Latest / Foul Territory / Ken Rosenthal’s Inside Scoop: Cubs new attack plan, Mets backing Mendoza, Cardinals surprising

Transcript

Ken Rosenthal’s Inside Scoop: Cubs new attack plan, Mets backing Mendoza, Cardinals surprising · Foul Territory

0:05
Speaker 1: Let's continue this right now with Ken Rosendald. Let's get
0:07
Speaker 1: his thoughts on at our FT senior insider, Ken, what
0:10
Speaker 1: do you think of the Mets finally actually like coming
0:13
Speaker 1: out publicly and saying, here's our decision for now, we
0:16
Speaker 1: are not going to fire our manager like the other
0:19
Speaker 1: two teams did this week.
0:21
Speaker 2: To me, it was obvious they were not going to
0:23
Speaker 2: fire their manager, but it seems like there was enough
0:26
Speaker 2: noise that they felt like they needed to make a statement,
0:29
Speaker 2: and David Stearns made that statement. Does it change anything
0:32
Speaker 2: consequentially for the near future, For the near future, yes,
0:37
Speaker 2: for the long term future or even the midterm future. No.
0:41
Speaker 2: And if they're still sputtering along on May twentieth and
0:45
Speaker 2: they're in this funk, then I can definitely see them
0:48
Speaker 2: still making a change. Now, maybe that doesn't happen, and
0:51
Speaker 2: maybe they continue with Carlos Mendoza as they should because
0:55
Speaker 2: this is not on him. But at the same time,
0:58
Speaker 2: nothing is guaranteed sport, and it's the dreaded vote of confidence, right.
1:03
Speaker 2: I actually believe it's sincere on Stearns's Party's never fired
1:06
Speaker 2: a manager instant in season, and I believe it's sincere
1:09
Speaker 2: on Steve Cohen's part. They know that this is beyond Mendoza.
1:13
Speaker 2: It's not as Eric was just saying, going down to
1:16
Speaker 2: who's pitching the seventh or who's pitching the eighth. If
1:18
Speaker 2: nobody's getting anybody out, doesn't matter. And you look at
1:21
Speaker 2: the lineup last night, and I wouldn't say it was
1:25
Speaker 2: a borderline spring training road lineup, but it's not a
1:29
Speaker 2: lineup that you would think is representative of a three
1:32
Speaker 2: hundred and forty million dollar payroll. You had MJ. Melendez,
1:36
Speaker 2: who was apparently the star of this team now signed
1:38
Speaker 2: a cheap deal in February. He's hitting third, vent Dos
1:42
Speaker 2: is hitting fourth. You've got Benjamin Torren's at the bottom. Obviously,
1:46
Speaker 2: they're not where they want to be, in part because
1:48
Speaker 2: of the injuries. It's Lindor, it's Polanco, it's Robert Junior. Now,
1:53
Speaker 2: no one should be surprised that some of the Mets
1:55
Speaker 2: players are getting hurt. They have injury histories, but at
1:58
Speaker 2: the same time, they've had one hit after another in
2:02
Speaker 2: that regard, and as well, the biggest issue is roster
2:06
Speaker 2: construction and what they did in the off season and how,
2:10
Speaker 2: at least to this point, it has not worked.
2:13
Speaker 3: Have you ever seen a situation where like a David Stearns,
2:17
Speaker 3: who I think his superpower is communication, and in this,
2:20
Speaker 3: in this moment he is he's presenting a unified front
2:26
Speaker 3: from the front office to the team even when times
2:29
Speaker 3: aren't going well. And I think that's what he really
2:30
Speaker 3: did well in Milwaukee. But have you seen this in
2:35
Speaker 3: the bigger markets where a GM is this I would
2:39
Speaker 3: say open and like positive because normally, you know, we
2:43
Speaker 3: hear off. Anything you say just gets spun in a negative,
2:47
Speaker 3: in a negative spin when you're in these bigger markets.
2:50
Speaker 3: So has there been an example of a GM like this,
2:52
Speaker 3: because I think this is what could help turn the
2:54
Speaker 3: mats around too.
2:57
Speaker 2: Certainly, you could argue that this will relax the clubhouse
3:01
Speaker 2: a little bit. I don't know that the manager's status
3:04
Speaker 2: is a big topic in any clubhouse. Frankly, Eric, no
3:08
Speaker 2: disrespect to you or Todd, but players are most worried
3:10
Speaker 2: about themselves, They're not most worried about the manager. Now,
3:14
Speaker 2: as for communication and loyalty and all that, this is
3:17
Speaker 2: a very different strategy than we saw the Red Sox
3:20
Speaker 2: and the Phillies take. And Frankly, the Red Sox and
3:23
Speaker 2: Phillies acted, in my view, maybe earlier than they should have.
3:27
Speaker 2: And I know the Phillies have won three straight under
3:29
Speaker 2: manningly okay, and the Red Sox have kind of sputtered,
3:32
Speaker 2: as they've sputtered before under Cora. But this is the
3:36
Speaker 2: kind of show of faith that we've seen from Brian
3:39
Speaker 2: Cashman toward Aaron Boone. Now, Yankee fans scream and yell
3:43
Speaker 2: all the time about that, and they want Boone out.
3:45
Speaker 2: But the bottom line is the Yankees have been a
3:47
Speaker 2: very successful team. They haven't won a World Series under Boom,
3:51
Speaker 2: but they've been one of the most successful teams since
3:53
Speaker 2: he took over as manager, and at times of crisis,
3:57
Speaker 2: and the Mets are in a crisis right now. I
3:59
Speaker 2: don't know that any would would argue that sometimes the
4:02
Speaker 2: best move is to stand behind your guy, take accountability
4:05
Speaker 2: for yourself. Haven't seen a lot of that out of
4:08
Speaker 2: Boston and Philadelphia's baseball operations, and then go forward and
4:12
Speaker 2: see if you can just figure it out. We'll see.
4:16
Speaker 4: I like that little dig there, little dig to the
4:18
Speaker 4: other not a.
4:19
Speaker 2: Dig tod But seriously, you guys, I mean, when you're
4:23
Speaker 2: in the clubhouse, are the players talked Oh my gosh,
4:25
Speaker 2: the manager. We're worried about the manager. We can't play
4:28
Speaker 2: to our best. No, that's not how players think in
4:31
Speaker 2: my at least experience with them.
4:33
Speaker 4: No, I got you, I got you Mets ten and
4:35
Speaker 4: twenty one. I feel like this is a monster month
4:38
Speaker 4: for them coming up here. This is to me. People
4:41
Speaker 4: talk about all the Todds too early. Don't worry, you
4:44
Speaker 4: got plenty of times. This month is a huge month
4:47
Speaker 4: month If the Mets don't find a way to get
4:50
Speaker 4: off and get going here a little bit. Say they're
4:52
Speaker 4: under five hundred this month. Now, what's the next talks?
4:56
Speaker 4: Is it manager again? Or do we just keep on
4:59
Speaker 4: rolling hoping for the.
5:01
Speaker 2: That's a great question, todd And certainly they're taking it
5:05
Speaker 2: one day at a time and they're hoping this month
5:06
Speaker 2: will go better than the last one did. But it's
5:09
Speaker 2: fair to ask, hey, what happens if on May thirtieth
5:13
Speaker 2: or May twentieth, whatever the date you might want to pick,
5:15
Speaker 2: is they're still in this rut, then you're asking questions
5:19
Speaker 2: not just about the manager, but about the makeup of
5:21
Speaker 2: the team and the deadline and will you trade Freddie
5:24
Speaker 2: per Alton, will you trade Clay Holmes. So they need
5:27
Speaker 2: to get it going. And it's an odd thing with
5:31
Speaker 2: them because they were patched together, both the coaching staff
5:35
Speaker 2: and the roster, and you never knew that it was
5:38
Speaker 2: going to come together right away. You never had that
5:40
Speaker 2: anticipation because there was no shared history with these players
5:44
Speaker 2: and these coaches. So there's talent there. Look at all
5:47
Speaker 2: the preseason projections. They'll show you from the numbers that
5:50
Speaker 2: the talent is there for this team to perform better.
5:53
Speaker 2: But as you guys know, and this is something that
5:56
Speaker 2: players do know and understand, there is value beyond projections
6:02
Speaker 2: in a clubhouse and unity and all of that. I'm
6:04
Speaker 2: not saying they're not unified. I'm just saying there's an
6:07
Speaker 2: unfamiliarity there and it was always going to take time
6:11
Speaker 2: for this team to gel even if things went well.
6:14
Speaker 2: And things haven't gone.
6:15
Speaker 1: Well, Todd Father, it's getting a little warm out, and
6:20
Speaker 1: that means let's hit some concerts, let's hit some baseball games.
6:23
Speaker 1: And where am I going to go to find those tickets?
6:26
Speaker 1: And if you want to sing the answer you can,
6:28
Speaker 1: we're going to.
6:28
Speaker 4: Seek hey listen. Ultimately, at the end of the day,
6:32
Speaker 4: it is getting warmer and people want to leave the house,
6:34
Speaker 4: and it's time to leave, go see a ball game.
6:36
Speaker 4: I guess where you can find the best tickets, best spots,
6:40
Speaker 4: best places to go. Seat geeks got at all Man.
6:42
Speaker 4: They got their red and their green signs, letting you
6:45
Speaker 4: know which good in bed, all that good kind of stuff.
6:48
Speaker 4: They make it really simple for you at the end
6:50
Speaker 4: of the day, for a guy like me who's running around,
6:52
Speaker 4: I just need five minutes bing bang boom, I got
6:54
Speaker 4: my seat.
6:55
Speaker 2: Yeah.
6:55
Speaker 1: Each ticket's rated on a scale of one to ten,
6:57
Speaker 1: so you know you're getting a good deal. And of
6:59
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7:02
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7:21
Speaker 1: so let's try and go to a team that is
7:23
Speaker 1: dealing with adversity but has figured out how to overcome that.
7:27
Speaker 1: And I think it's worth giving more props to the
7:29
Speaker 1: Chicago Cubs and their start Ken. I know the expectation
7:33
Speaker 1: should be it's a big market, and they haven't always
7:36
Speaker 1: spent as much as they probably should in the past,
7:39
Speaker 1: but they definitely invested in this team and then they
7:41
Speaker 1: lost a lot, including pitching. How are they overcoming that
7:44
Speaker 1: with an offense that is ranked towards the top of
7:47
Speaker 1: baseball right now? What did you find?
7:49
Speaker 2: There are a lot of things going on with the Cubs,
7:51
Speaker 2: a lot of them good, and they've got a manager
7:53
Speaker 2: who is very much respected in his clubhouse, even though
7:56
Speaker 2: sometimes he delivers harsh messages and I wouldn't even say
8:00
Speaker 2: harsh messages, honest messages. He is blunt and he will
8:04
Speaker 2: do what he thinks needs to be done for the
8:07
Speaker 2: team to win that day. That's Craig Council offensively. I
8:10
Speaker 2: wrote about this yesterday. It's really interesting to me that
8:14
Speaker 2: they're swinging at fewer pitches in the zone than any
8:17
Speaker 2: team in baseball, and yet they're up near the top
8:19
Speaker 2: in runs scored. And what we're seeing is a pretty
8:22
Speaker 2: veteran group understanding when they need to do damage and
8:27
Speaker 2: which pitches they can do damage on. And that's helped
8:30
Speaker 2: and for the pitching, that's been a real revelation and
8:33
Speaker 2: probably the biggest surprise given that they've been without Justin
8:36
Speaker 2: Steele of course, and they've had other injuries to their
8:39
Speaker 2: staff as well, Kate Horton of course being a huge blow.
8:43
Speaker 2: But they've kind of chugged along just fine, and councils
8:47
Speaker 2: matched up well in the bullpen. They're gonna get Palencia back.
8:50
Speaker 2: So it's been an impressive run by them in a
8:53
Speaker 2: division that we've talked about from the start of the
8:55
Speaker 2: season is much more competitive than most of us anticipated.
9:00
Speaker 3: All right, in your article, you're talking about Nico Horner,
9:03
Speaker 3: you know about the swing decisions that this offense is making.
9:07
Speaker 3: They're just not swinging as much and everybody doesn't want
9:09
Speaker 3: to necessarily run to Well, it's not direct effect of
9:13
Speaker 3: Alex Bregman, do you think, Well, I mean because the
9:16
Speaker 3: hitting coach dust Dustin Kelly. Is that the hitting coach? Yes,
9:20
Speaker 3: he said, he said, you know, Nico's Nico's not a
9:24
Speaker 3: direct reflection of Alex Bregman. So fans say, okay, well,
9:27
Speaker 3: what is it then? Could it be a contract extension?
9:31
Speaker 3: Was there any mention of the fact that when you
9:33
Speaker 3: have a contract extension there's a little bit level a
9:36
Speaker 3: little bit more of a level of security or patience,
9:40
Speaker 3: and you're willing to try new things instead of just
9:43
Speaker 3: go and get your numbers.
9:46
Speaker 2: No, and in this case, Eric, his revival if you
9:50
Speaker 2: want to call it that, or his breakout maybe a
9:53
Speaker 2: better word, started last season. And it goes back to
9:56
Speaker 2: what I was just saying about understanding yourself as a
9:59
Speaker 2: hitter and what you can do. And Council really put
10:01
Speaker 2: this well. He said, Nico Horner, because he makes such
10:04
Speaker 2: great contact, was kind of playing defense a lot, just
10:07
Speaker 2: looking to put the ball in play and see what
10:09
Speaker 2: happens instead of looking to do damage and looking to
10:13
Speaker 2: take advantage of specific counts. And that process has been
10:17
Speaker 2: years in the making. And actually he and the Cubs
10:21
Speaker 2: cite the last six weeks of last season, including the playoffs,
10:26
Speaker 2: which is when he really started to come around, and
10:29
Speaker 2: that part of it doesn't have anything to do with Bregman.
10:31
Speaker 2: Council made a point of that, No, this is not Bregman,
10:34
Speaker 2: but Bregman is a guy who does preach swing less,
10:38
Speaker 2: do damage where you can do damage in the zone.
10:40
Speaker 2: So it's not, in Nico Horner's case, a direct reflection.
10:44
Speaker 2: It might not be a direct reflection in any of
10:47
Speaker 2: their cases. But we know this from previous teams. Alex
10:51
Speaker 2: Beregman's played for. He does talk a lot about the
10:54
Speaker 2: game and he has specific ideas that are pretty healthy
10:59
Speaker 2: and maybe that's benefiting the Cubs here.
11:02
Speaker 3: All right, well, you're doing the Cardinals Dodgers series coming
11:06
Speaker 3: up here. The Otani workload. I know Otani doesn't talk
11:10
Speaker 3: a lot, but so we have to just assume things
11:14
Speaker 3: about Otani. Is there a case where you could ask
11:18
Speaker 3: Otani a question about his pitching? What would it be?
11:23
Speaker 2: Hmm, that's a great question, Eric. I would ask him,
11:29
Speaker 2: not just about his pitching, but I would want to know, Okay,
11:33
Speaker 2: how much of a toll do you feel hitting while
11:38
Speaker 2: you're pitching takes? And I don't know that he hasn't
11:40
Speaker 2: answer to that question, and I don't know that he
11:42
Speaker 2: wants to answer that question, but that kind of is
11:45
Speaker 2: the question right now. They've done this twice where they've
11:49
Speaker 2: rested him as a hitter on days he pitched, and listen,
11:53
Speaker 2: we all know that what he's doing is extraordinary and
11:56
Speaker 2: it does exact a toll on him physically to some extent,
12:01
Speaker 2: perhaps mentally, we don't know. Emotionally, we don't know he
12:05
Speaker 2: is unique in that way. But that is the question
12:08
Speaker 2: I would ask, how much of a toll do you
12:09
Speaker 2: think it takes when you're on the mound to your
12:12
Speaker 2: offensive game.
12:15
Speaker 4: That's a really good question because we were as youngsters,
12:19
Speaker 4: were born and raised on that you're gonna hit, yeah,
12:21
Speaker 4: you're gonna pitch too, And now as you get older,
12:24
Speaker 4: the body does take a toll. I wish I mean,
12:26
Speaker 4: it's phenomenal. I wish more people could do it. It's
12:29
Speaker 4: just it's a lost not even a lost art, it's
12:31
Speaker 4: just body control.
12:32
Speaker 3: For me, I want to.
12:34
Speaker 4: Go to the athletics. Can they sustain this? They're in
12:38
Speaker 4: first place right now. They find a way to win
12:41
Speaker 4: these games. Severarino on the mound the other day they
12:44
Speaker 4: get a five to two, six to two victory. Not
12:47
Speaker 4: many people are talking about this team. Can they sustain
12:49
Speaker 4: this kind of you know, just getting over the hump
12:52
Speaker 4: and being in first place and making the playoffs.
12:55
Speaker 2: If they pitch and they haven't really hit to the
12:58
Speaker 2: way we thought they would yet, even though Kurtz has
13:01
Speaker 2: this walk streak, they are going to be a dynamic
13:05
Speaker 2: offensive team, and in some reguards they already are Langliers
13:08
Speaker 2: has had this amazing start, and of course Kurts Is
13:11
Speaker 2: Kurtz and Carlos Cortez has been a breakout player for them.
13:15
Speaker 2: But it will come down to what they can do
13:18
Speaker 2: on the mound. And yes, Severarino's recent start was encouraging.
13:22
Speaker 2: Jeffrey Springs has been good all year for the most part.
13:25
Speaker 2: I believe he left last night's game with an injury
13:28
Speaker 2: of some type or at least some problem. So they're
13:30
Speaker 2: gonna need to stay healthy with their rotation. They're gonna
13:33
Speaker 2: need some of their younger arms to emerge as well
13:35
Speaker 2: in the rotation, and the bullpen without Mason Miller has
13:39
Speaker 2: been pretty good. So that's what it will come down
13:43
Speaker 2: to for them, And maybe if they're in it, they
13:45
Speaker 2: make some move moves to the deadline to fortify their
13:48
Speaker 2: pitching because I'm not sure they feel confident in what
13:52
Speaker 2: they have for the long haul.
13:55
Speaker 3: Because you have the memory of an elephant, and I
13:57
Speaker 3: have the nose of an elephant. I have to make
13:59
Speaker 3: sure that you do. You remember last year what they
14:02
Speaker 3: said about playoffs, because today they're in first place. If
14:06
Speaker 3: they make the playoffs, did they say they would or
14:09
Speaker 3: would not allow Sacramento to host playoff games because I
14:12
Speaker 3: know something with Steinbrenner Field too.
14:16
Speaker 2: All right, I do have the memory of an elephant
14:18
Speaker 2: on certain things, Eric, but I'm not remembering this one.
14:20
Speaker 2: And if I'm not mistaken, it was an answer that
14:26
Speaker 2: was not given because it was a hypothetical. And ultimately,
14:31
Speaker 2: if it does become a question and they go to
14:34
Speaker 2: the playoffs, then maybe MLB addresses it. But I'm not
14:38
Speaker 2: sure of the answer. I would have to ask that
14:40
Speaker 2: question again. And clearly, you could play in San Francisco
14:44
Speaker 2: in the Giants Ballpark, you could do that. At the
14:47
Speaker 2: same time, it's two years now, they've been there and
14:52
Speaker 2: that's their home at least right now, so you would
14:55
Speaker 2: be depriving them perhaps if you took them out of
14:58
Speaker 2: West Sacramento. Now, the issue with the playoffs is accommodating media,
15:04
Speaker 2: accommodating television and all of that. So I don't know
15:08
Speaker 2: the answer, to be perfectly honest, I.
15:12
Speaker 1: Thought it's like maybe division they'd be Okay, that might
15:16
Speaker 1: have been the raids last.
15:17
Speaker 2: Year, that it was something like that, yes, early.
15:22
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, we love on the spot. Okay, gotcha. When
15:26
Speaker 1: Eric puts on the spot with a pop quiz on
15:28
Speaker 1: a Friday. We'll finish with one that, yeah, of course,
15:30
Speaker 1: I like to just make fun of him. We'll finish
15:32
Speaker 1: with one that I think you'll know well because you're
15:34
Speaker 1: covering the Dodgers and the Cardinals this weekend. But I
15:35
Speaker 1: wanted to get to the Cardinals side. Just one note
15:38
Speaker 1: on what you think is going on with them that's
15:39
Speaker 1: working well. I mean, they have to be super pleased.
15:42
Speaker 1: I don't think they saw themselves in this spot, and
15:44
Speaker 1: the pitching might not hold up, but they've got some
15:46
Speaker 1: hitters that look like they're going to be a part
15:48
Speaker 1: of this for the long run.
15:50
Speaker 2: Weather Holt for sure. Jordan Walker slowed down a bit,
15:53
Speaker 2: but home run last night. He's had a great run here.
15:56
Speaker 2: And they have some pieces in place, no doubt. Mason,
15:59
Speaker 2: went Burlson, catcher Herrera. He has become a guy that
16:04
Speaker 2: you can look at as a long term fixture. The
16:07
Speaker 2: question is going to be their pitching, and they have
16:10
Speaker 2: the lowest strikeout rate in the league. I believe, lowest
16:14
Speaker 2: strikeout rate by both the starters and relievers, and that
16:17
Speaker 2: is their issue right now. They need to find more pitching. Now,
16:21
Speaker 2: what happens if they're in it do they quote unquote
16:25
Speaker 2: go for it or do they kind of stick to
16:27
Speaker 2: their plan? Probably a little both. But at the same time,
16:31
Speaker 2: this has been an encouraging start for them, and it's
16:33
Speaker 2: been really interesting too. I've noticed this over the years,
16:36
Speaker 2: and maybe Eric and Todd can speak to this. Sometimes,
16:40
Speaker 2: not always, but sometimes when you remove a big force
16:44
Speaker 2: from the clubhouse and you have a younger group, whether
16:48
Speaker 2: that guy who you removed is a good guy or
16:50
Speaker 2: not such a good guy. Even if he's a good guy,
16:52
Speaker 2: I should say, sometimes it lets the younger players blossom
16:56
Speaker 2: in a different way. And remember they traded at Contreras
17:01
Speaker 2: and Sonny Gray. No one would suggest any of those
17:03
Speaker 2: guys are bad guys, but sometimes their presence, their mere presence,
17:09
Speaker 2: is a little suffocating for the younger guys. And it
17:11
Speaker 2: seems to me the Cardinals are benefiting actually from those
17:15
Speaker 2: guys not being here anymore.
17:17
Speaker 3: I see it in plenty of different places. I coach
17:19
Speaker 3: high school baseball, and I see some juniors that step
17:22
Speaker 3: up as seniors after the seniors are gone as really
17:25
Speaker 3: good leaders. And it's the exact same way in a
17:28
Speaker 3: big league clubhouse. Like there's no way anybody, there's no
17:31
Speaker 3: way Jordan Walker, and I'm not saying this happened Jordan Walker,
17:33
Speaker 3: wins or JJ Wetherholt this year would have told Nolan
17:38
Speaker 3: Aernado or like done anything to like disrespect Nolan Aernado,
17:42
Speaker 3: and that sometimes can get in the way of them
17:46
Speaker 3: like blossoming to be who they are, and then it
17:49
Speaker 3: ultimately leads over to success on the field.
17:52
Speaker 2: And that's what we're seeing now. Wood hold up depends
17:54
Speaker 2: on they're pitching. And again, this is not a swing
17:58
Speaker 2: and misgroup. So it's hard to imagine this day and age,
18:00
Speaker 2: the way the game is played, that they're going to
18:02
Speaker 2: continue doing this. But all power to of them and
18:05
Speaker 2: all compliments to them because no one really expected this
18:09
Speaker 2: out of them.
18:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, it looks fun. It looks like they're playing with
18:11
Speaker 1: house money, but then also just trying to develop and
18:13
Speaker 1: see what they've got going. So we'll watch it this weekend. Ken,
18:16
Speaker 1: we'll see on the broadcast. Thank you and have a
18:18
Speaker 1: good weekend.
18:19
Speaker 2: Thanks you guys too.
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Speaker 1: A FT senior insider Ken Rosenthal with his Fair Territory
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Speaker 1: back on Monday. I just listened this morning to the
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Speaker 1: Thursday episodes, So if you want to catch that with
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Speaker 1: some girl and Ken questions, dude in Dork of the Week,
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Speaker 1: the whole deal. It is up and posted for you
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Speaker 1: on all platforms. This is a fun Friday segment. You
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Speaker 1: guys are going to enjoy this ready. So it's called
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Speaker 1: digging trenches, hanging drywall, and shooting coyotes. How MLB's most
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Speaker 1: anonymous team made ends meet. Spencer Nustbaum writes for The
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Speaker 1: Athletic covering the Nationals, and he is the host of
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Speaker 1: District Territory along with others, and he is fantastic. And
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Speaker 1: this article is loaded with players that needed second jobs
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Speaker 1: to make ends meet in order to get to the
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Speaker 1: big leagues. I'm not talking about what they did in
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Speaker 1: high school. I'm talking about them being adults and needing
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Speaker 1: an extra job to be able to make things meet.
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Speaker 1: I'm going to start with the name that you know
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Speaker 1: the most, and he has struggled this year, but it's
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Speaker 1: been a month. He's their highest paid players named Zach Ltel. Right,
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Speaker 1: you go back and ten years ago he's drafted. They
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Speaker 1: didn't have the minor league CBA where you get all
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Speaker 1: the fancy, better pay and free housing and all that.
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Speaker 1: So most of your income has to go towards your
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Speaker 1: living and just trying to get by and be a
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Speaker 1: big leaguer. So what did he do? First off, there's
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Speaker 1: a story about him embroidering clothing and he said he
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Speaker 1: would often get poked by the needles, so he'd be
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Speaker 1: getting hurt. There was a great line in there about
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Speaker 1: how he said his hands looked like a Jackson Pollock
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Speaker 1: painting sometimes because it was so easy to grab a needle.
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Speaker 1: And then he moved on to a job where a
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Speaker 1: local anesthesiologist had a farm and a coyote problem and
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Speaker 1: a little extra cash, and he would hire him and
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Speaker 1: Lattel would work overnights, drive over there with a rifle
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Speaker 1: and a thermal scope and he would police the coyotes
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Speaker 1: and do what he's got to do so that the
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Speaker 1: animals on the farm could survive most nights not having
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Speaker 1: to fire a shot. Sixty bucks a night for doing that,
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Speaker 1: and then he would do his off season training. So
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Speaker 1: these are some of the jobs. There's a million others
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Speaker 1: that are listed in here, and I'll mix them in
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Speaker 1: throughout the conversation, but I wanted to start with a name,
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Speaker 1: you know, and some odd jobs. But Kratz, you got
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Speaker 1: to lead the sow for us you probably saw some
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Speaker 1: things in the miners.
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Speaker 3: I mean saw some things. Yes, obviously guys do bartending,
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Speaker 3: they'd do. I had a teammate in the minor leagues
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Speaker 3: who we were playing in Double A, and he bought
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Speaker 3: a push mower in New Hampshire and was push mowing
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Speaker 3: three people's houses that were right down the street from
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Speaker 3: the apartment that we were living in. Like that was
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Speaker 3: how he was making a little extra cash to put
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Speaker 3: money in his pocket. But I can speak from my
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Speaker 3: from my standpoint, I signed for one thousand dollars and
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Speaker 3: to play minor league baseball. When you're getting anywhere from
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Speaker 3: eight hundred and fifty to I think my last year
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Speaker 3: minor league baseball, I made twenty three hundred dollars a
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Speaker 3: month and that's for five months and we started a family.
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Speaker 3: You need to have jobs, so the off season. I
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Speaker 3: never had a job during the season besides like making
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Speaker 3: sure I did all the appearances that they were paying
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Speaker 3: you for and a kind of like fifty dollars here
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Speaker 3: or there. But my off seasons I can run through them.
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Speaker 3: I went I went through every phase of construction in
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Speaker 3: the off season. I did shipping and receiving. I gave lessons.
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Speaker 3: I missed. I missed my son's first steps, our oldest
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Speaker 3: son's first steps, because I came home from work, worked out,
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Speaker 3: came back home to the house, which was a mile
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Speaker 3: away from the gym, My got my supper, went to lessons,
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Speaker 3: and when I was on my way to lessons, my
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Speaker 3: wife called me on our one cell phone between the
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Speaker 3: two of us, because we couldn't afford two cell phones.
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Speaker 3: She called me from the house house phone and said, hey,
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Speaker 3: Bradon just took his first steps. And I was like,
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Speaker 3: but I shot my I shot my hand ten days
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Speaker 3: before spring training started in two thousand and four with
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Speaker 3: a nail gun. He was two and four maybe two
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Speaker 3: thousand and five, with a nail gun. It glanced off
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Speaker 3: the board and hit my hit my hand, I mean
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Speaker 3: hammered it. Somehow it did not go in God's blessing.
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Speaker 3: I have no idea how it didn't. But yeah, tons
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Speaker 3: of odd jobs.
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Speaker 2: You do anything.
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Speaker 3: I took a fall in the big leagues for two
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Speaker 3: thousand dollars. You think I'm not doing a little odd
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Speaker 3: job here or there? One hundred percent?
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Speaker 4: Oh, you make me laugh. I love every second about that.
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Speaker 4: I when I was in the minor leagues. I was.
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Speaker 4: I signed up to be a substitute teacher. I did
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Speaker 4: that little substitute action that would it, didn't you know
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Speaker 4: for a little bit. Lessons lessons was a big one.
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Speaker 4: I love doing lessons, but you know, any odds ends here,
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Speaker 4: you know, helping you know, friends out moving stuff, but
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Speaker 4: you know nothing to the point of what you did. Man,
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Speaker 4: absolutely fantastic. That is That's incredible. So yeah, I mean
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Speaker 4: I've heard of a lot of different things, but that
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Speaker 4: that's a good one. Man, that was really good.
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Speaker 3: I mean, I think if you know Todd signed, you know,
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Speaker 3: you get a larger signing bonus. You don't have to
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Speaker 3: do that kind of stuff. You have to find things
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Speaker 3: that like take up your time so you're not just
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Speaker 3: playing video games and working out in the off season.
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Speaker 3: But you know the one that I just thought of
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Speaker 3: it when you talked about substitute teaching, I definitely never
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Speaker 3: substitute taught. That would have I couldn't. I could handle
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Speaker 3: kids for thirty minute during lessons, but not for a
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Speaker 3: whole day. So thank you teachers for everything you do.
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Speaker 3: But I had a degree from college from my school.
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Speaker 3: I graduated. I pay for my college four years. No college, scholarship,
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Speaker 3: anything like that. So I had a degree. So I
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Speaker 3: had a business degree, and one off season it was
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Speaker 3: freezing cold in Virginia and I was working for a mason. Well,
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Speaker 3: you can't work. You can't do masonry when it's cold
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Speaker 3: because the mortar in between the bricks or the stone
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Speaker 3: or the block whatever you're doing will freeze and then
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Speaker 3: it'll basically like bleach and it'll look different than the
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Speaker 3: rest of the house. So you have to make sure
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Speaker 3: you're not working in under freezing temperatures. So I went
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Speaker 3: to a temp agency. I went to a temp agency
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Speaker 3: and they started calling me for temp jobs. I never
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Speaker 3: actually took one, but the one was I was supposed
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Speaker 3: to be a flagman outside of a landfill, to be
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Speaker 3: a like wave trucks through, wave people through. In Virginia,
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Speaker 3: you can take your own stuff to the landfill and
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Speaker 3: you don't have to just have a dump truck to
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Speaker 3: take it or a trash truck to take it. And
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Speaker 3: when I went in to do the temp agency, you
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Speaker 3: do like the whole you fill everything out, all that stuff.
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Speaker 3: One of the girls from the college that I went through,
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Speaker 3: from the university that I went to, was working at
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Speaker 3: the Temp Agency, and was like, why are you here?
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Speaker 3: Don't you have it? Didn't you get a degree from
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Speaker 3: And it was like, no, I actually have my degree,
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Speaker 3: but I can't because I have all this and it
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Speaker 3: was like it was one of those moments where you're like,
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Speaker 3: what are you doing? Like maybe you shouldn't be playing
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Speaker 3: minor league baseball? You're not really even doing that. Good ended, Unfortunately.
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Speaker 1: It did, it worked out. These are the great stories.
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Speaker 1: Good stuff, krats, really good. These are the great stories though,
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Speaker 1: Todd Father. I'm telling you where you've got a team
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Speaker 1: like the Washington Nationals that can get a feature done
25:58
Speaker 1: like this, And there are so many examps. So I
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Speaker 1: gave you one with LTTL. I'll give you a few
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Speaker 1: more while we're chatting here. Brad Lord he was on
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Speaker 1: the show last year, I think right after he made
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Speaker 1: his debut eighteenth round pick. Because these signing bonuses, Todd Father,
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Speaker 1: I mean, the top ones in most of these stories
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Speaker 1: is like one hundred ish, one hundred and twenty five grand. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: you can't live off that for years and years as
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Speaker 1: a minor leaguer, okay, so and half of that's going
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Speaker 1: away right to Uncle Sam from the jump. So Brad Lord. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: Sam Weell knows what he's doing. Christmas trees. He was
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Speaker 1: hauling at home depot in the off season before he
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Speaker 1: made the opening day roster. The next winter he was
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Speaker 1: doing Oh then the next winter he's in the big leagues.
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Speaker 1: So then he goes. I went from that to doing
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Speaker 1: projects around the house, which was a little better for him.
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Speaker 1: And then the point of this article two eventually gets
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Speaker 1: to the fact that these guys are doing these jobs
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Speaker 1: and it's a lot for them, and once they're able
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Speaker 1: to get a little more cash, they actually become way
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Speaker 1: for this shocker, better baseball players because they're able to
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Speaker 1: focus more on what they're doing. And that's part of
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Speaker 1: what hap and here where the minor leaguers got taken
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Speaker 1: care of more in the last few years. Paxton Schultz,
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Speaker 1: on the NETS fourteenth rounder, had enough money eventually to
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Speaker 1: stop delivering packages in the Utah snow, and then he
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Speaker 1: was able to work with a movement specialist, so they
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Speaker 1: were able to go from I don't have enough money
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Speaker 1: to just be a minor league or too, I can
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Speaker 1: hire some private coaches to work with me and make
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Speaker 1: me better at what I'm doing. I'll give you one more.
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Speaker 1: Miles Michaelis did a little janitor work at a K
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Speaker 1: through eight private school and he said that it was actually,
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Speaker 1: you know, okay, except for the time that he said
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Speaker 1: he had to clean up a nice pile of throw
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Speaker 1: up in a science classroom and that was a quote
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Speaker 1: terrible ordeal. Miles has had a very nice career and
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Speaker 1: a lucrative one, but he said he's appreciative of every
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Speaker 1: dollar based on what he had to do there. Sorry,
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Speaker 1: one more, one more because I forgot about this one too.
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Speaker 1: I love you know how the Varland Bros. They're both
27:55
Speaker 1: in the bigs right Gus is on the Naps. Louie's
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Speaker 1: crushing it on the Blue Jays, and he was every
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Speaker 1: day in the playoffs and right now he's been one
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Speaker 1: of the best relievers in baseball to start the season.
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Speaker 1: So they would work for their dad. He had a
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Speaker 1: drywall company nine to five in the offseason. They would
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Speaker 1: do their workouts at five in the morning until about
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Speaker 1: eight thirty. Then they would do a full day nine
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Speaker 1: to five. Both of the violence. It doesn't sound that bad,
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Speaker 1: but the point is you're trying to compete against the
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Speaker 1: best dudes in the world, right and for them. They
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Speaker 1: are working a regular job that's not easy and doing
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Speaker 1: two three hours of workouts in the morning to try
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Speaker 1: and make it as a big league ballplayer.
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Speaker 4: Impressive, very impressive. I mean it's ultimately it's your life
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Speaker 4: and you want to live at how you want. But
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Speaker 4: at the same time, it's such short lived part of
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Speaker 4: your life. You know, say you even get the ten
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Speaker 4: years of major league baseball, you know that ten years
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Speaker 4: it goes like that, and very few do. So you
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Speaker 4: get five, Well, how are you going to be the
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Speaker 4: best you know, person that you could be, or athlete
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Speaker 4: in your profession that you can be. You gotta hump
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Speaker 4: ass for better lack of terms. You got to get
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Speaker 4: up at five. It's so hard. You know how hard
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Speaker 4: it is for most of the world to get up
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Speaker 4: at five o'clock. Got not me. I couldn't do that.
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Speaker 4: Like it's hard. You got to go to bed at
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Speaker 4: a certain hours. You got to try and eat the
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Speaker 4: right way, and you got to live your life. And
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Speaker 4: whether you've got a family, you got to make sure
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Speaker 4: they're in the right places. Like things happen and we
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Speaker 4: talk about all the times, Hey can you do this? Uh,
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Speaker 4: something just came up. I got to go to school
29:33
Speaker 4: with my kids and not feeling good. Like there's instances
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Speaker 4: where things come up and you just you know, when
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Speaker 4: you're done playing and you're you know, you've said, or
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Speaker 4: you've luckily able to say, I'm going to hang them up.
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Speaker 4: You're gonna look back and be like, man, what a
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Speaker 4: time I had and what I had to go through
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Speaker 4: to get there. You know, pat yourself on the back.
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Speaker 4: These things are really really remarkable.
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Speaker 1: Yeah they are, and I'll give you I'm loving these dude.
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Speaker 1: There's so many good sample. Spencer story is awesome. I
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Speaker 1: encourage everyone to check it out. And also the New
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Speaker 1: District Territory is a great, great show. PJ. Pohlan left
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Speaker 1: hander in with the Nats. Drafted by the Rockies eleventh
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Speaker 1: round eight years ago. Okay, ready for this list. Construction
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Speaker 1: worker and most of the time he wasn't doing the
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Speaker 1: heavy heavy lifting, but he was given some examples and
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Speaker 1: digging trenches in Cape Cod for the construction company. He
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Speaker 1: also did all of the following jobs between getting drafted
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Speaker 1: and then eventually making it to the big leagues. Again,
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Speaker 1: this is not like, oh, I'm in high school trying
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Speaker 1: to make an extra buck or two. He did Uber driver,
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Speaker 1: baseball coach, DoorDash driver baseball coach again, and Amazon employee,
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Speaker 1: all of those while he was a professional baseball player,
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Speaker 1: not in nineteen fifty, in like twenty sixteen. You know,
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Speaker 1: like we're not talking about that long ago. I mean
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Speaker 1: even later than that. Right, he was drafted eight years ago,
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Speaker 1: so I don't have the year down, but we're in
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Speaker 1: twenty twenty six so he drafted probably twenty eighteen. So
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Speaker 1: this guy's still probably doing this stuff like in off
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Speaker 1: seasons in twenty twenty two, twenty three, and then boom
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Speaker 1: he makes it big league salary on the minimum. You're good,
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Speaker 1: I agreed.
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Speaker 4: Pretty yeah, truly remarkable. I guess that that's pretty cool.
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Speaker 1: Pretty cool, Yeah, very cool. So great story by Spencer.
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Speaker 1: If there are any others that you've caught anywhere else,
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Speaker 1: and you catch this after the fact you're watching this video,
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Speaker 1: drop a comment for us. But I really like these stories.