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: and catcher. Like they talk about the middle endfielders. I
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: was a middle endfielder and I could play with different
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: shortstops at different points in time. It didn't really matter.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: But that picture catcher thing is pretty special, and they
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: got to know what each is thinking and have that
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: nonverbal communication and then you throw in the person. Look.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: I know Roger Clements and the Big Unit did it
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: totally differently. They could go off on their own and
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: come in the next day and throw throw out nothing.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: But Zeros Jordan is a is a get to know
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: you type of guy. He's he's one of the dudes.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: You know, he wants to get to know who he
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: is and his space. And you just start to feel
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: comfortable inside of a clubhouse and you can't fast forward
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: that when you get dropped into it from outer space
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: in the middle of a season, that's really challenging. You're
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: missing cues with your teammates, you're missing que with your
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: pitching coach. How are you wanting to get coached? And
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: that's one of the first questions I asked new players
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: is like, how how do you want me to coach you?
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: How do you want this relationship to take place? Because
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna be versatile, as versatile as possible to make
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: sure that I get the most out of you and
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: that you get the most out of me. So I'm
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: establishing that right now. Actually I started with some phone
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: calls a couple weeks ago, but that's what I'm gonna
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: do right now. I didn't have that with Jordan, and
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: I know how important that is to him and his personality.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: So the spring training is going to be a big
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: one for twenty twenty.
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: I caught Jordan every one of his spring training starts
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: before we shut down for COVID, and that was the
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: best shape he had been in his life. He like
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: dedicated himself, he was felt, and then he went back
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: to being the American missile and put on a few
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: lbs during COVID. So if he's in that shape, if
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: he's in that shape, it's gonna be good. Because he
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: was sitting ninety four ninety seven poppins in ninety eight.
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: It was it was exciting that spring training. But has
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: anybody ever come up to you and been like, Skip, Tori,
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: I'm in the worst shape of my life. Has anybody
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: ever been on in that sense? Because I remember job
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: at Chamberlain even came out one year, was like, yeah,
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: look at me, I got I got a four pack
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: up here.
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: You can see like a few abs.
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: Everybody says that in spring training.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: No, that's a good question, Eric. I've never heard somebody
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: say like, I didn't do Jack squat and I'm starting
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: from the ground zero, you know, uh, the the return
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: players from the spring train in two point zero after
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: COVID couple said to me, I'm like, what have you done?
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: A couple said, I didn't think we're gonna play baseball.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: I haven't picked up a baseball the entire time. I'm like,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: oh god, we're in trouble here. So that's as close
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: as I've come to somebody saying that I'm really out
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: of shape. But once again, our eyes don't lie. You
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: can tell when somebody's coming in and those buttons are
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: popping through the through the uh, through the through the uniform,
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: and that's not a good sign. And once we see that,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: we like we're dedicated to like, hey man, like we
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: see it, we know it, go out and fix it.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: We got to do this with you. We're gonna figure
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: out a game plan together.
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: Last one for me, he lost gold at first base.
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: He lost a guy, and Christian Walker. You replaced him
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: with Naylor. Naylor's coming in after the season, he had
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: how do you assimilate him into the clubhouse after losing
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: a quiet leader and Christian but a clear leader veteran
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: been around Arizona for a while, knowing he's really only
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: a one year rental.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, look at Christian Walker meant so much
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: of this organization. He'd been here through some really good times,
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: really dark times, and then come out the other side
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: where we've had a lot of success over the past
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: couple of years. So anytime you got to say goodbye
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: to somebody like that, who once again probably you talk
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: about that nonverbal communication. I could basically raise my finger
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: from the dugout and get his attention and give him
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: some information. Same thing in the dugout. He'd walked by
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: me and he'd grunt at me, and I'd say something
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: to him, and it was a done deal. So that's
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: hard to replace. But we have a lot of very
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: capable guys that have been here long enough to understand that.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: And how Josh Fitzen is just to go out and
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: be himself. I know that. Look, there's some All Star
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: numbers in there. There's some All Star years in there,
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: and this guy goes out and kills the baseball. So
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: we don't want him to be anything different, anything other
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: than what he's been his prep work and what he
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: does to lead up to these past seasons. We wanted
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: to be the same. He came to camp yesterday. I
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: got a chance to meet him for the first time,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: and look, I've been a big fan of his. He
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: comes with some intensity, a lot of intensity, and are
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: really really good at bat So I think he's gonna
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: fit right into this program.
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: All right, Tory, last thing before we let you go.
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: I know we talked about this earlier. Pressure. I know
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: there's pressure on y' all because guess what, I have
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: the Fox Master schedule, and Arizona has games on it
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: this year, not only on the road where I saw
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: you last year, but also at Chase Field. Okay, So
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: that means that there are expectations, because if you're not
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: expected to be good, you don't make that schedule. So
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: congratulations to you guys. The one ballpark I have left
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: to do a game in is Arizona, So I'm hoping
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: this year I give my chance to come sit with you.
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: Maybe you can buy me dinner in your home ballpark.
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: You know, I'll take hot dogs whatever you guys have there,
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: and we can chat in your home office for once.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: Let's go. I would love that. That would be an
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: honor for me to sit down with you. Aj. Look,
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: you played this game a long time. There's some wisdom
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: in there and I will definitely love to tap into that.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: And look, be right, I think when you get on
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: different schedules, right, you get that ESPN Sunday night game,
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: then you got to fly to the other coast at midnight,
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: right like that? That means you, guys, we've arrived. So
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: that's the next step for the Arizona Diamondbacks is to
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: is to you know, we try to say a we're
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: from the way from the word expectation, like the standard
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: the new standard of being in Arizona Diamondback means you're
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: going to have to do things like this, and how
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: are we going to find a way to get out
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: of it. Win a baseball game today and get on
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: a plane tomorrow and do the exact same thing. It's
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: the same game. It's nine, you know, ninety feet down
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: the line, six feet six inches. Let's go out and
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: do our thing and let a roll.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: I picture Presentski walking and Fox is here, Sarius.
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: And by the way, I never asked me about what
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: I did. You never asked me what I did before
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: spring training.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: Nothing. I know you didn't do it. Yeah, exactly a
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: little bit of this. I never did that.
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: I never did that. People don't believe me. Yeah, but
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: I would never hit.
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: He's a natural to This was awesome.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: Dude.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: Will actually be in Arizona two, not me, but some
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: of our guys. Hopefully they'll see you there. And good
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: luck in spring training.
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: We'll talk soon.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: Thanks for the time and good to see it.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: Hi Ronnie, you too, See you boys have a go
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: one