Latest / Rosters to Rings Podcast / Best Interviews of 2025 Part 2

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Best Interviews of 2025 Part 2 · Rosters to Rings Podcast

0:04
Speaker 1: Welcome to Rosters to Rings On behalf of Ryan McDonough me,
0:09
Speaker 1: Dad Levine, producers Wyatt and Jason, and our entire family
0:13
Speaker 1: at Rosters Rings. We want to wish your family a
0:16
Speaker 1: wonderful holidays and a happy new Year. We've put together
0:19
Speaker 1: a wonderful best of show for you, including some of
0:22
Speaker 1: our most dynamic and incredible guests that we've had on
0:26
Speaker 1: throughout the course of the year. First Up, Elite culture
0:29
Speaker 1: Builder Scott's Service talks about breaking down barriers with players,
0:33
Speaker 1: building up culture, and a fun story about a mariachi band. Scott,
0:38
Speaker 1: just as a quick follow up to that, You know,
0:40
Speaker 1: I think you're known throughout the industry as being somebody
0:43
Speaker 1: who really genuinely cares a lot about culture. I think
0:45
Speaker 1: there are a lot of teams that just subscribe to
0:47
Speaker 1: the theory that kind of Ryan alluded to upfront of Hey,
0:50
Speaker 1: if we're winning, we're gonna have good culture. For losing,
0:52
Speaker 1: we're gonna have bad culture. And never been in a
0:54
Speaker 1: clubhouse where the team's doing well that they're not having fun,
0:57
Speaker 1: never been in a clubhouse where the team's doing poorly
0:59
Speaker 1: that they are having fun, And you've never really subscribed
1:01
Speaker 1: to that can you can you kind of share with
1:04
Speaker 1: the listeners, like a few of your favorite culture building
1:06
Speaker 1: exercises that you found successful when you're trying to build
1:10
Speaker 1: that culture in those standards.
1:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, I really value it, and it's something that is
1:15
Speaker 2: very intentional. And every year I would start in spring training.
1:18
Speaker 2: And I love spring training. Obviously it's it's new, it's fresh,
1:21
Speaker 2: everybody's worked a tailoff all off season. We're all going
1:24
Speaker 2: to have our career year. But in spring training, typically
1:27
Speaker 2: a major league spring training, you might have seventy players
1:29
Speaker 2: in camp. Well maybe thirty to thirty five of those
1:33
Speaker 2: players in that clubhouse are the first time they're in
1:34
Speaker 2: their clubhouse. Maybe you've acquired that player through free agency, trade,
1:38
Speaker 2: it's a younger player who's graduated from the minor leagues.
1:41
Speaker 2: Now he's in the big league clubhouse. And I just thought,
1:44
Speaker 2: you know, when you have seventy people in a room,
1:46
Speaker 2: how quickly can you break down the walls? How quickly
1:48
Speaker 2: can you get people vulnerable? So you start to buy
1:51
Speaker 2: into each other. And you know, I tried some things
1:53
Speaker 2: early on and it became a staple for me. I
1:56
Speaker 2: used to have a meeting every morning for about thirty
1:59
Speaker 2: minutes and in that course of that meeting, I would
2:01
Speaker 2: interview players, you know, and I'd start with the basic
2:05
Speaker 2: where you're from, did you play any other sports in
2:07
Speaker 2: high school? Tell us about your family, you know, those
2:10
Speaker 2: type of things, and get into the questions. And I
2:13
Speaker 2: always at some point within it, you know, like, you know,
2:16
Speaker 2: if you could pick any people, three other people in
2:18
Speaker 2: the world to play golf with, what's your foursome look like?
2:20
Speaker 2: And who's your favorite football team? You just find out
2:23
Speaker 2: about people. And through the course of that interview, of course,
2:26
Speaker 2: we're using the audio visual. These guys put everything on
2:28
Speaker 2: Instagram and social so you're having fun with it. You know,
2:31
Speaker 2: it's what they dressed up as at a Halloween party
2:34
Speaker 2: when they're in high school. We can pull all this
2:35
Speaker 2: stuff up off the internet. So we're having fun along
2:38
Speaker 2: the way. But ultimately, you know, I get into the questions,
2:41
Speaker 2: you know, who's your hero and that person is up
2:45
Speaker 2: in front of Like I go back to the first
2:47
Speaker 2: couple of years I did this, and it's the rookie
2:48
Speaker 2: who is he's live, literally he's shaking, you know, he's
2:52
Speaker 2: so nervous. Up there is he's talking, and it's Nelson
2:55
Speaker 2: Cruz and Robinson Cano and Felix Ornandez that are out
2:58
Speaker 2: there listening to him, you know, and you get into
3:00
Speaker 2: you know what's your hardship, and everybody in that room
3:03
Speaker 2: has had to overcome something to get into the room.
3:06
Speaker 2: It's a big deal to be in a major league
3:08
Speaker 2: camp for the first time.
3:09
Speaker 3: And then you.
3:09
Speaker 2: Know what's your highlight, you know what has stood out
3:12
Speaker 2: for you, and they might be they want to, you know,
3:14
Speaker 2: state championship in high school. It may be different things
3:17
Speaker 2: on a personal note, but it always led to other
3:21
Speaker 2: activities off the field. And I would make guys go
3:23
Speaker 2: out to dinner together and do different things. And then ultimately,
3:27
Speaker 2: you know, somebody on what's your hobby and somebody you
3:29
Speaker 2: know I you know, he played a musical instrument. That
3:31
Speaker 2: always led to us putting a band together, you know
3:34
Speaker 2: what I mean. In the spring training club, so I
3:36
Speaker 2: want it to be fun. I wanted to be you know,
3:38
Speaker 2: when the guys took the field every morning in spring
3:40
Speaker 2: training had a smile on their face. Bring back a
3:43
Speaker 2: crazy memory. Leonis Martin was a player we had in
3:47
Speaker 2: Texas and I brought him. He was in Seattle with us,
3:49
Speaker 2: and it was his birthday and Leonis is a big personality,
3:52
Speaker 2: is a fun guy, and we hired a mariachi band
3:55
Speaker 2: to follow him around the field the entire day with
3:58
Speaker 2: the big Sambreros, and they went on the field with him,
4:01
Speaker 2: they were in the batting cage with them. They spent
4:03
Speaker 2: about three hours and then a couple more players stepped
4:06
Speaker 2: up and they paid for the band.
4:07
Speaker 4: This day.
4:08
Speaker 2: They're the entire day and just falling around the field.
4:10
Speaker 2: So again, you're trying to do things to loosen up
4:12
Speaker 2: the group, to have fun, to have memory, because it
4:14
Speaker 2: is a long season and you're going to have to
4:16
Speaker 2: grind through and there's gonna be.
4:17
Speaker 3: Ups and downs.
4:18
Speaker 2: And I really thought it was important for our guys
4:20
Speaker 2: to walk on the field every day joking and laughing
4:23
Speaker 2: and having a smile on their face.
4:25
Speaker 1: You know, Scott, one of the themes that we've learned
4:28
Speaker 1: on this show is just these players are revered. You know,
4:31
Speaker 1: coaches are revered, even front office people are revered, but
4:34
Speaker 1: we want to make them relatable. And what you're talking
4:36
Speaker 1: about is the human side of things. You know, professional
4:39
Speaker 1: baseball players, professional basketball players, they are excellent at one thing,
4:43
Speaker 1: maybe excellent at more than one thing, but not at
4:45
Speaker 1: everything and what you just alluded to. You know, getting
4:48
Speaker 1: up in front of a group of people and talking
4:50
Speaker 1: is mortifying like that. Maybe I don't know who you're
4:52
Speaker 1: talking about there. Maybe that's cal Raley, maybe that's Julio Rodriguez.
4:55
Speaker 1: But the point is they shine in extremely pressure situations.
5:00
Speaker 1: King in front of a group can be very crippling.
5:02
Speaker 1: You're humanizing them and making them a little bit vulnerable.
5:06
Speaker 1: That makes them so much more endearing to their teammates
5:08
Speaker 1: rather than just being known for the stats they put
5:11
Speaker 1: up on the on the big board.
5:12
Speaker 4: Yeah.
5:13
Speaker 2: I don't want to wait till June or July, till
5:14
Speaker 2: somebody figures out that this person grew up outside Philadelphia
5:17
Speaker 2: and a huge Eagles fan, you know what I mean?
5:20
Speaker 2: Like those things need to be like I want to
5:21
Speaker 2: create that vulnerability and the connection as quick as they could.
5:25
Speaker 3: And I love doing it. I love doing it. I
5:27
Speaker 3: did it myself.
5:27
Speaker 2: I'd sit home every night it's been about an hour
5:29
Speaker 2: before the morning meeting the next day.
5:30
Speaker 3: Because you can't get up and fake it. You have
5:32
Speaker 3: to be authentic.
5:33
Speaker 2: You have to do a little bit of the research
5:34
Speaker 2: yourself and understand and then there'll be something that comes
5:36
Speaker 2: out so it was almost like, you know, you're you're
5:38
Speaker 2: hosting a little bit of a late night talk show
5:41
Speaker 2: or a comedy show. And we had a lot of
5:42
Speaker 2: fun with it, and the guys had fun with me.
5:44
Speaker 2: They would fire back at me, they would, you know,
5:46
Speaker 2: give me a hard time again. I want to be vulnerable.
5:49
Speaker 2: I'm not perfect. I may be sitting in the manager's chair,
5:52
Speaker 2: but I know I'm going to screw up at certain
5:54
Speaker 2: points of the season. It happens to all of us.
5:56
Speaker 2: But I really wanted to bring teams together and I
5:58
Speaker 2: thought it really helped us over time.
6:00
Speaker 5: One of the things that that said about you, Scott,
6:02
Speaker 5: that you've done that I found really interesting is establishing
6:05
Speaker 5: leadership councils on the teams comprise the players. That's been
6:09
Speaker 5: a debate, you know, with different managers and coaches I've
6:11
Speaker 5: been around in terms of is leadership appointed, you know,
6:15
Speaker 5: is it your best player? Is it guys, maybe not
6:18
Speaker 5: your best player, but the best natural leader that others
6:20
Speaker 5: gravitate to. One coach I had, you know, I was
6:23
Speaker 5: around the first preseason game. He wouldn't send anybody out
6:26
Speaker 5: to half court with the captain's meet in the NBA,
6:29
Speaker 5: and I asked him why he did that. He said, well,
6:30
Speaker 5: I want to see who wanted to be out there.
6:32
Speaker 5: You know, so not everybody wants to be out there.
6:34
Speaker 5: So when the officials meet and you know, they go
6:35
Speaker 5: over the game ball and shake hands and talk about
6:38
Speaker 5: the game that night, there's usually at least one, two
6:41
Speaker 5: or three guys one coach that I'm not going to
6:43
Speaker 5: send anybody out there. I just want to see who goes.
6:44
Speaker 5: So I think that that's so fascinating. And so when
6:47
Speaker 5: Dad mentioned the leadership council that you established, I want
6:50
Speaker 5: to see kind of how you did that and what
6:51
Speaker 5: went into your thought process as far as putting that together.
6:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, we did different things at different times. It kind
6:56
Speaker 3: of depends, you know, where your team is at. Like
6:59
Speaker 3: I said, when I first we had more.
7:00
Speaker 2: Of a veteran team, it was kind of a natural
7:02
Speaker 2: to see that those four or five guys were going
7:05
Speaker 2: to be part of that group. You know, as we
7:07
Speaker 2: transition our roster, you know, you want to create opportunities
7:11
Speaker 2: in a platform for younger players to grow. I think
7:14
Speaker 2: we talked throughout all a sport now is that the
7:17
Speaker 2: number of people in each professional sport that you can
7:19
Speaker 2: stand up and look around the league and say that
7:21
Speaker 2: guy is a leader, and everybody says, oh, we need
7:24
Speaker 2: more leaders in our clubhouse. But I don't think we
7:25
Speaker 2: do a good enough job of creating and teaching and
7:28
Speaker 2: coaching up leadership.
7:29
Speaker 3: And how do you do that?
7:30
Speaker 2: You gotta have conversations with players, but more important, you
7:32
Speaker 2: got to create a platform for that player to feel comfortable.
7:35
Speaker 2: And it may be in a hitters meeting, it may
7:37
Speaker 2: be in a pitcher's meeting, it may grow out of
7:39
Speaker 2: something else. There may be something that happens around the team,
7:41
Speaker 2: and I'm going to get the advice of you know,
7:44
Speaker 2: maybe three or four guys that initially did not start
7:47
Speaker 2: out as the leadership.
7:48
Speaker 3: But they grew into it.
7:49
Speaker 2: I think my time in Seattle, cal Rawley certainly I'm
7:52
Speaker 2: in a fantastic season, but he has those qualities. JP
7:55
Speaker 2: Crawford is a guy who has grown into those type
7:58
Speaker 2: of things because he's a guy that I want. I
8:00
Speaker 2: wanted to include in discussions and let them know what
8:03
Speaker 2: I was thinking about certain things, are different situations around
8:06
Speaker 2: the team, and get their their inside because the game
8:09
Speaker 2: is about the players.
8:11
Speaker 3: You know. Like I said, I played a long time
8:12
Speaker 3: and I often felt.
8:13
Speaker 2: That I enjoyed it most when I felt that the
8:16
Speaker 2: manager and the coaching staff really trusted the players. So
8:18
Speaker 2: you've got to show them that you trust them and
8:20
Speaker 2: you are going to listen to their opinion. And it
8:21
Speaker 2: may disagree with what I'm thinking or what they are
8:24
Speaker 2: with the coaching staff is thinking, but sometimes you roll
8:26
Speaker 2: with it because the players are going to They're going
8:28
Speaker 2: to make make or break yet and you really have
8:30
Speaker 2: to trust them. So you know, getting those guys involved
8:33
Speaker 2: in different decisions throughout the year, not in game decisions,
8:37
Speaker 2: but it's more things around the team that are happening.
8:39
Speaker 2: Maybe it's it's a certain practice schedule, or maybe we
8:41
Speaker 2: need to back off or maybe need to push.
8:43
Speaker 3: A little bit harder. I always wanted to include players
8:45
Speaker 3: in those decisions.
8:46
Speaker 1: Next up, we have sportswriter, journalist and football savon Bill Barnwell.
8:52
Speaker 1: He's going to talk to us about the evolution of
8:54
Speaker 1: data and analytics in the NFL over his twenty year career.
8:58
Speaker 5: Bill is someone who's studied analytics in the NFL for
9:00
Speaker 5: a couple decades. Now, what would you say is the
9:03
Speaker 5: state of the analytical movement today in twenty twenty five,
9:06
Speaker 5: A fad and I have talked about it before on
9:08
Speaker 5: the show. I don't think there's any question that baseball
9:11
Speaker 5: was the first mover. That's why you're doing this stuff.
9:13
Speaker 5: In the early two thousands in Baseball was way ahead.
9:15
Speaker 5: Obviously Moneyball popularized it. Then the NBA to some extent
9:19
Speaker 5: with what Darryl Moore in the Houston Rockets did, I
9:21
Speaker 5: think was probably in the middle. To me, the NFL
9:23
Speaker 5: seemingly is the last one, at least as far as
9:26
Speaker 5: widespread adoption of the strategy. How would you describe the
9:29
Speaker 5: state of analytics in the National Football League in twenty
9:32
Speaker 5: twenty five.
9:33
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's really come a long way. And to start,
9:37
Speaker 6: I mean, the data is so much more impressive and
9:39
Speaker 6: there's so much more to work with. The NFL's Next
9:41
Speaker 6: Gen Stats project, I mean, is giving out billions and
9:44
Speaker 6: billions of data points on player moving player data, and
9:47
Speaker 6: of course that gives you an opportunity to gain a
9:49
Speaker 6: significant advantage if you can find something that's really valuable
9:52
Speaker 6: and other teams are really not doing anything with that data,
9:54
Speaker 6: that's a big opportunity. And there are teams who I
9:56
Speaker 6: think really trust that information and trust that data the
10:01
Speaker 6: access to not just analytics but access to film has
10:04
Speaker 6: gone a long way. I mean, it wasn't that long ago.
10:07
Speaker 6: I feel very old saying this, but you know when
10:10
Speaker 6: I started, which would have been almost twenty years ago,
10:13
Speaker 6: now getting very old, you know, it wasn't like you
10:16
Speaker 6: could pull up the allD twenty two from a game.
10:19
Speaker 6: Even if you worked in the league. You would get
10:20
Speaker 6: tapes sent to you with ALL twenty two. You'd have
10:22
Speaker 6: to load it up, there'd be an intern who had
10:24
Speaker 6: to chop it up to individual plays, and then maybe
10:26
Speaker 6: you'd have a assistant internally that would you know, assign
10:29
Speaker 6: that to stuff. But now, I mean, I was watching
10:33
Speaker 6: the Bears Vikings game on Monday night, and twenty minutes
10:36
Speaker 6: after the game was over, I was watching the ALL
10:37
Speaker 6: twenty two. And that's something that is just an incredible
10:42
Speaker 6: amount of power and information when it comes to figuring
10:44
Speaker 6: stuff out, understanding what you're doing, and then if you
10:47
Speaker 6: are someone who's analytically inclined, then interpreting that and turning
10:50
Speaker 6: it into meaningful data is something that was totally impossible
10:54
Speaker 6: fifteen twenty years ago. There is more buying. Every team
10:59
Speaker 6: has analytics. Now, I will say this, it is not
11:03
Speaker 6: baseball in the sense that every team has analytics people.
11:07
Speaker 6: I would say that in baseball, and then you can
11:10
Speaker 6: correct me if I'm wrong, I would say above ninety
11:12
Speaker 6: percent of teams have a meaningful analytics department who actually
11:16
Speaker 6: have a meaningful say and impact into the decision making.
11:19
Speaker 7: On a day to day basis.
11:20
Speaker 6: That is not the case in football. Everyone has analytics
11:23
Speaker 6: people or an analytics department because they don't want to
11:25
Speaker 6: be left behind. Do they actually use that to make decisions?
11:29
Speaker 6: That is still I think a more of a a
11:34
Speaker 6: binary situation. I think there are teams who are incredibly
11:37
Speaker 6: analytically inclient and who make smart moves and some not
11:40
Speaker 6: smart moves, but who I think approach things with an
11:42
Speaker 6: analytic event, but they still might be very aggressive doing
11:46
Speaker 6: something that analytics would say is a bad idea. I'd
11:49
Speaker 6: go with the Jags, for example, where certainly they're open
11:51
Speaker 6: to analytics and I think they're smart people there in
11:54
Speaker 6: terms of James Pladstone and some of the people they've hired,
11:56
Speaker 6: but they went out and traded two first round picks
11:58
Speaker 6: this last year for Travis Hunt. Sure, a player who
12:00
Speaker 6: was not a quarterback, who was not an edge rusher,
12:03
Speaker 6: who does not play He plays wide receiver, and I
12:05
Speaker 6: guess we'll see how much quarterback he plays. But they
12:07
Speaker 6: saw him as a transcendent talent. Maybe he will be,
12:09
Speaker 6: maybe he won't be. I don't think it's the worst
12:11
Speaker 6: idea in the world, but that's something that I think
12:13
Speaker 6: maybe other organizations would say, hey, that's not an analytically
12:15
Speaker 6: inclined booth. There are teams who will spent money on
12:17
Speaker 6: running backs. The Eagles, the most probably analytically friendly organization
12:21
Speaker 6: in the league, spent money on sa Kwon Barkley, and
12:23
Speaker 6: obviously that worked out quite well for them. So I
12:26
Speaker 6: do think it is easier in football to make exceptions.
12:30
Speaker 6: I do feel like there are teams who might be
12:33
Speaker 6: very analytically inclined who say, well, we're going to trade
12:36
Speaker 6: up in the draft, even though that's not a good idea,
12:38
Speaker 6: because this is the exception, and maybe that's not always
12:40
Speaker 6: the exception, it's always easier for me on the outside
12:42
Speaker 6: to look at it and say, okay, well you should
12:44
Speaker 6: stick with your principles, as opposed to being in the building,
12:46
Speaker 6: you know, being the GM and saying, oh, well, we
12:48
Speaker 6: have a second round grade in this guy, and he's
12:49
Speaker 6: here in the fourth round. We need to get this guy.
12:52
Speaker 6: So it's always easier from the outside, but I do
12:54
Speaker 6: think it has come significantly. It is so much further
12:57
Speaker 6: than what it was twenty years ago. Uh, it's really
13:01
Speaker 6: fascinating to see.
13:11
Speaker 1: Next week asked Greg Maddox to take off his Hall
13:14
Speaker 1: of Fame glove and put on his scouting heat and
13:17
Speaker 1: break down some of his legendary teammates that he was
13:20
Speaker 1: blessed to play with throughout his career. I want to
13:22
Speaker 1: shift your attention for a second. I want to get
13:24
Speaker 1: a scouting reporter to give us a scouting report on
13:27
Speaker 1: John Smoltz, Tom Glavin, Kent Merker. You know Steve Avery,
13:33
Speaker 1: that you you got, you got to pitch with some
13:34
Speaker 1: excellent pictures, some of your contemporary some younger guys that
13:38
Speaker 1: I'm sure you helped mentor give the listeners a quick like,
13:41
Speaker 1: what was your your breakdown of a few of those guys.
13:44
Speaker 7: Well, you know Smultzy.
13:48
Speaker 8: Obviously, the best scouting report on Smoltzy is obviously Hall
13:52
Speaker 8: of Fame pitcher, great pitcher. Okay, I think people need
13:55
Speaker 8: to realize what an outstanding golf coordinator he was. I mean,
13:58
Speaker 8: he said he had golf set up for us and
14:03
Speaker 8: every city. I mean, anytime we wanted to play, he
14:06
Speaker 8: had the rental car, he had directions to the golf course.
14:10
Speaker 8: This was going on too before cell phones, so you know,
14:13
Speaker 8: you kind of needed he had the members name that
14:16
Speaker 8: we were playing with. But he was definitely a special teammate.
14:22
Speaker 8: He made baseball very enjoyable for the rest of that
14:26
Speaker 8: pitching staff, just through golf. And he was a great teammate.
14:31
Speaker 8: He was a good friend still is as a matter
14:33
Speaker 8: of fact. And you know, if you want to scout
14:36
Speaker 8: and report, commanded the fastball down the way as well
14:39
Speaker 8: as anybody had an outstanding slider that you couldn't see.
14:44
Speaker 8: One of the advantages we go back to hitting is
14:47
Speaker 8: spring training. You know, the first ten days, the hitters
14:49
Speaker 8: aren't there. It's just the pitchers, and we would throw.
14:54
Speaker 8: We would throw our five to ten minutes a live
14:57
Speaker 8: BP to the other pitchers. So I would go out
15:01
Speaker 8: there and throw for ten minutes, and then I'd grab
15:03
Speaker 8: a bat, and now I have to go hit off Smoltzy, okay,
15:07
Speaker 8: And I couldn't see a slider. If he threw a slider,
15:10
Speaker 8: I'd swung and missed it every time. I just couldn't
15:12
Speaker 8: see it. My eyes weren't good enough to see his
15:14
Speaker 8: slider and very special pitch Murker same way Murker had.
15:24
Speaker 8: Murker had a pretty good change up, good fastball he was.
15:28
Speaker 8: You had to get it going early against him. He
15:30
Speaker 8: threw hard, he was a little sneaky quick. His change
15:34
Speaker 8: up did start a little higher than his fastball. And
15:37
Speaker 8: you know that was one thing as a hitter, if
15:39
Speaker 8: you saw the ball up, it was probably a change up.
15:41
Speaker 8: But then you have to be good enough not to
15:44
Speaker 8: swing at it still. But you know, the good hitters
15:46
Speaker 8: can do that. The you know, the the pitchers that
15:48
Speaker 8: hit you know, one eighty for their life can't. And
15:53
Speaker 8: Avery was really good. You know how some guys can
15:59
Speaker 8: turn it up a notch. Some athletes, Oh it's a
16:02
Speaker 8: big game, I'll just turn it up a notch.
16:04
Speaker 7: Uh.
16:05
Speaker 8: Very few I saw, very few people were able to
16:09
Speaker 8: do that. Averyan Smoltzy could. When we got the postseason,
16:13
Speaker 8: they got better. Unfortunately, that was something I wish I
16:19
Speaker 8: could do it.
16:20
Speaker 7: I mean I wish I could have done it.
16:21
Speaker 3: I wasn't good enough to do it.
16:22
Speaker 8: They were, and uh, you know Glavin Glavin, he competed
16:29
Speaker 8: as well as anybody. Glavin pitched if Glavin had a lead,
16:33
Speaker 8: he was really good. Uh And it didn't matter if
16:36
Speaker 8: he was leading one to nothing or six to five.
16:38
Speaker 8: You know, you know I heard a couple of comments,
16:42
Speaker 8: Oh yeah, Glad got a lot of runs. And you know,
16:44
Speaker 8: you on that six to five, and you know I
16:47
Speaker 8: got beat three to two last night. You know, you
16:49
Speaker 8: kind of hear a little bit of that going on,
16:51
Speaker 8: you know, throughout the years, and and you know, if
16:53
Speaker 8: you sit there long enough and watch, you know, when
16:56
Speaker 8: Glad had a lead that that six seventh eighth inning,
17:01
Speaker 8: he got zeros in those innings and regardless of the score.
17:04
Speaker 8: And I thought that was what he was I thought
17:07
Speaker 8: that was what he was really good at, was.
17:10
Speaker 7: Pitching with the lead.
17:12
Speaker 1: Next up, we get some incredible insights from former Cowboys
17:15
Speaker 1: head coach and quarterback Jason Garrett as he shares an
17:18
Speaker 1: incredible story about Michael Irvin and what he looks for
17:21
Speaker 1: when he was scouting championship caliber quarterbacks.
17:25
Speaker 9: The question is why do we hit on guys and
17:28
Speaker 9: why don't we miss on guys at this most critical position?
17:31
Speaker 9: And again I go back to my dad. I can
17:33
Speaker 9: remember going to my first combine. I'm the quarterback coach
17:37
Speaker 9: in Miami, and he says to me, he says, you're
17:40
Speaker 9: going to go there and you're going to fall in
17:42
Speaker 9: love with one of these quarterbacks. The way he looks,
17:45
Speaker 9: the way the ball comes out of his hand, he
17:47
Speaker 9: can really throw it.
17:48
Speaker 4: But just remember that's only part of playing the position.
17:51
Speaker 4: There's a lot more to it.
17:53
Speaker 9: And so as we're doing this project, we put together
17:56
Speaker 9: ten criteria for evaluating a quarter back and I'll share
18:01
Speaker 9: them with you now. The first is passion for the game.
18:05
Speaker 9: You gotta love it. Two is metal and physical toughness.
18:08
Speaker 9: If you don't have that, you have no chance. Three
18:10
Speaker 9: is your football character, your temperament, your competitiveness, all of that.
18:16
Speaker 9: Four is leadership. It's a leadership position. You got to
18:18
Speaker 9: affect other people in a positive way. And then we
18:21
Speaker 9: start getting into those are all kind of non playing
18:25
Speaker 9: traits right in tangibles if you will. And what I
18:29
Speaker 9: always said was, Okay, I get they're intangibles. You can't
18:31
Speaker 9: see them, but we have to look for the evidence
18:33
Speaker 9: of them, and we have to be intentional about that
18:36
Speaker 9: at all positions, but particularly this position.
18:39
Speaker 4: Okay.
18:40
Speaker 9: Five is football instincts. They come in all shapes and sizes.
18:44
Speaker 9: But if they're not instinctive. They don't have a feel
18:47
Speaker 9: for the game. They don't feel it, and they don't
18:49
Speaker 9: see it. They're not going to be very good. I
18:51
Speaker 9: don't care what they look like in the workout. Six
18:53
Speaker 9: is football intelligence. Yeah, you have to be able to
18:56
Speaker 9: take information, process it, articulate it a most It's important
19:00
Speaker 9: once the ball snapped. You got to be able to
19:02
Speaker 9: process the game quickly and see overlay your play against
19:06
Speaker 9: their play and make quick decisions. And then we get
19:09
Speaker 9: into the other stuff. It is quarterback arm talent matters. Okay,
19:13
Speaker 9: that's seven accuracy. Okay, you got to be able to
19:16
Speaker 9: throw it where you want to throw it. That's a
19:18
Speaker 9: critical part of it. And then we talked about playmaking
19:20
Speaker 9: ability within the system and also outside the system with
19:25
Speaker 9: your arm and with your legs. And lastly we talk
19:29
Speaker 9: about the traits. What he looks like, how big his
19:32
Speaker 9: hands are, you know, how high he jumps. All of
19:36
Speaker 9: that stuff that is measurable. And so one of the
19:39
Speaker 9: conclusions that I've come to is when we miss we
19:43
Speaker 9: go backwards, we get enamored with the guy we see
19:46
Speaker 9: at the combine as he's walked out of the field, like,
19:48
Speaker 9: oh my god, you know, and I always go back
19:51
Speaker 9: to Troy Aikman. Troy Aikman is the guy that you
19:53
Speaker 9: could become enamored with. Right he walks out and you're like, ah,
19:57
Speaker 9: that's exactly what a quarterback should look like. And then
19:59
Speaker 9: he starts and that's how a quarterback should throw. But
20:02
Speaker 9: haven't played with that guy for eight years and know
20:05
Speaker 9: him really well. I get all that he has those traits,
20:08
Speaker 9: but he's a first ballot Hall of Famer because he
20:11
Speaker 9: loves it. He's as tough a person as I've ever
20:13
Speaker 9: met in my life. His leadership, his competitiveness, all of
20:17
Speaker 9: those things, that's what makes him who he is. So
20:21
Speaker 9: identifying those those things first, anybody can say, oh, six'
20:25
Speaker 9: four two twenty, two he ran four seven. One you,
20:30
Speaker 9: know the ball comes out of. It anybody can see.
20:32
Speaker 9: That the magic is seeing the other. Thing and something
20:36
Speaker 9: that we have to be realistic about is when you
20:38
Speaker 9: have all those, traits maybe that does help your competitiveness
20:42
Speaker 9: and your confidence and your leadership because.
20:44
Speaker 4: You have the physical.
20:45
Speaker 9: Ability we're honest about, that but we've all seen a
20:49
Speaker 9: lot of guys who look the part and can throw,
20:51
Speaker 9: it who cannot play and then when it gets hard
20:54
Speaker 9: and it's under, duress they really can't. Play so so
20:58
Speaker 9: trying to be intentionally identified those things at the top
21:01
Speaker 9: of the LIST i think is most.
21:03
Speaker 10: Critical we should post those bullet points in every draft
21:07
Speaker 10: room in THE nfl Because i'm the SAME i used
21:09
Speaker 10: to think the pro day for the quarterback is such a.
21:12
Speaker 10: MIRAGE i, mean they're out, there they're throwing routes versus.
21:15
Speaker 3: Air there's no.
21:17
Speaker 10: Defense it's all the same routes they would throw in
21:20
Speaker 10: pregame warm ups if you went to see the player play.
21:22
Speaker 10: LIVE i JUST i got nothing out of a quarterback pro,
21:25
Speaker 10: Day like we already know at that point of the draft.
21:27
Speaker 10: Process we already know the physical. Characteristics we have to
21:30
Speaker 10: talk about what you just talked about really one through,
21:33
Speaker 10: seven all those aspects that go into play in the
21:35
Speaker 10: position so much more than what the pro day looks.
21:38
Speaker 10: Like but every, year And i've been victim of it,
21:41
Speaker 10: too it and not only the quarterback position but some other.
21:43
Speaker 10: Positions is you, know you fall in love with the
21:45
Speaker 10: physical traits and just, say well we'll fix the, rest
21:49
Speaker 10: or we'll get the rest to, come or, hey we'll
21:51
Speaker 10: put them in our room and we'll get it more.
21:52
Speaker 10: Competitive it never. Happens it's the hardest. Position the coach
21:56
Speaker 10: is quarterb era the scouts.
21:57
Speaker 9: QUARTERBACK i think if you ask all the players back,
22:00
Speaker 9: THEN i think the consensus answer on the best teammate
22:04
Speaker 9: we all had would Be Michael. Irvin and you, Know
22:07
Speaker 9: Michael irvin is a little bit of a lightning rod
22:09
Speaker 9: figure for people because he had some issues off the
22:11
Speaker 9: field and he's a little flamboyant and all of. That
22:14
Speaker 9: but you, KNOW i have countless stories about. Him you,
22:18
Speaker 9: know you talk about a vision for the team and
22:21
Speaker 9: having your players. Represented he represented that team and his,
22:25
Speaker 9: competitiveness his work, ethic all of those. Things if you're
22:28
Speaker 9: a young player and you see this. GUY i don't
22:31
Speaker 9: know if we have time for. It but one of
22:33
Speaker 9: my favorite stories That i've shared with a lot of people.
22:35
Speaker 4: Through the, years AND i still think about.
22:37
Speaker 9: To this, day was we used to do these things called,
22:40
Speaker 9: Metabolics and a metabolic was was ten routes for a,
22:44
Speaker 9: receiver simulating, plays and you would essentially do the route.
22:49
Speaker 9: Tree and the idea was you'd run the, route you
22:51
Speaker 9: catch the, ball you turn up the, field you'd burst
22:53
Speaker 9: for ten yards and then you jog back and you go,
22:56
Speaker 9: again and so you, know you would build up when
22:59
Speaker 9: you part of the off, season you do two sets
23:01
Speaker 9: them at a, bollock so you're running twenty routes right
23:04
Speaker 9: the next week it's three. Whatever so we we go
23:07
Speaker 9: through the off, season everyone has that, whatever that three week,
23:10
Speaker 9: break and then we're coming back for training. Camp and
23:15
Speaker 9: So i'm one of the backup. Quarterbacks i've thrown more
23:18
Speaker 9: balls To Michael irvin than Than Troy aikman, has, right
23:21
Speaker 9: Because troy would throw the real ones And i'd be
23:23
Speaker 9: in the background throwing the one when he'd, say, Hey,
23:25
Speaker 9: red let's go, throw And i'd go, back you, Know
23:26
Speaker 9: i'd go throw To Michael. Irvin, so, uh we're all
23:30
Speaker 9: away out of town leading up to training. Camp we're
23:33
Speaker 9: coming back a few days before and it was the
23:35
Speaker 9: days of voicemail and, uh you, know answer, machines and
23:40
Speaker 9: so we get back to our. House it was A sunday.
23:43
Speaker 9: Night i'll never forget. IT i think we're going to
23:45
Speaker 9: camp On, wednesday AND i have a message from From
23:49
Speaker 9: michael and it, says, hey, Hey, Red hey hope you
23:53
Speaker 9: guys had a great time. Off when you get back in,
23:55
Speaker 9: town give me a. Call so this is say three
23:58
Speaker 9: o'clock On sunday and then three fifth. Team Hey, RED
24:00
Speaker 9: i hope you had a, good good. Vacation how are
24:04
Speaker 9: when you get? Back now it's three point. Thirty another,
24:07
Speaker 9: message another. Message the last message, is Hey, red when
24:09
Speaker 9: you get back in, town get your ass up to
24:11
Speaker 9: value your.
24:11
Speaker 4: As we're throwing, tonight. Right, so SO i get.
24:15
Speaker 9: Back it's probably seven o'clock at night On, sunday and
24:19
Speaker 9: we're going to camp two days, later and he's, LIKE
24:22
Speaker 9: i need to get a throw. IN i need to
24:24
Speaker 9: run some. ROUTES i need you, tonight and So, texas
24:28
Speaker 9: let's call It july.
24:30
Speaker 4: Eighth it's it's one hundred and five degrees at seven
24:33
Speaker 4: o'clock at. Night you guys know. This and SO i
24:36
Speaker 4: get up the.
24:37
Speaker 9: Valley there's no there's one car in the parking lot
24:39
Speaker 9: WHEN i get, there called seven o'clock at, night AND
24:42
Speaker 9: i pull in And. Michael michael's not in, there and
24:46
Speaker 9: SO i get my cleats, ON i put my grays,
24:48
Speaker 9: ON i get a couple of footballs or a bag of, footballs.
24:51
Speaker 4: And here we.
24:52
Speaker 9: Go AND i go out there and he's out on the.
24:54
Speaker 9: Field i'll never forget it for the rest of my.
24:56
Speaker 9: Life only guy in the. Field and he has his
25:00
Speaker 9: the old SPEED tv, shoes those Receiver nikon.
25:02
Speaker 10: Shoes, yeah he's got, Campos.
25:05
Speaker 4: Yeah tempo exactly. Right he's got him.
25:08
Speaker 9: On he's got his high whits on Like Michael cooper
25:10
Speaker 9: used to. Wear, right he's got. This he's got. This
25:15
Speaker 9: it's almost like a like a wet suit like girdle
25:18
Speaker 9: on as. Shorts he's got his gray shorts stopping wet
25:22
Speaker 9: on top of. Those he's got a weighted vest on. Underneath,
25:26
Speaker 9: oh he's got Weight he's got weights in the thighs
25:29
Speaker 9: of the. Girdle he's got his weighted vest. On he's
25:31
Speaker 9: got his shoulder pads, on his practice jersey and his.
25:34
Speaker 9: Helmet and he used to wear, this This Walter payton
25:38
Speaker 9: mouthpiece if you remember, that it would hang off his
25:40
Speaker 9: and so he's got his mouthpiece and he's, like let's.
25:43
Speaker 9: Go and so he's, like you'll give you a five.
25:45
Speaker 9: Throws SO i get loosened up real, quick and he
25:47
Speaker 9: just lines up on the. Left and so we had
25:50
Speaker 9: done this a million times, together so it didn't take
25:53
Speaker 9: a lot of. Words, Right so we go slant and
25:55
Speaker 9: then we go. Hit so we go quick, out then
25:57
Speaker 9: we go twelve year od hold fang, eight you. Know
25:59
Speaker 9: so we roll the route tree and every time he
26:01
Speaker 9: catch burst up, field jogged, back boom boom, boom without
26:04
Speaker 9: saying a. Word do ten of. Them we're done with.
26:07
Speaker 9: Ten you get like a ninety second. Break he throws
26:09
Speaker 9: down a. Gatorade go to the other. Side ten more over, There,
26:12
Speaker 9: okay same. Thing, boom, third, one, fourth, one, fifth. One
26:17
Speaker 9: we do five sets of, metabolics and he's catching bursting every.
26:20
Speaker 9: Time the last one we do kind of in the red.
26:23
Speaker 9: Zone he's scoring touchdowns on. Everyone boom, boom, boom boom.
26:27
Speaker 9: Boom and the last one he spikes it Like Michael
26:31
Speaker 9: irvin spikes, it and we're. Done And i'm about forty
26:34
Speaker 9: yards away from, him And i'm just thinking to, myself
26:37
Speaker 9: are you kidding? Me and this is what it. Takes
26:40
Speaker 9: this is what it. Takes this is what greatness. Is right,
26:43
Speaker 9: here you, know It's sunday. Night it's freaking eight o'clock
26:46
Speaker 9: at night At Valley. Ranch there's no one. Around we're
26:48
Speaker 9: not At Texas, stadium, right this is a playoff, game
26:52
Speaker 9: sixty thousand people hollering his, name, right this is just
26:56
Speaker 9: greatness right in front of.
26:57
Speaker 1: Us next, Up Minnesota twins Manager Derek shelton walks the
27:02
Speaker 1: listeners through a day in the life of a major league.
27:05
Speaker 1: Manager take the listener into a day in the, life
27:08
Speaker 1: like when did you show up as a, manager what
27:11
Speaker 1: were the types of conversations you aspired to have during
27:13
Speaker 1: the course of the, day and ultimately how of that
27:15
Speaker 1: day typically?
27:16
Speaker 11: Unfold well when during the time In, Pittsburgh BECAUSE i
27:19
Speaker 11: actually still live In Saint pete AND i have a
27:22
Speaker 11: fifteen year old that's. Home my wife wasn't there except
27:25
Speaker 11: for in the, SUMMER i spent a lot of time
27:27
Speaker 11: at the, ballpark AND i found myself after years one and. Two,
27:31
Speaker 11: NOW i started DURING, covid so there were very strict
27:33
Speaker 11: guidelines on when you could be at the ballpark and
27:36
Speaker 11: when you could not be in the. Ballpark but probably
27:38
Speaker 11: after year, TWO i would get to the ballpark between
27:41
Speaker 11: ten and eleven every morning and sit and basically have
27:45
Speaker 11: a cup of. Coffee it was one of the few
27:47
Speaker 11: times during the day that my door was actually, closed
27:51
Speaker 11: BECAUSE i wanted to have that cliched open door policy
27:55
Speaker 11: where people could come in and, out but if you
27:57
Speaker 11: close it at that point during the, day you could
27:59
Speaker 11: get a ton of work, done whether it's making personal
28:03
Speaker 11: calls or catching up with, people or just getting prepared
28:06
Speaker 11: for an upcoming, series or are knocking things off the
28:10
Speaker 11: to do. List because WHAT i, thought my view of
28:13
Speaker 11: it is at twelve or twelve, thirty when the staff
28:15
Speaker 11: started to come, in you wanted to be able to
28:17
Speaker 11: have your door back. Open you wanted to be able
28:20
Speaker 11: to have. Conversations there may be people that come in
28:22
Speaker 11: early specifically to have conversations with you about topics the previous,
28:28
Speaker 11: game what we're going to do moving. Forward SO i
28:31
Speaker 11: would go from ten thirty to noon and keep my door,
28:35
Speaker 11: closed and then at NOON i would open it up
28:38
Speaker 11: and the conversations would. Start usually there were conversations amongst
28:42
Speaker 11: the coaches that would come in early to work out
28:45
Speaker 11: or the performance group based on health of the upcoming
28:49
Speaker 11: day or the upcoming series and how we were going
28:51
Speaker 11: to plan it. Out by two, o'clock you had players
28:54
Speaker 11: in the. Building AND i, think especially now because the one,
28:57
Speaker 11: transition Like ryan has talked, about the food is so
29:00
Speaker 11: good in major league clubhouses that players will come in
29:03
Speaker 11: to eat and play. In major league clubhouses are so
29:05
Speaker 11: nice now guys are coming, in whether it's for the
29:08
Speaker 11: sanctuary to, eat to get away from their family and
29:12
Speaker 11: kids at, times for just. RELAXING i, mean there's relaxation,
29:17
Speaker 11: rooms there's sleep. ROOMS i mean that you AND i
29:19
Speaker 11: were With Nelson, cruz who slept more than any human
29:21
Speaker 11: Being i've ever been. Around so by two by two,
29:24
Speaker 11: o'clock it's, that and then you start your media, obligations
29:27
Speaker 11: whether it's you, know a national, show AN xim show
29:30
Speaker 11: that happens once a, week or you're meeting with the beat,
29:33
Speaker 11: writers or you're meeting with you, know or're doing a radio.
29:37
Speaker 11: Show there's so many media, obligations especially on the baseball.
29:40
Speaker 11: Side and then once you get into three point fifteen and,
29:42
Speaker 11: beyond you're getting into a situation where there's early work going.
29:47
Speaker 11: On there's work in the. Cages one of the things
29:50
Speaker 11: THAT i kind of learned from my days coaching and
29:53
Speaker 11: other MANAGERS i work, for IS i try to stay
29:55
Speaker 11: out of coaches. Areas you, KNOW i think it's a
29:58
Speaker 11: time where they should be able to. Coach they should
30:01
Speaker 11: be able to. Teach players do not want the manager
30:03
Speaker 11: standing there while they're doing. It there's a whole different
30:05
Speaker 11: vibe when the manager steps in the room because he's
30:08
Speaker 11: the person that's making the ultimate. Decision but if we
30:10
Speaker 11: were out on the, FIELD i wanted to be out
30:12
Speaker 11: on the field for two. Reasons Number, one you get
30:14
Speaker 11: out of a you, know an office that's, internal so you're,
30:17
Speaker 11: outside you're getting that fresh. Air and then number, two
30:21
Speaker 11: there's other people, around whether you're talking to your bullpen,
30:24
Speaker 11: catchers you're talking to your, coaches you're talking to analysts
30:26
Speaker 11: that are on the. Field but it gives you time
30:28
Speaker 11: to be able to have those. Conversations and then you
30:30
Speaker 11: get INTO, vp you get into a pregame situation where
30:34
Speaker 11: you're doing your script of how you're going to pitch that,
30:36
Speaker 11: night and there's usually that's the TIME i would spend
30:39
Speaker 11: thirty thirty to forty minutes with Ben cherrington OUR gm
30:42
Speaker 11: and kind of work through. There and then actually the
30:45
Speaker 11: best part of the, day And i'm sorry this is
30:46
Speaker 11: the long winded, answered is six forty when the game.
30:48
Speaker 11: Starts that's when everybody else goes away and you get
30:51
Speaker 11: to do the fun. Thing that's the sanctuary of you,
30:54
Speaker 11: know the thirty to or the three to three and
30:58
Speaker 11: a half hours of, hey we're just doing the. Game
31:00
Speaker 11: now you do have fans that could be, critical and
31:02
Speaker 11: they could think that we could yell at and you're
31:05
Speaker 11: dealing with a lot of other, factors but the six
31:07
Speaker 11: forty to the end of the game was usually the
31:08
Speaker 11: best part of the.
31:09
Speaker 1: Day next, Up Major League baseball insider Extraordinaire john Palm
31:23
Speaker 1: rossi shares insights as to how he's learned foreign languages
31:27
Speaker 1: to build relationships and connections with professional players across all.
31:31
Speaker 1: Sports an interview you conducted With Victor mendez in the
31:35
Speaker 1: clubhouse and how that has inspired you to learn More
31:38
Speaker 1: spanish and how you've now forged connections with players than
31:41
Speaker 1: maybe you otherwise wouldn't have been able.
31:43
Speaker 12: To you've done your research that that's pretty, impressive my,
31:46
Speaker 12: friend well. Done SO i was an intern that summer
31:49
Speaker 12: with The Grand Rapids press covering The West michigan White,
31:52
Speaker 12: caps then managed By Phil. Reagan so he was of
31:55
Speaker 12: course the manager of The orioles When Cal ripken broke the.
31:57
Speaker 12: Streak so it's a nice little bit of a fault
32:00
Speaker 12: trivia From, Whalen. Michigan Phil, reagan great, guy amazing pitching coach.
32:04
Speaker 12: Too so was covering The West Michigan White caps AND
32:07
Speaker 12: i was in the clubhouse. There so at that, point
32:09
Speaker 12: it's before my senior year At, harvard and so at
32:14
Speaker 12: that POINT i had taken one year Of spanish At.
32:16
Speaker 12: Harvard i'd taken it through high. SCHOOL i had had
32:20
Speaker 12: some exposure To spanish as a kid in. PRESCHOOL i
32:23
Speaker 12: had a teacher who Spoke, spanish Missus roz In Bay, city,
32:26
Speaker 12: amazing so she taught me a little bit Of spanish
32:29
Speaker 12: WHEN i was in pre, school AND i gradually probably
32:34
Speaker 12: had a faculty for language as a kid growing, Up
32:39
Speaker 12: BUT i didn't Speak italian at home as a. KID
32:42
Speaker 12: i just had an interest in language and loved. It
32:45
Speaker 12: and THEN i realized that just with my at that,
32:48
Speaker 12: point very Limited spanish in my ability to communicate With,
32:51
Speaker 12: victor because there was no translator around this long before
32:54
Speaker 12: translators became somewhat mandatory in. CLUBHOUSES i felt this crowd
32:59
Speaker 12: of people gathering around me and and all, like maybe
33:04
Speaker 12: not all the, players but it felt like that a
33:06
Speaker 12: good portion of the roster in this minor league clubhouse
33:10
Speaker 12: was listening into this. Conversation because this phenomenon of an
33:14
Speaker 12: anglophone reporter trying his best to interview A spanish speaking
33:18
Speaker 12: player In spanish didn't happen all that often In Comstock,
33:22
Speaker 12: Park michigan in two thousand and, three AND i realized
33:26
Speaker 12: through that, conversation AS i was struggling and it certainly
33:29
Speaker 12: wasn't Good, spanish or certainly wasn't Perfect, spanish that there
33:33
Speaker 12: was real potential in doing this and that And ryan
33:37
Speaker 12: What i've long, believed and this is even true now
33:41
Speaker 12: AS i try to Do spanish interviews as often AS i,
33:44
Speaker 12: can and and invariably make mistakes every TIME i do
33:48
Speaker 12: it is Is.
33:49
Speaker 3: The goal is not.
33:50
Speaker 12: Perfection the goal is authenticity and connection and building a
33:57
Speaker 12: bond with the. Player, now my biggest fear is all
34:00
Speaker 12: ways THAT i, will As i'm doing the, interview perhaps
34:04
Speaker 12: misinterpret a word or miss a word here or there
34:07
Speaker 12: that the player is. Saying it's always WHAT i try
34:10
Speaker 12: to make sure That i'm doing a good and throw
34:14
Speaker 12: job of listening as intently as, possible so that WAY
34:16
Speaker 12: i don't misinterpret something That i'm then saying on behalf
34:20
Speaker 12: of the. Players AS i have said many, TIMES i
34:23
Speaker 12: am perfectly capable of making my own. MISTAKES i do
34:25
Speaker 12: it all the. TIME i saying something silly in my own,
34:28
Speaker 12: WORDS i do that In, english So i'm not that
34:32
Speaker 12: has not foreign to, me BUT i always want to
34:34
Speaker 12: make Sure i'm doing right by the. Player but What
34:37
Speaker 12: i'll say is THAT i have been around all star
34:41
Speaker 12: players From Latin america who have come up to me and, said, Hey,
34:45
Speaker 12: john we really appreciate that you.
34:47
Speaker 1: Try in our next, Segment Matt clintech talks about building
34:50
Speaker 1: championship organizations both In philadelphia and In.
34:54
Speaker 3: Milwaukee can you talk.
34:56
Speaker 1: To the fans a little bit about you had built
34:59
Speaker 1: the backbone of that team that went to the twenty
35:01
Speaker 1: twenty Two World series four players in, particular can you
35:04
Speaker 1: share a story or two about how you acquired these.
35:07
Speaker 1: Guys i'm thinking Of Zach wheeler And bryce And, stott of,
35:10
Speaker 1: Course Bryce harper And Real. Mudo you kind of did
35:13
Speaker 1: all of these things in different, ways but those guys
35:15
Speaker 1: are still the backbone of that, franchise and those were
35:17
Speaker 1: guys that you came on board during your watch and
35:20
Speaker 1: it just Carries can you share a few stories about those?
35:22
Speaker 7: Guys, yeah happy to do. It you KNOW i talked
35:25
Speaker 7: earlier about kind of the different phases of My phillies. Tenure,
35:28
Speaker 7: well all all of those were acquired sort of in
35:32
Speaker 7: the later, phase as we were pushing more resources into
35:36
Speaker 7: to the present team as opposed to the future. Teams
35:39
Speaker 7: SO i Think i'm trying to. Sequentially SO jt was
35:45
Speaker 7: acquired in a trade With miami in the winter heading
35:49
Speaker 7: into the nineteen. Season that was for The philly fans out,
35:53
Speaker 7: there that was what became known as the Stupid money,
35:56
Speaker 7: offseason if you, recall which is not exactly What John middleton,
35:59
Speaker 7: said but that's what that's how it was. Labeled but
36:02
Speaker 7: really it was an aggressive off season where we were
36:05
Speaker 7: attempting to turn the page from sort of from the
36:07
Speaker 7: rebuild to a to a competitive. Team and in that
36:10
Speaker 7: off season we brought in we made a trade that
36:12
Speaker 7: brought In Jeans, Sigura we brought we made a free
36:15
Speaker 7: agent signing Of David, robertson a free agent signing Of andrew.
36:18
Speaker 7: McCutcheon those things were done in THE i think you,
36:21
Speaker 7: know earlier part of the off. Season and then as
36:23
Speaker 7: we were approaching spring, training we were able to LAND
36:27
Speaker 7: jt in a trade with The, barlins and then a
36:30
Speaker 7: few weeks later were was able to we were able
36:32
Speaker 7: to Sign Bryce. Harper THE jt trade was it took a.
36:36
Speaker 7: Long it took a long. Time we've been asking ABOUT
36:39
Speaker 7: jt and trade for several. Years Michael hill was THE
36:41
Speaker 7: gm In, florida WHO i, know you know very well with,
36:44
Speaker 7: that and so they knew of our interest there for
36:46
Speaker 7: a long. Time and it wasn't until Late january Early
36:49
Speaker 7: february that WHEN i was WHEN i basically, allowed you,
36:53
Speaker 7: know put Six Dos sanchez on the. Table that that
36:56
Speaker 7: was what really got their attention and allowed the thing
36:59
Speaker 7: to move. Forward and we were able to do that.
37:02
Speaker 7: AGAIN i think it was probably the first week Of
37:04
Speaker 7: february or, so which is fairly late in the off,
37:06
Speaker 7: season as you, know.
37:07
Speaker 1: And just so people, Know Sixto sanchez was probably one
37:09
Speaker 1: of the preeminent pitching prospects in the game at the.
37:13
Speaker 7: Time, yeah, YEAH i don't remember exactly where he, ranked
37:16
Speaker 7: but he was the. Headliner and then we ended up
37:19
Speaker 7: rounding out the trade With Rail, farrow a former arranger
37:22
Speaker 7: From thad's time there who was a super talented catcher
37:26
Speaker 7: in his own right at the major league level or
37:28
Speaker 7: in his preord. Years so that provided The marlins with
37:32
Speaker 7: an immediate backfill FOR jt as well as six, though
37:35
Speaker 7: and then we rounded out the trade with an a
37:36
Speaker 7: ball pitcher Named Will stewart who was a promising prospect
37:40
Speaker 7: at the, time and some additional cash and international pool.
37:43
Speaker 7: Considerations but it really wasn't until six doh was involved
37:48
Speaker 7: THAT i think The marlins started to take this thing.
37:50
Speaker 7: Seriously this wasn't why we did, it BUT i do
37:55
Speaker 7: think it worked out this. WAY i think when we
37:58
Speaker 7: ACQUIRED jt That Bryce harper became more interested in The.
38:03
Speaker 7: Phillies bryce AND jt are very good. FRIENDS i don't.
38:06
Speaker 7: KNOW i don't know if they were good friends before.
38:08
Speaker 7: THAT i know there was a mutual. Respect they're both
38:10
Speaker 7: in The National League east at the. TIME i think
38:13
Speaker 7: they respected the way each one about their, business the
38:16
Speaker 7: way they. Played there were some comments From harper and
38:18
Speaker 7: the media about how much he LIKED. Jt, AGAIN i
38:21
Speaker 7: think there were three hundred and thirty other three hundred
38:23
Speaker 7: and thirty million other reasons Why harper was attracted To,
38:25
Speaker 7: Philadelphia BUT i do think SIGNING jt. HELPED i really.
38:29
Speaker 7: Do The harper free agent pursuit spanned an entire, offseason
38:34
Speaker 7: and it was kind of a late developing free agent,
38:37
Speaker 7: market not just For bryce that, Year Manny machado didn't
38:39
Speaker 7: sign till relatively late with The padres that. Year but
38:42
Speaker 7: there was a lot that went into The harper, negotiation
38:46
Speaker 7: but also just the, recruiting including face to face meetings
38:49
Speaker 7: In Las vegas Where bryce Lived john and is What
38:53
Speaker 7: middleton and his Wife lee flying out there to have
38:55
Speaker 7: dinner separately With bryce And, kayla just trying to gain
38:59
Speaker 7: familiar already on a personal, level this is not about
39:02
Speaker 7: dollars at this. Point it's about what type of, environment
39:04
Speaker 7: what type of family, environment are we going to be joining,
39:09
Speaker 7: here the, commitment the two way commitment from player to
39:12
Speaker 7: club and club to. Player bryce was very thoughtful about all.
39:16
Speaker 7: This AND i as much as there's been a perception
39:20
Speaker 7: for many free agents That bryce excuse, me That Scott
39:23
Speaker 7: boris drives players through their, negotiation and some of that
39:28
Speaker 7: may be true for some, PLAYERS i don't. Know in this,
39:31
Speaker 7: One Bryce harper was definitely driving, it AND i give
39:33
Speaker 7: him a lot of credit for. That he, knows he
39:35
Speaker 7: knew what he, wanted he knew what he didn't, want
39:37
Speaker 7: and he was very thorough about making sure he ended
39:40
Speaker 7: up in the right, situation you. Know so it wasn't
39:42
Speaker 7: until the middle of spring training that we actually got
39:44
Speaker 7: that over the, line and that was probably a topic
39:48
Speaker 7: for another podcast about actually getting it over the. Line
39:51
Speaker 7: but that was kind of the finishing touch on that,
39:54
Speaker 7: offseason which was a pretty impactful off season for the.
39:58
Speaker 5: Organization, man let's get into your current club, now The Milwaukee.
40:01
Speaker 5: Brewers in twenty twenty, two you joined the front office
40:04
Speaker 5: with The, brewers where you serve as a senior advisor
40:07
Speaker 5: to The president Of Baseball Apps Matt, arnold AND i
40:10
Speaker 5: want to look at this kind of from a thirty
40:12
Speaker 5: thousand foot view or the organization because that AND i
40:15
Speaker 5: actually referenced The brewers in a recent episode as a
40:18
Speaker 5: model Of we talked about player, development and you talked
40:21
Speaker 5: about how important that was in your time In, philly
40:23
Speaker 5: especially toward the early and middle part of your, tenure
40:26
Speaker 5: as you try to build something that was, sustainable and
40:28
Speaker 5: certainly you got that off to a great start. There
40:32
Speaker 5: but we also look at The brewers as a good
40:34
Speaker 5: example of off field development as, well With David stearns
40:38
Speaker 5: leaving the organization to go run The New York, Mets
40:41
Speaker 5: Craig council leaving the club to go manage The Chicago,
40:44
Speaker 5: cubs and all you guys did this year was have
40:46
Speaker 5: the best record In Major League. Baseball so as you
40:49
Speaker 5: worked there for a few, years, now what stands out
40:51
Speaker 5: to you and how do you think The brewers do so?
40:54
Speaker 5: Well is either bringing in the right people externally or
40:57
Speaker 5: promoting from within to keep a good thing going and
41:00
Speaker 5: sustained despite not having a lofty. Payroll i'll sustain the
41:03
Speaker 5: success that those guys certainly contributed to at a high,
41:06
Speaker 5: level but that has continued even after their departures from the.
41:09
Speaker 7: Organization, Yeah so that, topic that question has surfaced a
41:13
Speaker 7: lot this, year in part because of what you mentioned
41:17
Speaker 7: that you, know burs one ninety seven games and you
41:20
Speaker 7: know a lot of people wondering how do you how
41:21
Speaker 7: do you do? It how are The brewers doing? This you,
41:25
Speaker 7: Know i've had an inside look at this for a
41:27
Speaker 7: few years. NOW i would say it's two. Things number, One,
41:31
Speaker 7: well first of, all there is no as much AS
41:33
Speaker 7: i wish there, was there is no secret, sauce secret,
41:37
Speaker 7: formula the aha moment that that's not that's not what it.
41:41
Speaker 7: IS i think the two key things are as an
41:44
Speaker 7: organization that starts with ownership and permeates all the way
41:47
Speaker 7: through the, organization we understand who we are we understand
41:51
Speaker 7: what our market is all, about and we lean into.
41:54
Speaker 7: That and as much as is written and talked about
41:58
Speaker 7: the economic despair in the, game and you, know certainly
42:01
Speaker 7: on display in THE lcs this year with the with
42:04
Speaker 7: The dodgers payroll versus, ours you, know that's never an
42:07
Speaker 7: excuse for anybody in our. Building it's always, okay that's
42:11
Speaker 7: the way it. Is what are we going to do about?
42:13
Speaker 7: It how are we going to overcome? That how can
42:15
Speaker 7: we behave differently because of our situation to leverage that
42:19
Speaker 7: as best we can in a way that maybe another team.
42:22
Speaker 7: Can't and like one example THAT i am happy to
42:24
Speaker 7: share here is you, know when you're THE gm In
42:29
Speaker 7: philadelphia and you have a good player approaching the end
42:33
Speaker 7: of the, contract the discussion really at any level is
42:37
Speaker 7: not about how do we trade that player and use
42:42
Speaker 7: that player to access more good players for the future the.
42:46
Speaker 7: Player the question is how do we keep that? Player
42:48
Speaker 7: this player is good and we're trying to, win how
42:50
Speaker 7: do we retain that? Player so that's just an. Example
42:53
Speaker 7: in In, milwaukee we would love to keep those players
42:58
Speaker 7: for their whole, careers you, know and Thinking Josh hater
43:00
Speaker 7: And Corbin bergs is probably the most prominent examples from
43:03
Speaker 7: the last few, years but that's not always going to be.
43:05
Speaker 7: Realistic rather than complain about, that how do we leverage
43:09
Speaker 7: that for the betterment of the. Organization so that's number
43:11
Speaker 7: one IS i think that mindset really permits the. Organization
43:15
Speaker 7: the second thing, is and THIS i give a lot
43:17
Speaker 7: of credit to a lot of. PEOPLE i think it
43:20
Speaker 7: also starts at the. Top but you, Know david And
43:22
Speaker 7: matt since they since they joined and for the twenty sixteen,
43:26
Speaker 7: Season i've never worked anywhere that has collaboration like this organization.
43:30
Speaker 7: Has AND i think that starts with your, leaders and
43:32
Speaker 7: then over time it's been you know about ten years
43:34
Speaker 7: now since they since that group, started you, know it's
43:37
Speaker 7: now it's it's seeped into really every every part of the.
43:42
Speaker 7: Organization and you, know player development is collaborative with. SCOUTING
43:47
Speaker 7: r AND d is supporting everything that we. Do you,
43:50
Speaker 7: know the major league team is connecting with the minor league.
43:53
Speaker 7: Side everything we. Do that there's no you, know it's.
43:57
Speaker 7: Selfless everybody's trying to do their best for the. Organization
44:02
Speaker 7: and that, culture you, know is a hard thing to.
44:04
Speaker 7: Initiate but once that has been. Established it, works and
44:11
Speaker 7: once you have some success through, that it kind of
44:16
Speaker 7: it kind of compels people to continue doing. That and it's.
44:19
Speaker 7: Awesome it's, healthy it's. Fun it's disappointing when you lose
44:23
Speaker 7: to The dodgers in THE, nlcs but the day to
44:26
Speaker 7: day is. Great it's full of good people who are
44:29
Speaker 7: good teammates and it's a really fun place to work.
44:32
Speaker 1: On behalf Of ryan, McDonough Producers wyatt And, jason and
44:36
Speaker 1: me Thad. Levine everyone here at The roster S rings
44:40
Speaker 1: family wants to thank you the, listeners for making season
44:43
Speaker 1: one so incredibly. Memorable please continue to join us every
44:47
Speaker 1: week for new episodes Of Roster. RINGS i hope you
44:50
Speaker 1: have a wonderful holiday and a happy New.
44:53
Speaker 4: Year sh