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Joey Votto unfiltered on FT · Foul Territory

0:03
Speaker 1: On the record, powered by MLB Nine Innings Rivals 26,
0:06
Speaker 1: Joey Votto joining us. The Reds great, and now media member.
0:11
Speaker 2: How does that sound?
0:12
Speaker 1: Are you liking media life, Joey?
0:16
Speaker 3: You get one year, and if I don't start really
0:19
Speaker 3: getting paid next year, it's over.
0:25
Speaker 2: Are they shortchanging you right now and auditioning you?
0:28
Speaker 3: I'm just saying, you get one year until I start
0:30
Speaker 3: seeing some zeros, commas, I'm out.
0:33
Speaker 2: Win a golf, travel. I'm not even kidding.
0:37
Speaker 1: No, I believe you.
0:38
Speaker 4: I'll give you a little bit of a clue, Joey.
0:40
Speaker 4: I've been doing it for 10 years. I don't think
0:42
Speaker 4: you get paid what people think you get paid to
0:44
Speaker 4: do baseball games. This isn't the NFL and Tony Romo
0:48
Speaker 4: and Troy Aikman and Joe Buck and those guys in baseball.
0:51
Speaker 4: You don't get the million dollars a week. It's a
0:53
Speaker 4: little bit less than that.
0:57
Speaker 2: Just telling you what I'm going to do and not do.
1:00
Speaker 1: Dude, I get it. I'm with you. All right. So
1:02
Speaker 1: while you're, while we have you in the media, what
1:05
Speaker 1: do you think of the playoff so far?
1:10
Speaker 3: The Dodgers have been a major disappointment and I, I
1:13
Speaker 3: just think it's one of those dynasties ending.
1:16
Speaker 2: Where do they go from here? You've got the number
1:19
Speaker 2: one system in all of baseball.
1:22
Speaker 3: Is the move to semi-rebuild or reload integrate some of
1:29
Speaker 3: these young players, integrate some of these young players into
1:33
Speaker 3: the current veteran roster? Or do you flip with the
1:36
Speaker 3: attempt on snagging a star, superstar type of player? You
1:41
Speaker 3: give up a DePaola, you give up, I believe their
1:43
Speaker 3: number two prospects, Quintero, correct me if I'm wrong. And
1:47
Speaker 3: do you go out and snag an Eli De La Cruz?
1:49
Speaker 3: Do you go out and snag an all-star caliber player
1:52
Speaker 3: that's right in the middle of their career making medium money? Obviously,
1:57
Speaker 3: the CBA is going to be a major variable, but
2:00
Speaker 3: I think the playoffs are the end of a dynasty.
2:04
Speaker 3: I don't know where the Dodgers go from here, but
2:07
Speaker 3: we do know where the Brewers are going, and it's
2:08
Speaker 3: clearly up.
2:12
Speaker 4: Well, Joey, you brought it up. I'll ask the question.
2:14
Speaker 4: You brought up Ellie for DePaula. Is that a move
2:17
Speaker 4: that the Reds would make? Because you tweeted about it.
2:20
Speaker 4: Who says no? I say no, but that's just me
2:23
Speaker 4: because I don't think that I don't think that the
2:26
Speaker 4: Reds will get enough value in one guy for L.E.
2:29
Speaker 4: Doe Cruz, a guy who many people look at as
2:31
Speaker 4: a potential superstar. And if you trade him to L.A., then,
2:34
Speaker 4: of course, the whole world is going to light on
2:35
Speaker 4: fire because, oh, the Dodgers got another star.
2:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, I did a teeny bit of math on it.
2:40
Speaker 3: I think there's like maybe $ 150 million in– Expected surplus
2:46
Speaker 3: value from an alley. And then I'm guessing DePaulo is
2:49
Speaker 3: probably in that 90 million range. So you need an
2:51
Speaker 3: additional prospect, maybe even a third to get the job done.
2:55
Speaker 3: But let's be honest here. Ellie's going to make somewhere
2:56
Speaker 3: in that eight, $ 9 million range. And the reds are
2:59
Speaker 3: happy to pay that. But once they, once he starts
3:01
Speaker 3: making 18 and 28 in years two and three of arbitration,
3:06
Speaker 3: are they really going to extend a guy at 50
3:08
Speaker 3: per times 12? Let's get real here. He's going to
3:11
Speaker 3: be a 27 year old free agent. We saw the
3:16
Speaker 3: immediate change to the organization once Juan Soto was flipped
3:19
Speaker 3: for the Abrams-Wood combination, along with Gore. And I think
3:28
Speaker 3: that there's no reason why a player like Eli can't
3:30
Speaker 3: snag talent like that.
3:34
Speaker 5: I love it. Joey, I'm going to turn my attention
3:36
Speaker 5: towards one of your tweets. A, first, good to see
3:38
Speaker 5: you again, as always.
3:39
Speaker 2: Great to see you. Great to see you, Jason.
3:42
Speaker 5: On a tiny struggle saying, I look forward to the
3:43
Speaker 5: day when we don't use timing to describe why hitters
3:46
Speaker 5: are off. I'd argue we currently lack the tools to
3:48
Speaker 5: accurately measure why a hitter's back, not getting to the spot.
3:51
Speaker 5: What are you referencing to there? I agree with you,
3:54
Speaker 5: and it's not always just timing, but what are you
3:55
Speaker 5: specifically referencing to with that tweet? I think it's just
4:00
Speaker 5: a general push for the club.
4:02
Speaker 3: I think it's a general pushback. I cannot stand hearing
4:06
Speaker 3: the armchair hitting coach say timing. That infers, I think
4:11
Speaker 3: I'm using that word correctly, that basically they're saying start earlier.
4:15
Speaker 2: And as we all know, the teeniest, teeniest.
4:19
Speaker 3: Teeniest adjustment in terms of an earlier start can collapse everything.
4:25
Speaker 2: About the.
4:27
Speaker 3: Synchronization of our move. We've built this move in sync.
4:32
Speaker 3: with the pitcher. And if you try to start earlier,
4:37
Speaker 3: which a lot of people suggest just watching the game,
4:41
Speaker 3: it's going to all fall apart.
4:42
Speaker 2: I view a swing as a piece of machinery. I
4:47
Speaker 2: like using the language of inefficiencies.
4:50
Speaker 3: I like using the language of there being something off
4:56
Speaker 3: in the machinery, but I cannot stand saying something along
4:59
Speaker 3: the lines of just start earlier because If anybody, and
5:04
Speaker 3: we know Jose Bautista started talking about starting earlier. He's
5:08
Speaker 3: the one example that I think most of us know
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Speaker 3: publicly of a guy who said, I just started earlier
5:14
Speaker 3: and he had success. But think about all of those
5:16
Speaker 3: players that we played with or that we heard chat
5:22
Speaker 3: about hitting publicly say something like, I started earlier and
5:26
Speaker 3: it all falls apart.
5:27
Speaker 2: Hitting is complicated.
5:28
Speaker 3: It requires being in one spot while something is rapidly
5:33
Speaker 3: approaching you. And we don't just start earlier to time
5:37
Speaker 3: a 102-mile-an-hour Jacob Mizorowski fastball.
5:40
Speaker 4: All right, Jerry, I'm going to not agree with you
5:44
Speaker 4: on this, obviously, because there was hitting coaches like Rudy
5:47
Speaker 4: Jaramillo forever, get your foot down, get your foot down early,
5:50
Speaker 4: get your foot down. And they had teams that mashed
5:52
Speaker 4: in Texas for years with him, and he went some
5:54
Speaker 4: other places. and did some stuff. And the one thing
5:56
Speaker 4: you could do with, and Josh Donaldson also always talked
5:59
Speaker 4: about loading early and, you know, getting his stuff ready
6:03
Speaker 4: and his leg kick. And you can mess with their
6:05
Speaker 4: timing because of that. If it's not timing, then what
6:09
Speaker 4: is it with Shohei? Is it because he's injured? Because
6:11
Speaker 4: he's hitting lead off now. It just came out that
6:13
Speaker 4: he's back to hitting lead off. So is it his load?
6:16
Speaker 4: Is it his shoulder? Is it his knee? What's wrong
6:19
Speaker 4: with Shohei? Because this dude's been amazing for years.
6:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, to your first point about the adjustments players make,
6:25
Speaker 3: oftentimes I think, and AJ, you are a really, really
6:29
Speaker 3: good hitter, so you can speak to this also, but
6:32
Speaker 3: I think that there was, there's a simplicity that I
6:35
Speaker 3: think Jaramillo was attempting to hand off to the guys.
6:38
Speaker 3: Let's put our foot down. Let's just get out of
6:40
Speaker 3: the way of the rest of the movement. Maybe JD
6:43
Speaker 3: started a little bit earlier because that.
6:45
Speaker 2: Worked for him. I don't know the specifics, but I
6:49
Speaker 2: just don't, I just generally don't, think about it.
6:52
Speaker 3: I think about an earlier start being the way we
6:57
Speaker 3: can handle the variety of speeds. When, when, when we're
7:01
Speaker 3: hitting as far as Shohei, I would hate to speculate
7:05
Speaker 3: on what's unwell with him. I see a guy still
7:10
Speaker 3: taking pretty high intensity swings. He's taking some aggressive, you know, he,
7:15
Speaker 3: he wrapped the ball up the middle yesterday. I didn't
7:16
Speaker 3: see the number, but it looked like it was at
7:18
Speaker 3: least one 10. It's really hard to hit the ball
7:21
Speaker 3: as hard as he looks like he can still hit
7:25
Speaker 3: the ball and be fully injured. So I think it's
7:29
Speaker 3: just maybe something ever so slightly off that he hasn't
7:32
Speaker 3: figured out how to adjust to. And it's been a
7:35
Speaker 3: pretty small sample. I know he hasn't homered since August something,
7:38
Speaker 3: but I'm not entirely sure that that's an injury thing.
7:42
Speaker 3: It could be something slightly off and he just hasn't
7:46
Speaker 3: adjusted to it.
7:48
Speaker 4: Now that we're talking about this, I got to ask you.
7:50
Speaker 4: You tweet a lot, which are great. I love some
7:52
Speaker 4: of your tweets. Some of them, this is why we
7:54
Speaker 4: have you on, so we can have discussions. You tweeted
7:56
Speaker 4: that guys that hit 320 years ago or whatever would
7:59
Speaker 4: hit 240 now. Does that mean you'd hit 240 now?
8:02
Speaker 4: And then I ran into Tony Gwynn Jr., And he
8:04
Speaker 4: saw the tweet, and he goes, man, you ever talk
8:06
Speaker 4: to Joey Votto? And I was like, every once in
8:07
Speaker 4: a while.
8:07
Speaker 2: Why?
8:07
Speaker 4: He goes, man, he doesn't think my dad would hit
8:10
Speaker 4: 300 now? And he's like, and he thinks Louisa Rise
8:12
Speaker 4: would hit 400 now? If Louisa Rise would hit 400,
8:15
Speaker 4: Tony Gwynn might hit 500. So where do you get
8:18
Speaker 4: the idea that guys that hit 320 years ago would
8:19
Speaker 4: hit 240 now?
8:26
Speaker 3: Well, Freddie Freeman hits 300, 330.
8:29
Speaker 2: That's just the.
8:30
Speaker 3: We've all played with the guy that is typically around 250, 275,
8:35
Speaker 3: and they pop a 300, they pop a 310, and
8:38
Speaker 3: they think of themselves as 300 hitters, as they should,
8:41
Speaker 3: because they earned it.
8:43
Speaker 2: But very clearly.
8:45
Speaker 2: Exactly, exactly. Very, very clearly, when you look at the.
8:51
Speaker 3: batting average historically over the past you know we're both
8:54
Speaker 3: 40 something jason i'm not sure how old you are
8:57
Speaker 3: i'm guessing you're in that 40 range but the the
8:59
Speaker 3: late 90s 2000s and then our careers from 2000 ish
9:04
Speaker 3: i'm 2007 and beyond it was 265 on average generally
9:08
Speaker 3: speaking you know a little bit higher in the 90s
9:11
Speaker 3: 275 range now we're looking at low 240s even just
9:14
Speaker 3: taking off you know 20 30 points it's the guy
9:19
Speaker 3: that was hitting 300 is going to hit 275 now.
9:22
Speaker 2: I think the greats, you.
9:25
Speaker 3: Know, Chippers online a lot, you know, Tony Gwynn may
9:29
Speaker 3: rest in peace. Those guys very clearly are still going
9:31
Speaker 3: to be the same stars. But that random 300 that
9:35
Speaker 3: you pop, typically hitting 260, I don't see guys getting
9:39
Speaker 3: that as much.
9:40
Speaker 2: And the number shows that. Luis Araez... for sure, for sure.
9:45
Speaker 3: And then in the nineties, in the early two thousands
9:47
Speaker 3: is going to be a guy hitting three 20 to
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Speaker 3: three 50. He's winning the batting title every year, whatever,
9:52
Speaker 3: whatever you take the batting title from nineties, two thousands,
9:56
Speaker 3: whoever won it, then that's about what Luis would hit
9:59
Speaker 3: right now. Or that's, about what he would hit.
10:03
Speaker 5: We saw another one of your tweets actually about the
10:06
Speaker 5: reds trading for Yankees utility, Anthony Volpe. If you were,
10:10
Speaker 5: if put your, put your GM hat on, let's say,
10:12
Speaker 5: cause I know you're obviously still rooting for the reds
10:14
Speaker 5: been there for forever.
10:17
Speaker 2: What moves would you like to do?
10:18
Speaker 5: Because when I saw Tito go over there, I was like, oh,
10:20
Speaker 5: they mean business, they're going to go for it, but
10:22
Speaker 5: they kind of haven't brought in maybe the big pieces
10:25
Speaker 5: too much. So what moves would you be making now
10:27
Speaker 5: if you were for the Reds?
10:29
Speaker 2: If I was working for the Reds?
10:32
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, I don't want to speak about Terry Francona,
10:36
Speaker 3: but and I'm apprehensive about going too in deep with
10:42
Speaker 3: the Reds organization.
10:44
Speaker 2: Listen, I work for them. I want to have a
10:46
Speaker 2: good relationship with them. Sure.
10:50
Speaker 3: I will say this. I think there's an underinvestment in
10:54
Speaker 3: the easy wins. I think that there can be ways
10:59
Speaker 3: to improve the organization as far as developing your minor leagues,
11:03
Speaker 3: as far as snagging the best talent. These are the
11:06
Speaker 3: things that very clearly the Brewers, Guardians, White Sox, and
11:12
Speaker 3: the Tampa Bay Rays are crushing, why pinch pennies on
11:16
Speaker 3: the things that are quite a bit less cheap than
11:21
Speaker 3: that $ 18 million, that $ 23 million qualifying offer?
11:25
Speaker 2: What are we doing here?
11:25
Speaker 3: You can take a qualifying offer guy and you can
11:28
Speaker 3: completely overhaul everything about your organization. And there's ways to,
11:35
Speaker 3: I think there's just more efficient ways. The real question is,
11:38
Speaker 3: have they gone all in integrating artificial intelligence into their organization?
11:47
Speaker 3: Have they hired a software engineer or a gaggle of
11:51
Speaker 3: software engineers to make sure that there's uniformity from top
11:55
Speaker 3: to bottom and ease of digestion of the data that
12:02
Speaker 3: a dietician or even the manager needs to understand? These
12:06
Speaker 3: are things that are cheap, cheap, cheap. And when I
12:09
Speaker 3: see tweets that say the New York Mets are hunting
12:12
Speaker 3: for this particular software engineer or a bunch of them,
12:17
Speaker 3: that's not that expensive, but it's going to create ease.
12:21
Speaker 2: Inside of the organization. Are they doing that?
12:23
Speaker 3: Is this something that they're adding to their potential chase
12:30
Speaker 3: of a championship?
12:31
Speaker 2: I don't know. You'd have to ask them.
12:36
Speaker 5: Well, it may have been just only one year, but
12:38
Speaker 5: your media training is already kicking in how to bob
12:41
Speaker 5: and weave and not step on some eggshells with some
12:44
Speaker 5: of the answers right there.
12:45
Speaker 2: So you did a good job there.
12:46
Speaker 5: But I'm going to, before I follow up on that question,
12:48
Speaker 5: that just led me to the way you answered that question.
12:51
Speaker 5: I've been meaning to talk to you and ask this
12:53
Speaker 5: question for probably seven years because I got to first
12:56
Speaker 5: base always like, Joey, what's going on? Or vice versa,
12:58
Speaker 5: you're always very, very kind and talkative. And it's just
13:02
Speaker 5: whether what kind of day I would catch you on.
13:04
Speaker 5: If I'd get to first base and I'd ask, hey,
13:05
Speaker 5: how are things going? And you would give this great answer,
13:09
Speaker 5: whether you start talking about your swing, you start talking
13:11
Speaker 5: about hitting, you start talking about anything. And I'd be like, Joey,
13:13
Speaker 5: I'm trying to steal second. Can I just get a
13:15
Speaker 5: break in the combo for a second? I need to know,
13:18
Speaker 5: were you doing that on purpose? So did you just
13:20
Speaker 5: have like, oh man, someone's asked me a question. I
13:22
Speaker 5: just wanted to get it out. Or are you like, hey,
13:24
Speaker 5: I can talk to this guy and distract him from
13:26
Speaker 5: not stealing a base. I've always wanted to know if
13:28
Speaker 5: it was intentional or not. It would have been genius
13:30
Speaker 5: in my life.
13:32
Speaker 2: No, I have too much respect for every major league player.
13:35
Speaker 3: Jason, you were an all-star player and someone that we
13:39
Speaker 3: got to play against a bunch during the course of
13:42
Speaker 3: my career. We played against each other quite a bit,
13:47
Speaker 3: and I admired the way you played. You were a
13:49
Speaker 3: well-rounded player, and we were also roughly the same age.
13:55
Speaker 2: Let's be honest here.
13:55
Speaker 3: There's a bit of a hierarchy in major league baseball.
13:58
Speaker 3: You want to chat with the all-stars. If you're an all-star,
14:00
Speaker 3: you want to chit chat with, with the most valuable players.
14:04
Speaker 3: If you've won it before. And I felt like watching
14:08
Speaker 3: you play and competing against you. I could ask questions
14:12
Speaker 3: and learn things from you.
14:13
Speaker 2: I loved your swing. It was unconventional. I love the
14:16
Speaker 2: flatness of it. I was curious about it. I liked
14:20
Speaker 2: watching your tenacity.
14:21
Speaker 3: I was wondering about how, what the experience was playing
14:25
Speaker 3: for the Cleveland then Indians now guardians.
14:28
Speaker 2: So I, I, it was all friendly, all respectful. No, absolutely.
14:32
Speaker 5: I think that's exactly what we would talk. We've talked
14:34
Speaker 5: about swing pass a lot. And I remember just walking
14:36
Speaker 5: back one time. I was like, did Joey just talk
14:38
Speaker 5: me out of a stolen base? Because I wanted to
14:40
Speaker 5: stay in the conversation too, because I was enjoying it
14:42
Speaker 5: so much and everything we're talking about, but I was
14:44
Speaker 5: following the previous, what I asked you about what the
14:46
Speaker 5: reds would do. What does it tell you about the
14:48
Speaker 5: last four teams though, that are still standing low payroll,
14:51
Speaker 5: but play the small ball, play the game, the high,
14:54
Speaker 5: the high average, put the ball in play contact with Tampa, Milwaukee, Cleveland.
14:59
Speaker 5: Is that the way like, to me, and I guarantee
15:01
Speaker 5: you're probably going to echo this. Like people are like, Oh,
15:03
Speaker 5: small ball. No, it's just winning baseball. They're just doing
15:06
Speaker 5: what needs to be done to win baseball games. And
15:08
Speaker 5: more teams are just worried about, like you're saying earlier,
15:10
Speaker 5: the wrong thing. So what does it tell you about
15:12
Speaker 5: the game of baseball and what teams are focused on
15:14
Speaker 5: with these four teams remaining?
15:16
Speaker 3: I get the sense that those, the teams that we're
15:21
Speaker 3: talking about, the teams that are in the final four,
15:24
Speaker 3: the Dodgers have the luxury of, of chasing the line
15:29
Speaker 3: spots in the game. that a lot a lot of
15:32
Speaker 3: everyone in most of the league is missing but then
15:34
Speaker 3: every now and then snag a kyle tucker or go
15:37
Speaker 3: extend mookie bets extend freddie freeman the rays brewers and
15:44
Speaker 3: the guardians don't have that luxury so they have to
15:46
Speaker 3: hit the nail on the head as often as possible
15:48
Speaker 3: they have to be cutthroat with their potential free agents
15:50
Speaker 3: you have to get a guy like jose ramirez at
15:52
Speaker 3: what 40 cents on the dollar and he has to
15:56
Speaker 3: be motivated to stay there those are the guys you
15:58
Speaker 3: extend I think that the guys that they've been snagging
16:03
Speaker 3: are either guys that I think teams have pretty much
16:08
Speaker 3: moved on. I remember I played with Kevin Gossman, perfect example,
16:11
Speaker 3: Kevin Gossman. And we used him as a reliever in Cincinnati.
16:16
Speaker 3: And then about a year and a half later, maybe
16:19
Speaker 3: even 12 months.
16:21
Speaker 2: Later, he got $ 150 million. And I thought, We had
16:24
Speaker 2: this talent sitting here.
16:26
Speaker 3: How did we fail? How did we come up short?
16:29
Speaker 3: How could you miss an opportunity like this? We had
16:31
Speaker 3: Sonny Bray. We had Luis Castillo. Why aren't we extending
16:35
Speaker 3: these guys on the cheap? These are guys that genuinely
16:38
Speaker 3: want to stay here. They want to take their contract,
16:41
Speaker 3: 40 cents, 60 cents on the dollar just to stay here.
16:44
Speaker 3: And I think that's just the difference between the winning
16:47
Speaker 3: teams and the rest of the pack, they do not,
16:50
Speaker 3: they identify what they're looking for.
16:52
Speaker 2: They get it right. Probably at a higher rate.
16:55
Speaker 3: You know, you don't get them all right, but if
16:57
Speaker 3: you're getting it right, 60% of the time, as opposed
16:59
Speaker 3: to 20% of the time, you're going to be in
17:02
Speaker 3: the final four with a third or a quarter, even
17:06
Speaker 3: a fifth of the payroll.
17:09
Speaker 4: Joey, I got to ask, what's the one move. If
17:11
Speaker 4: you were, you work for the reds, I understand that.
17:14
Speaker 4: But what's the one move that you would– I don't.
17:15
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't work with them.
17:17
Speaker 4: Oh, I thought you said you do or you have
17:18
Speaker 4: a great relationship. You don't want to spoil it, right?
17:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, I have a good relationship with the front office.
17:23
Speaker 3: I think I get along fine with them. And I
17:26
Speaker 3: just don't want to– I don't want to dunk on
17:28
Speaker 3: anybody because that's not my place.
17:31
Speaker 2: Okay, that's fair. No, totally.
17:32
Speaker 4: I don't want to get you in trouble. But what's
17:34
Speaker 4: the one move that you think they should make? Is
17:36
Speaker 4: it sign a starting pitcher?
17:37
Speaker 2: Is it sign a bat?
17:38
Speaker 4: Like what's the one– if you were the GM of
17:41
Speaker 4: the Cincinnati Reds, right, and you had to come in
17:43
Speaker 4: and say– I got, and I know there's funds involved
17:46
Speaker 4: and prospects and all that, but if I could make
17:48
Speaker 4: one move for one position or one player, what would
17:51
Speaker 4: it be?
17:53
Speaker 3: I would trade Ellie for as many prospects as possible
17:55
Speaker 3: to start. Ellie's going to get $ 650 million. Even if
18:00
Speaker 3: he doesn't get that number, he's 50 to 60 per
18:02
Speaker 3: year times seven just to start. You know, let's say
18:05
Speaker 3: the CBA changes things. He's making 350 over the course
18:09
Speaker 3: of seven years minimum, six years minimum. are you going
18:14
Speaker 3: to give up a half or a third of your
18:18
Speaker 3: payroll on one player? It doesn't make sense. I love Ellie.
18:21
Speaker 3: Ellie's a, I played with him in AAA. I played,
18:24
Speaker 3: I got, I watched him get called up. He is
18:27
Speaker 3: a leader. He is a talent getting better. He is five,
18:31
Speaker 3: all five tools. He's going to be, he's going to
18:35
Speaker 3: have a PCA type year where he puts up 10
18:37
Speaker 3: wins or when he, where he puts up, you know,
18:39
Speaker 3: a 900 OPS and, and, But he's done all these things.
18:43
Speaker 3: He's already done some fantastic things, and he's only going
18:45
Speaker 3: to get better.
18:46
Speaker 2: He's 24, 25 years old.
18:48
Speaker 3: But if you're... Some teams shouldn't be signing the big
18:56
Speaker 3: dog guys. I was extended in Cincinnati on a 12-year.
19:01
Speaker 2: Should they have signed me?
19:02
Speaker 4: No.
19:05
Speaker 3: No, they should have flipped me at year four and
19:07
Speaker 3: a half or year five, and then I would have
19:10
Speaker 3: entered for agency.
19:12
Speaker 2: I can tell you the Rays. I can tell you
19:14
Speaker 2: the Brewers and the Guardians.
19:17
Speaker 3: Unless I took 50 cents on the dollar, which I
19:19
Speaker 3: wouldn't have with the Reds, I would have been traded
19:23
Speaker 3: with them. So that's probably the first start. I just
19:26
Speaker 3: don't know the timing of it. They lost Hunter Green
19:29
Speaker 3: in 2020. They're going to lose Hunter Green in 2027.
19:31
Speaker 3: So there's basically, I don't want to say no chance
19:34
Speaker 3: that they're going to win. But the offense had something
19:37
Speaker 3: like five guys that hit like a buck 85 and below.
19:41
Speaker 2: You've got half of your lineup with like a 60
19:45
Speaker 2: WRC plus. It's unplayable. They were number one in strikeouts.
19:50
Speaker 3: How are you constructing a roster like this and at
19:53
Speaker 3: the same time telling your fan base that we're going
19:55
Speaker 3: to be successful in the upcoming years? So I think
19:58
Speaker 3: the first thing you do is you tell the fan base, listen,
20:01
Speaker 3: we're going to make some changes. We're going to think
20:03
Speaker 3: differently about our organization, think differently about the major league roster,
20:07
Speaker 3: get ready.
20:07
Speaker 2: We're going to be a bit more cold blooded.
20:10
Speaker 3: And the stars either sign like a Jose and fall
20:13
Speaker 3: in love with the city and the fan base, or
20:15
Speaker 3: we flip them for more talent and just keep reloading.
20:19
Speaker 2: That Reds organization is.
20:20
Speaker 3: Bottom three or bottom five minor league systems is a
20:24
Speaker 3: genuine failing.
20:26
Speaker 2: And until that changes.
20:27
Speaker 3: How are the Brewers about to go to the World
20:30
Speaker 3: Series and they're like second or third best minor league system?
20:34
Speaker 2: It doesn't compute for me. I'm having a difficult time
20:37
Speaker 2: understanding that.
20:39
Speaker 4: I understand.
20:40
Speaker 2: Trust me.
20:40
Speaker 4: As a long-suffering White Sox fan, Joey, I totally understand.
20:44
Speaker 4: I feel your pain and Kip's a long-suffering Guardian slash
20:47
Speaker 4: Indians player fan. I totally understand. Last question for you.
20:51
Speaker 4: This is more of a personal question. Did you live
20:54
Speaker 4: in Kentucky or did you live in Ohio when you
20:57
Speaker 4: were in Cincinnati?
21:00
Speaker 2: I lived just north of the city in Cincinnati. I
21:02
Speaker 2: lived in pretty much the woods up there.
21:04
Speaker 3: One of the great parts about playing for the Reds
21:08
Speaker 3: and listen, I love the city.
21:10
Speaker 2: I love the people there.
21:11
Speaker 3: I had a great, great experience, but there's no traffic.
21:14
Speaker 3: So I was able to drive in virtually every single
21:17
Speaker 3: day around 1, 2 PM, 3 PM.
21:20
Speaker 2: And there would, I'd be able to drive home post game.
21:23
Speaker 3: And, you know, I'm from the city, I'm from Toronto, Canada,
21:26
Speaker 3: and the traffic is a nightmare.
21:29
Speaker 2: Whereas there I can, you know, cruise in, cruise, cruise
21:33
Speaker 2: back every single day. It was a great experience. Okay.
21:37
Speaker 4: Then I just wanted to know, because there's this picture
21:39
Speaker 4: I have of me and I didn't know if it,
21:41
Speaker 4: if it, if your Jersey gets smaller, if you go
21:44
Speaker 4: to Ohio or cause that's in Milwaukee. So I just
21:48
Speaker 4: trying to figure out like how small your Jersey was
21:50
Speaker 4: because those buttons were begging for mercy when I put
21:53
Speaker 4: that Jersey on.
21:56
Speaker 2: Well, not all of us are a specimen like AJ Persinski.
21:59
Speaker 2: You can see that belly. Look at that belly. That
22:02
Speaker 2: thing is like, man. You're a big man. What are you, 6'4, 6'5? Yeah, 6'4,
22:09
Speaker 2: about 2'6.
22:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, you're one of the few that gets to crush
22:14
Speaker 3: it in the dating world. So kudos to you. They
22:16
Speaker 3: love you out there, bro.
22:18
Speaker 4: Oh, they love me in the dating world. Trust me,
22:20
Speaker 4: I'm huge in the dating world. I don't even know
22:23
Speaker 4: if I put that on. You guys had an off day.
22:24
Speaker 4: We were in Milwaukee. And I was like, man, Joey
22:27
Speaker 4: wears his uniform tight. Let me see how tight.
22:29
Speaker 2: I do. I did.
22:30
Speaker 4: And when I put that on, the guys with the
22:32
Speaker 4: braids at the time were like, man, that thing is small.
22:34
Speaker 2: So I apologize.
22:36
Speaker 4: You didn't even know, but I wore your jersey and
22:38
Speaker 4: it didn't help me get any hits. You had already
22:39
Speaker 4: taken them all.
22:40
Speaker 2: So I apologize.
22:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that I think in the course of
22:44
Speaker 3: the career, have we played together? We would have loved
22:47
Speaker 3: each other, but I could see there being a miscommunication
22:50
Speaker 3: because we didn't play play.
22:52
Speaker 2: Side by side. We kind of chipped away at each other. So.
22:55
Speaker 3: But I don't take a lot of shit. I don't
22:57
Speaker 3: take a lot of shit, but I really liked, I, I, I,
23:00
Speaker 3: I take that back. I love taking shit, but I'm
23:03
Speaker 3: going to give it back. And we barely knew each other.
23:05
Speaker 3: And I was a young player and I approached the plane.
23:08
Speaker 3: I think you said something. And I thought, I thought
23:12
Speaker 3: to myself, well, I know this guy has a reputation
23:16
Speaker 3: for digging and I'm going to, I'm going to dig back,
23:21
Speaker 3: but Um, I hope that you didn't take it as
23:24
Speaker 3: if like, I felt a certain way about you.
23:26
Speaker 2: I love, I love playing around.
23:28
Speaker 3: It's, it's the people that can't take it back that I,
23:30
Speaker 3: that I struggle with, but you are definitely not one
23:32
Speaker 3: of those.
23:34
Speaker 4: No, I trust me. If you would give it as
23:35
Speaker 4: much as I give it, you better be able to
23:37
Speaker 4: take it. So trust me, Scott gives it to me
23:39
Speaker 4: all the time and I have to take it. Sometimes
23:43
Speaker 4: I have to go.
23:44
Speaker 2: Daily baseball talk show.
23:46
Speaker 3: I'll tell you a funny story. I, I, my father
23:49
Speaker 3: died and this was in 2000. I played with a
23:52
Speaker 3: fellow named Mike Lincoln and I came back and I
23:56
Speaker 3: missed in the following season.
23:59
Speaker 2: I struggled.
23:59
Speaker 3: Like I was mourning hard up with my father and
24:01
Speaker 3: I started experiencing panic attacks and I was super, super
24:04
Speaker 3: jacked up and I took a month off and I,
24:08
Speaker 3: I come back to the clubhouse. And this is the
24:11
Speaker 3: beautiful thing about being in sport. It's probably the only
24:14
Speaker 3: thing that I miss that I'm trying to replicate here
24:17
Speaker 3: at a golf club or at the gym or in
24:20
Speaker 3: a jiu-jitsu or whatever I do. I'm always looking for
24:23
Speaker 3: a clubhouse environment. But I get done with the month
24:27
Speaker 3: off and I was not in a good place. But
24:32
Speaker 3: I get to my locker, and Mike Lincoln was a
24:34
Speaker 3: former teammate of mine, really fantastic guy. Paul Bocco, he
24:38
Speaker 3: and I would always hang out together. And Mike walks
24:43
Speaker 3: up to me on my first day back, and he goes, oh, bro,
24:48
Speaker 3: I thought you died.
24:49
Speaker 2: And I go, what? I look at what? And he goes, yeah,
24:52
Speaker 2: I was going to take your girlfriend.
24:53
Speaker 5: Damn.
24:54
Speaker 2: All right. I'm glad you're back. And it just, like,
24:57
Speaker 2: it took... It totally.
24:58
Speaker 3: Broke the tension, and it's the one thing that I
25:03
Speaker 3: miss the most in the clubhouse, really, really having somebody
25:06
Speaker 3: dig at you and giving.
25:08
Speaker 2: You back and forth.
25:10
Speaker 3: It's, to me, the characterization or the representation of love
25:14
Speaker 3: amongst peers and amongst teammates is very much a brotherhood.
25:17
Speaker 3: Once you put the uniform on, even for one day,
25:21
Speaker 3: you're always a major leaguer, and we always view you
25:23
Speaker 3: as an equal.
25:25
Speaker 2: That's good stuff. Oh, then you would have loved AJ. Wow.
25:28
Speaker 4: Mike Lincoln was a really good friend of mine. Really good.
25:31
Speaker 2: We played in the minor leagues together.
25:32
Speaker 4: Came up for a long time.
25:33
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
25:34
Speaker 4: He's too fat now though.
25:35
Speaker 2: So he's not my friend. He wouldn't fit in the jersey.
25:39
Speaker 2: I'm the fat fuck now. I like that.
25:41
Speaker 3: Yeah.
25:41
Speaker 2: Fat Mike.
25:42
Speaker 4: We call him Fat Mike.
25:46
Speaker 1: Well, Joey, appreciate the time, man. Hope you enjoyed it
25:49
Speaker 1: talking to these two. Thanks for all of that. And
25:52
Speaker 1: then we'll enjoy the media time while we have it
25:54
Speaker 1: with you.
25:54
Speaker 2: All right. Appreciate it. Thanks, guys. Thank you, Joe. That's
25:58
Speaker 2: Joey Votto. Great interview. That's on the record.
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