Latest / Foul Territory / POBO Erik Neander and Catcher Nick Fortes join FT @Rays camp

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POBO Erik Neander and Catcher Nick Fortes join FT @Rays camp · Foul Territory

0:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Sweet Life.
0:08
Speaker 2: To start the show, FT Live at Race Camp, Scotty Brown, aircrafts,
0:12
Speaker 2: Kevin Pillar and President Baseball Opps Eric Neander.
0:15
Speaker 1: Eric.
0:15
Speaker 2: Great to have you on. Thanks for joining us right
0:17
Speaker 2: at the top for the headliner.
0:18
Speaker 1: How you doing?
0:19
Speaker 3: How about it?
0:21
Speaker 4: Not my usual spot, Scott, Thanks for having me. Cratty,
0:23
Speaker 4: good to see you. KP good to see you.
0:25
Speaker 5: Good to see you too.
0:27
Speaker 2: You're the main man today, all right, So first off,
0:30
Speaker 2: tell me what's going on there. You've got camp, You've
0:32
Speaker 2: got the World Baseball Classic going on. What's the first
0:35
Speaker 2: few weeks like for you? And how is it different
0:37
Speaker 2: from the past few years.
0:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean good, good energy. We've had.
0:42
Speaker 4: We've had some turnover with the roster, but we've also
0:44
Speaker 4: got the you know, Cami on his way up Ronda
0:47
Speaker 4: if they all start year. Last year, mcclanay and healthy back,
0:51
Speaker 4: good vibes, good energy and you know WBC years had
0:54
Speaker 4: a lot of fun too. So we got some guys
0:55
Speaker 4: out there doing their thing. It's been fun to watch
0:57
Speaker 4: them add some energy to the game. Brings a little
1:00
Speaker 4: more excitement opening day and it's all good, good time
1:02
Speaker 4: to be a fan of baseball.
1:04
Speaker 5: Yeah.
1:04
Speaker 6: On that topic, first spring training with the new ownership group.
1:07
Speaker 6: How's that relationship been and do you expect to see
1:10
Speaker 6: anything different from the Rays moving forward?
1:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, hopefully a new stadium is different.
1:14
Speaker 1: Yeah.
1:14
Speaker 4: Here they've they've been great, they've been wonderful. You know,
1:18
Speaker 4: been really fortunate. Schusternberg, our prior ownership group was great
1:21
Speaker 4: to us, had a lot of success, but there's still
1:24
Speaker 4: business to accomplish. We're still chasing that first championship. We're
1:27
Speaker 4: trying to get our kind of our future security here locally,
1:30
Speaker 4: new stadium, all that new ownership group. Patrick Zuluwski, Bill
1:34
Speaker 4: cosgro Ken, Babby they're working tirelessly to try to get
1:36
Speaker 4: that done. Looks like they're making some real progress and
1:40
Speaker 4: hopefully we can get that secured and continue to build
1:43
Speaker 4: from there.
1:43
Speaker 3: But it's exciting for sure.
1:45
Speaker 1: When the new ownership group came in, how much conversation
1:48
Speaker 1: about winning a championship was on their side of the table.
1:53
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I for us, and we've been here
1:56
Speaker 4: a long time. You were here in nineteen We've we've
1:58
Speaker 4: won a lot of games. We have been able to
2:00
Speaker 4: take that last, that final step. That's what all this
2:04
Speaker 4: is about, and to have reassurances from them. How important
2:07
Speaker 4: that is to them? Is big right, getting a new stadium, development,
2:11
Speaker 4: et cetera. That's a way to generate more revenue that
2:14
Speaker 4: can be put back into the team. And we do
2:17
Speaker 4: this because we want to win. We want to support
2:18
Speaker 4: players that want to win. We want to play our
2:20
Speaker 4: small part. And you know, these are people that are
2:22
Speaker 4: coming in here, like I said, to try to take
2:25
Speaker 4: this franchise to the next level.
2:26
Speaker 3: We've had a lot of success, We've got more to.
2:28
Speaker 4: Do and by all accounts everything they've said, their intentions
2:32
Speaker 4: very much aligned with ours.
2:34
Speaker 3: That that's a goal.
2:35
Speaker 4: That championship is a goal that we all have and
2:37
Speaker 4: we want to accomplish sooner rather than later.
2:39
Speaker 1: Can you tell us how that would look different than
2:42
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty when you guys made it to a
2:45
Speaker 1: World Series, Like, how would you go back now when
2:48
Speaker 1: you guys are on the precipice, like truly there and say, Okay,
2:52
Speaker 1: this is how we're going to win a championship, not
2:54
Speaker 1: just be a winning team, because you guys have mastered
2:57
Speaker 1: being a winning team. How would you change? Yeah, what's
3:00
Speaker 1: the different step that you would take?
3:03
Speaker 4: Yeah, Like, I think we spent a lot of time
3:05
Speaker 4: thinking about that. I mean compared to twenty and just
3:08
Speaker 4: playing those games at home and in front of a
3:10
Speaker 4: packed home crowd would would be nice. But you know,
3:13
Speaker 4: that was the bigger things going on at that point.
3:16
Speaker 3: We made the most of it. I think, you know,
3:18
Speaker 3: look this, the Dodgers just won.
3:19
Speaker 4: A World Series with two fourths of their rotation being
3:23
Speaker 4: guys that really establish themselves in the in the big
3:25
Speaker 4: leagues here.
3:26
Speaker 3: I think.
3:28
Speaker 4: It just a chance for greater talent retention over time
3:31
Speaker 4: is something you hope for, and not just for the talent,
3:34
Speaker 4: but the experiences right when there's a constant churn. That's
3:37
Speaker 4: something that's been a necessity to find ways to compete
3:41
Speaker 4: and to solve for winning as many games as we can.
3:43
Speaker 4: But continuity is important. That's never been lost on us.
3:46
Speaker 4: We just don't always have the option to do everything
3:48
Speaker 4: we want, but the continuity having guys grow up here,
3:51
Speaker 4: having them have those experiences, getting those big stages, getting
3:54
Speaker 4: comfortable with.
3:55
Speaker 3: Them, and then breaking through.
3:57
Speaker 4: You know that you just have more options, you know,
3:59
Speaker 4: with more revenue, with more stadium, et cetera. So we're
4:02
Speaker 4: learning and listening to a lot of people that have
4:04
Speaker 4: actually accomplished it. We haven't, So we're hesitant to have
4:08
Speaker 4: all the answers when it comes to that, but we're
4:09
Speaker 4: continue to do our best and great players, great makeup
4:13
Speaker 4: great culture, and somehow, some way try to get over
4:16
Speaker 4: the top.
4:17
Speaker 6: Yeah, speaking of your guys' success over the last decade,
4:21
Speaker 6: felt like you guys were a team that was always
4:23
Speaker 6: ahead of the curve in terms of trying to win
4:24
Speaker 6: the margins and evaluate players and certain players that other
4:29
Speaker 6: teams didn't value, and certain things teams didn't value.
4:32
Speaker 5: Do you feel like that gap has closed a little bit?
4:34
Speaker 6: Where do you feel like you guys are maybe years
4:36
Speaker 6: ahead of where teams have just gotten to now?
4:39
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it's hard to say. I've this is
4:42
Speaker 4: my twentieth year here. It's all I really know, right, So,
4:45
Speaker 4: we've had players that have been here that have played
4:47
Speaker 4: other places. You know, don't spend a ton of time
4:51
Speaker 4: sizing up kind of where we are. We just know
4:53
Speaker 4: we've got to get better. You know, when we've had success,
4:55
Speaker 4: we've got to get better. When we have it, we've
4:57
Speaker 4: got to get better. I think that's always there.
5:00
Speaker 5: You know.
5:00
Speaker 3: We're just we try to do the best we can.
5:02
Speaker 4: To understand the relationships between winning baseball individually and collectively,
5:07
Speaker 4: you know, and what those are and make sure we
5:09
Speaker 4: have as good an understanding as possible as we can.
5:11
Speaker 4: And then we're continuing to get better. And you know,
5:13
Speaker 4: we lean in our players. We care about them. You know,
5:15
Speaker 4: we care for them. We try to do everything we can.
5:18
Speaker 4: The payil disparities, they are what they are, right, but
5:21
Speaker 4: the care, the effort to support behind the scenes, that's
5:24
Speaker 4: something that we can compete there. And as far as
5:27
Speaker 4: I'm concerned, as long as I'm here and we're here,
5:29
Speaker 4: we're gonna make sure that we're at the top of
5:31
Speaker 4: the board when it comes to those aspects. And that's
5:32
Speaker 4: part of having a winning club, a winning culture, and
5:35
Speaker 4: winning expectations.
5:37
Speaker 1: When I was there, one of the things that Cashi
5:39
Speaker 1: told me was everybody has a voice in the room.
5:42
Speaker 1: When you guys talk about something like we're gonna try it,
5:45
Speaker 1: can you tell us the most crazy thing? You don't
5:48
Speaker 1: have to say who it was the craziest thing because
5:51
Speaker 1: the day, one of the days I was there, we
5:52
Speaker 1: worked on a pickoff to third when it's an automatic
5:57
Speaker 1: first and third and the guy's gonna steal and were
6:00
Speaker 1: timing it to see how quickly you could do it
6:03
Speaker 1: if it was possible with our pitching staff. What's the
6:05
Speaker 1: craziest thing that you guys have said, We're gonna try
6:09
Speaker 1: it even though it made never made it into the game.
6:13
Speaker 3: Oh man, we've we've got some. We've got a lot
6:16
Speaker 3: of good ones.
6:16
Speaker 4: Those the two strike buns, why not you know, all
6:19
Speaker 4: sorts of stuff.
6:20
Speaker 3: Have you guys been to Washington's camp yet?
6:22
Speaker 1: Yes?
6:23
Speaker 3: Yes, Ah, darn it. So Annie Colombi, who's the GM.
6:27
Speaker 4: Now, he was a big advocate of one catcher out
6:29
Speaker 4: a postseason roster, right, you got your off days ride
6:31
Speaker 4: with one, and you know, ad ad, you know, expand
6:35
Speaker 4: your rosters some other way, give it a go. That
6:37
Speaker 4: one would have been up there, that's for sure. I
6:42
Speaker 4: don't think we'd ever have the courage to roll with one.
6:44
Speaker 4: And you know, usually your lead guy takes the light
6:46
Speaker 4: ins share of the work, but if he goes down,
6:48
Speaker 4: we didn't want to think about that one.
6:50
Speaker 3: But that was one.
6:50
Speaker 4: If you when you circle back to Washington, ask Gotti
6:53
Speaker 4: about that one.
6:54
Speaker 3: I'm pointing it to him.
6:55
Speaker 6: When you're here in camp, When you're here in camp
6:58
Speaker 6: and you have young guys at Carson and you have
7:00
Speaker 6: guys you know, on the brink of the major leagues,
7:03
Speaker 6: are there certain things you're looking for them checkboxes or
7:06
Speaker 6: when it comes down to making a decision, you just
7:09
Speaker 6: look them in the eyes and you just know if
7:10
Speaker 6: they're ready or not.
7:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't.
7:11
Speaker 4: You never know if someone's truly ready until they get
7:14
Speaker 4: there and they do it right.
7:15
Speaker 3: But I think.
7:17
Speaker 4: I think for me, for Cash, your for our staff,
7:20
Speaker 4: any young player that you had to experience the major leagues.
7:22
Speaker 3: You never assume they're ready. Right there's you've lived at Krats,
7:25
Speaker 3: you've lived it like you don't know you're ready. You
7:28
Speaker 3: got to get in it. You got to experience it.
7:29
Speaker 4: And Carson, you know, much like Cammi of the year before,
7:32
Speaker 4: having some experience we didn't want. We weren't where we
7:34
Speaker 4: wanted to be in the standings last August September. But
7:37
Speaker 4: with that you can give some opportunity to younger players
7:39
Speaker 4: just to find their footing and to gather a lot
7:41
Speaker 4: of feedback and it's learning, it's growing.
7:44
Speaker 3: I don't think it's necessarily a switch that's flipped.
7:46
Speaker 4: Carson by having those opportunities last year, having those struggles
7:49
Speaker 4: getting you know, being in the lineup most days, I
7:51
Speaker 4: think it made its off season a lot more productive.
7:53
Speaker 4: You appreciated not just coaches telling him what he needed
7:56
Speaker 4: to work on, but getting that that first hand feedback.
7:58
Speaker 4: And I think as long as the growth and that
8:00
Speaker 4: kind of feedback loop, as a player, you're getting what
8:03
Speaker 4: you need to know what you have to do to improve,
8:05
Speaker 4: and to do it with urgency. That's that's all we're
8:07
Speaker 4: trying to do and accepting that when you're a young
8:11
Speaker 4: player it's hard, right, and not asking too much of
8:13
Speaker 4: them too soon. Last year with Cammy, we tried to
8:16
Speaker 4: manage expectations out of the gates last year at forty
8:19
Speaker 4: five homers.
8:19
Speaker 3: You know what that looks like this year.
8:21
Speaker 4: But building a team where young players don't have to
8:24
Speaker 4: do too much, they can find their confidence, they can
8:26
Speaker 4: find that sense of belonging, and then they can elevate
8:28
Speaker 4: their game.
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8:44
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9:28
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9:30
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, I think that was the beauty of
9:32
Speaker 6: the expanded rosters before too, and I got my start
9:36
Speaker 6: kind of because of the expanded rosters and the team
9:39
Speaker 6: not doing well down the stretch, but it was invaluable
9:42
Speaker 6: experience for me to go up there and especially fail
9:44
Speaker 6: because up until that point I hadn't really failed. So
9:47
Speaker 6: me getting my feet wet in the big leagues, getting
9:50
Speaker 6: used to the surroundings, you know, getting used to the teammates,
9:53
Speaker 6: but ultimately failing kind of really motivated me in the
9:55
Speaker 6: offseason and honestly getting around the hitting department. You know,
10:00
Speaker 6: the team, they give me things to work on. It
10:02
Speaker 6: was guided, So I mean that was invaluable for me.
10:04
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's huge, and we try and just it's you
10:07
Speaker 4: have to have those experiences, you have to have the
10:09
Speaker 4: peer to peer influence in that perspective is so important.
10:11
Speaker 4: Even in camp, right it's a this is a lower
10:13
Speaker 4: stress environment compared to September, but it's still important to
10:18
Speaker 4: make sure these guys are learning as much as they
10:20
Speaker 4: can as quickly as they can, not from coaches, not
10:22
Speaker 4: for myself, but from people that are doing it with
10:24
Speaker 4: them and they've done what they've done, what they're trying
10:25
Speaker 4: to do.
10:26
Speaker 3: It's critical.
10:27
Speaker 1: Is that easier in Tampa because you will you look
10:30
Speaker 1: at other organizations and you go, WHOA, you know they
10:33
Speaker 1: have seven of the eight guys are on a twenty
10:35
Speaker 1: million dollar contract. It's so hard to plug in a
10:39
Speaker 1: young player. Do you feel like it's easier for you
10:41
Speaker 1: guys to give that runway and allow your evaluators to say,
10:45
Speaker 1: you give him two hundred bats in the big leagues,
10:47
Speaker 1: he's going to figure it out. If you're joining a
10:49
Speaker 1: playoff team that has veterans, it's harder. Correct.
10:54
Speaker 4: Yeah, I look, without without question, I think Jonathan Aronda,
10:58
Speaker 4: you know, made an All Star team last year, is
11:00
Speaker 4: got to being highlighted with Team Mexico.
11:02
Speaker 1: Now.
11:02
Speaker 4: It was kind of the tail end of his third
11:05
Speaker 4: year of getting major league opportunity where it finally clicked
11:08
Speaker 4: late in twenty twenty four. Twenty twenty three, he got
11:10
Speaker 4: a little, I'm sorry, twenty two we got a little,
11:12
Speaker 4: twenty three you got a little, and finally twenty four
11:15
Speaker 4: it just kind of happened one day late in the
11:17
Speaker 4: year where it clicked. And I think just staying with guys,
11:20
Speaker 4: look at every situation is different for us. We try
11:25
Speaker 4: to do everything we can to play Major League baseball.
11:27
Speaker 4: Is it's stressful enough as it is, we try to
11:29
Speaker 4: do everything we can behind the scenes, family, whatever it
11:33
Speaker 4: might be to reduce the stress. Is as much weekends,
11:35
Speaker 4: these guys can just go play baseball, and we can
11:38
Speaker 4: be patient with them, and really, frankly, at times, we
11:40
Speaker 4: don't have a choice. We've got to right, we've got
11:42
Speaker 4: to stick with them, we've got to.
11:43
Speaker 3: Get behind them. And as long as enough of them
11:45
Speaker 3: reward you.
11:46
Speaker 4: And we've been really fortunate to have players that have here,
11:48
Speaker 4: good things happen.
11:49
Speaker 3: And that was the case with someone like Ronda and
11:51
Speaker 3: many others.
11:52
Speaker 1: I want you to talk about the Brandon Law trade,
11:54
Speaker 1: but not just the like physical you traded into the
11:58
Speaker 1: Pirates and you've got back prospects. Think about when he
12:01
Speaker 1: first broke into the big leagues and most people in
12:03
Speaker 1: the big leagues didn't know about him, and then he
12:04
Speaker 1: signed his extension with the Rays and he was a
12:09
Speaker 1: guy that really for Rays fans has been the guy
12:13
Speaker 1: like player fans have gone and said, hey, you know what,
12:17
Speaker 1: I want to buy a Brandon Low jersey. I love
12:19
Speaker 1: watching him hit his home runs. He has been a
12:21
Speaker 1: Ray for so long. How does that change that process?
12:25
Speaker 1: But also then when you're going to the teams, how
12:28
Speaker 1: much are you talking to Brandon about that? Because he's
12:33
Speaker 1: going to be a free agent after this upcoming season.
12:38
Speaker 3: I lost my bratzy.
12:39
Speaker 4: Can you hear me, I can hear you, all right, Yeah,
12:42
Speaker 4: I always heard the beginning of that. I don't have
12:45
Speaker 4: anything in my ear, but just on Brandon, and I'm
12:48
Speaker 4: going to try to fill in the rest of what
12:49
Speaker 4: I think you probably were getting to. Those decisions are
12:53
Speaker 4: incredibly difficult.
12:54
Speaker 3: It's you know, at.
12:57
Speaker 4: Top of my job description somewhere is the responsibility to
12:59
Speaker 4: win in baseball games, and with that comes difficult decisions.
13:03
Speaker 4: But part of how we try to win baseball games
13:06
Speaker 4: is really investing in our players.
13:08
Speaker 3: And people that are here.
13:09
Speaker 4: You know, I have vivid memories of going back to
13:12
Speaker 4: the draft and Brandon had an injury coming around first
13:16
Speaker 4: base at Maryland, had him slide a little bit in
13:18
Speaker 4: the draft to where we took him in the third round,
13:20
Speaker 4: and just his whole career, that whole journey. You get
13:22
Speaker 4: to know these people, You invested them, you care for them,
13:24
Speaker 4: You play a small part in helping them.
13:27
Speaker 3: You know, all their.
13:28
Speaker 4: Professional dreams come true, and certainly his did so him
13:31
Speaker 4: hit thirty nine home or some hit thirty plus last year,
13:34
Speaker 4: you know him, Madison. Not just their contributions to the team,
13:37
Speaker 4: but the community things they've done with mental health, et cetera.
13:39
Speaker 4: Like it all, It all matters. You know, these are
13:42
Speaker 4: these are people first before their players, and you really
13:45
Speaker 4: care for them. You have to at the end of
13:47
Speaker 4: the day make the decisions you believe are best for
13:49
Speaker 4: the club. But they don't get they don't get easier.
13:53
Speaker 4: You know, we're gonna we're gonna miss him in more
13:55
Speaker 4: ways that I could describe here and in a few minutes.
13:57
Speaker 4: But to keep this train running over time, we felt
13:59
Speaker 4: like it was a decision we need to make.
14:01
Speaker 3: But like I said, don't they don't get easier.
14:03
Speaker 4: They're incredibly difficult decisions and the day they're not difficult,
14:07
Speaker 4: so you don't feel that emotion as today. Someone else
14:10
Speaker 4: needs to be doing this job.
14:16
Speaker 8: Hey, all right, I'm gonna KP.
14:18
Speaker 1: Did you want to go or I'll jump.
14:19
Speaker 5: In for co No, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead?
14:21
Speaker 2: Okay, all right, So first off, Eric, I know you
14:24
Speaker 2: mentioned this towards the top of the interview.
14:26
Speaker 8: Where are we at with the stadium?
14:28
Speaker 1: I live somewhat close.
14:29
Speaker 2: I want to know I got a new parking in
14:31
Speaker 2: four or five years where.
14:32
Speaker 4: We got Yeah, Hey, hey, I'm hopeful I live near
14:36
Speaker 4: the stadium. Potential site myself is we are I'm not
14:42
Speaker 4: in the nitty gritty of it. But I see you
14:45
Speaker 4: guys rolling some film here from some work that's been
14:47
Speaker 4: done recently. You know, Ken Babby, our CEO, is on
14:50
Speaker 4: the front line of trying to make this happen. This
14:52
Speaker 4: stated goal of opening in twenty twenty nine. Y'all have
14:54
Speaker 4: seen enough stadiums built throughout the game. If we're opening
14:58
Speaker 4: this thing in twenty twenty nine, that means some things
15:01
Speaker 4: need to get figured out here pretty soon, you know,
15:03
Speaker 4: over the next several months. So we appreciate the energy,
15:07
Speaker 4: the commitment to trying to figure this out, the urgency
15:09
Speaker 4: behind it.
15:10
Speaker 3: That's welcome.
15:11
Speaker 4: You know, this has been something as a franchise we've
15:13
Speaker 4: been after for a long time. It's been a cloud
15:16
Speaker 4: of uncertainty that's been hanging over this organization. I think,
15:19
Speaker 4: you know, it could really help elevate us just to
15:21
Speaker 4: have it put to bed. So I know they're working tirely,
15:23
Speaker 4: tirelessly at it. They're listening to the community, listening to
15:27
Speaker 4: our fans, and seems like there's a lot of positive momentum.
15:30
Speaker 4: Want to do my part to make sure this team's
15:32
Speaker 4: ready to go play competitive baseball and win baseball games
15:35
Speaker 4: wherever we're playing, and as long as we're doing that
15:37
Speaker 4: will only help those efforts to get something done.
15:39
Speaker 3: But I know they're working at it. We appreciate it,
15:42
Speaker 3: and hopefully we're getting close.
15:45
Speaker 2: Hey, I'm going to ask the fan question that probably
15:48
Speaker 2: pops up frequently because the Rays have done a really
15:51
Speaker 2: nice job of putting together competitive teams. Do things change
15:56
Speaker 2: in terms of spending if the ballpark comes to truition
16:00
Speaker 2: the way that everyone hopes it does, and also does
16:03
Speaker 2: that change even leading up to it with a new
16:06
Speaker 2: ownership group in trying to get set up for that.
16:10
Speaker 4: Right, Look, there's only one way to to find out, right,
16:13
Speaker 4: it's to get this ballpark done and and get the
16:16
Speaker 4: development on its way. I think that's the that's the hope, right,
16:20
Speaker 4: That's that's the belief, and and we'll see how things
16:24
Speaker 4: go over time. But you know the reason you know
16:27
Speaker 4: that you hope a new stadium, surrounding development everything that
16:29
Speaker 4: comes with it, that a significant part of that is revenue.
16:32
Speaker 3: Generation that can be put back into the club.
16:34
Speaker 4: I you know, I've heard Patrick talk publicly as opening comments,
16:37
Speaker 4: I've I've heard Ken talk endlessly about it. The desire,
16:40
Speaker 4: you know, is to create more revenue and to put
16:43
Speaker 4: that back in the club to create a stronger product, right,
16:45
Speaker 4: a product that is more desirable for for our fans,
16:48
Speaker 4: for our community, and hopefully leads to that first championship.
16:52
Speaker 4: So you know, that's that's kind of the goal. That's
16:55
Speaker 4: that's been the goal for just an assortment of reasons
16:58
Speaker 4: over time.
16:58
Speaker 3: We haven't quite been.
16:59
Speaker 4: Able to to line it up, but hopefully that's something
17:01
Speaker 4: around the corner here.
17:02
Speaker 3: And like I said, we've we've had a lot of success.
17:04
Speaker 4: We've been really fortunate to have great players, but you know,
17:08
Speaker 4: I think for us to truly level up, this will
17:10
Speaker 4: be a big part of it.
17:12
Speaker 6: You talked about the importance of guys getting around other
17:15
Speaker 6: guys and peer to peer support. Recently hired Kevin Kiermeyer
17:19
Speaker 6: to come back. How important do you think he's going
17:21
Speaker 6: to be to the organization and how important do you
17:23
Speaker 6: think it is to have former Rays coming back and
17:26
Speaker 6: helping these guys out in camp.
17:27
Speaker 4: Yeah, Like I think it's you know, kind of what
17:29
Speaker 4: we talked about earlier, Right, It's like I can't put
17:31
Speaker 4: myself in their position, right, I can listen to people
17:34
Speaker 4: that have done what you've done, what Eric has done,
17:38
Speaker 4: what other players here have done and someone like Kiermeyer
17:40
Speaker 4: not only has he done it, he's done it here
17:42
Speaker 4: right he grew up here. He was a thirtieth something
17:44
Speaker 4: round pick. That whole journey. Most of the guys in
17:47
Speaker 4: our clubhouse, especially right now, have been passed over, have
17:51
Speaker 4: had some sort of you.
17:53
Speaker 3: Know, adversity in a career.
17:55
Speaker 4: You know that they have survived and they've come out
17:57
Speaker 4: the other side, and we see some belief in them,
17:58
Speaker 4: and you know, kk someone's lived that journey's lived it here.
18:01
Speaker 4: So to have resources like him that are around to
18:05
Speaker 4: give back to our players, I think it's incredibly helpful
18:07
Speaker 4: to you know, talk about a lot with young players.
18:10
Speaker 4: You look back three, five, seven years. You know these lists.
18:13
Speaker 4: I have them, you know, for my job. But the
18:15
Speaker 4: man I wish I had known that two years ago.
18:17
Speaker 4: I wish I had known that five years ago. I
18:19
Speaker 4: wish this was a priority ten years ago. There's only
18:22
Speaker 4: you know, one of the biggest ways to accelerate that
18:24
Speaker 4: and shrink that list is having someone like him around.
18:27
Speaker 4: You know, that's that's done it and cares about these
18:30
Speaker 4: guys and wants to give back. Corey Dickerson, our first
18:32
Speaker 4: base coach, you know he played here, he had those experiences.
18:35
Speaker 4: He's been unbelievable, you know, with that in mind here
18:38
Speaker 4: in the early going.
18:39
Speaker 3: So look, it's about players.
18:41
Speaker 4: Like I said, we play our small part in helping
18:43
Speaker 4: them find success and.
18:44
Speaker 3: To fulfill their dreams individually and collectively.
18:46
Speaker 4: And you know, the guys that have done it are
18:48
Speaker 4: a huge part of helping the next generation find their
18:51
Speaker 4: way to doing it as well.
18:53
Speaker 1: Did you see the Randy Rose Arena Cal Rawley thing
18:55
Speaker 1: last night?
18:58
Speaker 3: I picked it up this morning.
19:02
Speaker 4: I got a little more to you know, to check
19:04
Speaker 4: out on that one, But I did happen to see it.
19:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, you know Randy, basically you saw what happened.
19:09
Speaker 1: He went to shake Col's hand, his teammate, and the
19:13
Speaker 1: whole conversation we've talked about. You talk about the people,
19:16
Speaker 1: you talk about the people inside that room, you knowing Randy.
19:21
Speaker 1: You don't know Cal. But if that happened and it
19:23
Speaker 1: was in your clubhouse for the regular season right now
19:26
Speaker 1: it's in the WBC, how would you have handled it?
19:29
Speaker 1: Or how would you Yeah, how would you've handled that?
19:32
Speaker 4: Oh that's a good well, I'd start by getting a
19:36
Speaker 4: full picture of what went out.
19:37
Speaker 3: I'm watching it now. I saw this, I saw a
19:39
Speaker 3: few clips. I have no idea.
19:42
Speaker 4: I might have ten percent of the picture right now,
19:44
Speaker 4: I might have all of them.
19:44
Speaker 3: I quite sure.
19:45
Speaker 4: I certainly would start by understanding the entirety of what
19:49
Speaker 4: went down. But look there men, their adults. You understand
19:52
Speaker 4: the competitive situation. They're not teammates right now, they're competing
19:56
Speaker 4: against each other. You just try to build as much
19:59
Speaker 4: of an understanding for what went on, who was thinking what,
20:02
Speaker 4: why they were thinking it. But knowing Randy, you know,
20:07
Speaker 4: a motivated Randy, a locked in Randy is a scary Randy.
20:10
Speaker 4: So I certainly wouldn't mind that part of it, to
20:12
Speaker 4: the extent that anything well you know, winds up Randy,
20:17
Speaker 4: usually good things happen on the field thereafter.
20:20
Speaker 3: So i'd certainly take that part. Think the world of Randy.
20:23
Speaker 2: Hey, if he goes off the rest of the tournament, Eric,
20:25
Speaker 2: then I mean that's going to happen regularly, right, Like
20:28
Speaker 2: he's gonna tell every catcher he's gonna pretend he's the
20:31
Speaker 2: catcher every game and be like just kidding just to
20:35
Speaker 2: get him pissed off. Whatever works, right, exactly, yeah, exactly, Well,
20:40
Speaker 2: we really appreciate the hangout. Thank you for stopping by.
20:44
Speaker 2: We love the hat to back to back years. It
20:46
Speaker 2: gets a lot of pub from the fans, so thank
20:48
Speaker 2: you for doing that.
20:49
Speaker 3: We like the outfight.
20:50
Speaker 1: We like it.
20:50
Speaker 4: I appreciate it. My head's too big to wear. I
20:53
Speaker 4: wish I could wear hats like a piece here. I
20:56
Speaker 4: just can't, so I get stuck with this thing which
20:58
Speaker 4: doesn't really fit either.
21:00
Speaker 3: Uh large, it's.
21:04
Speaker 4: Oh it's an eight depending on the hat, you.
21:07
Speaker 3: Know, but it's the dump.
21:08
Speaker 4: They don't they don't come down far enough. So you know, crats,
21:10
Speaker 4: what do you got? You gotta you gotta's all right,
21:16
Speaker 4: I can't pull them down far enough, you know.
21:18
Speaker 3: That's the problem. That's right, A lot of empty space.
21:21
Speaker 2: Up there, exactly. Eric, really appreciate it. Great to talk
21:25
Speaker 2: to you. Good luck this season, all right, I appreciate it.
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22:42
Speaker 6: Yeah, Hey, good to see you, mane. How's everything going
22:45
Speaker 6: in camp so far?
22:46
Speaker 9: It's going well, starting to warm up a bit, which is,
22:48
Speaker 9: you know, not the most exciting thing, but camp's going well.
22:51
Speaker 8: We're having a good time. Guys look good.
22:53
Speaker 6: So all's well when you think sorry, sorry Christy, But
22:58
Speaker 6: when you think Tampa Bay Rays, you know what's kind
23:00
Speaker 6: of a pitching factory. Take us under the hood of
23:02
Speaker 6: the other side, from the catching perspective, but also the
23:05
Speaker 6: hitting department of how you feel like they've gotten you better?
23:08
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean obviously, historically they've.
23:11
Speaker 9: Been known for their arms and their you know, plethora
23:13
Speaker 9: of talent on the bump.
23:15
Speaker 8: That's no secret.
23:16
Speaker 9: So from a catching standpoint, what's preached to me is
23:19
Speaker 9: just get as much out of these guys as I can,
23:23
Speaker 9: whether it be setups or communicating, sequencing in between innings,
23:29
Speaker 9: looking at you know, their characteristics and their pitch strengths
23:33
Speaker 9: and how can we implement that to get the most
23:35
Speaker 9: out of them. So there's a lot of communication that
23:38
Speaker 9: goes on behind the scenes with you know, our coaching
23:40
Speaker 9: staff and the analytics people who they are tremendous at it.
23:44
Speaker 9: So it makes my job a lot easier. And then
23:46
Speaker 9: a lot of the same thing goes for the hitting.
23:48
Speaker 8: Side of it too. You know, our hitting coaches have
23:51
Speaker 8: helped me a lot.
23:53
Speaker 9: I feel really comfortable with them, and I just think
23:56
Speaker 9: that the communication is really really good. And yeah, I
23:59
Speaker 9: think that they know how to tailor the analytics and
24:02
Speaker 9: the information to each guy really well.
24:04
Speaker 1: Compared to being with the Marlins. Compare the Rays and
24:08
Speaker 1: we'll get into exactly what they do what you do
24:10
Speaker 1: with the Rays, but compare it to being with the
24:13
Speaker 1: Marlins and how how different, how different it is for you.
24:18
Speaker 8: Yeah, it was an adjustment for sure.
24:20
Speaker 9: I could tell coming into this organization there was a
24:22
Speaker 9: lot of expectations and a standard because you know, Cashi's
24:27
Speaker 9: been here forever, a lot of the assistant coaches have
24:30
Speaker 9: been here forever, so it's a pretty established core of
24:34
Speaker 9: coaching staff.
24:36
Speaker 8: Compare that to Miami. I went through, you know, three
24:38
Speaker 8: different managers there.
24:39
Speaker 9: There was a lot of turnover a year over year,
24:42
Speaker 9: so getting to know new people every single year made
24:44
Speaker 9: it a little bit difficult from like a continuity standpoint.
24:50
Speaker 8: So coming in here.
24:51
Speaker 9: It was, you know, nice to have like a set
24:53
Speaker 9: group of coaching staff that had been here a while
24:56
Speaker 9: and the culture has been set and all the guys
24:58
Speaker 9: understand that there's an expectation to win here. The Rays
25:03
Speaker 9: have done some really good things, you know, over the
25:05
Speaker 9: course of history, and you know, being able to win
25:10
Speaker 9: every year without putting out, you know, a high payroll team.
25:13
Speaker 8: So it's just a testament to how they do.
25:15
Speaker 9: Things operationally here, and it was kind of cool to
25:17
Speaker 9: step foot into the door of an organization like that.
25:21
Speaker 1: Let's get straight to the receiving part of it, because
25:23
Speaker 1: when I got traded over the Rays, the reason the
25:25
Speaker 1: Rays wanted me was because I was good at receiving.
25:28
Speaker 1: And they were like, I want you to sit in
25:31
Speaker 1: the very middle of the plate. Our pitchers are gonna
25:33
Speaker 1: throw the ball. And did they still call it the
25:36
Speaker 1: the pot of gold? What do they call it the
25:39
Speaker 1: what's what's their vernacular?
25:42
Speaker 8: I think nowadays it's just middle middle.
25:44
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, that they called it. They called it the
25:47
Speaker 1: pot of gold. They were like, this is where the
25:49
Speaker 1: money's made, middle of the plate. Down off, let it move.
25:53
Speaker 1: Does that diminish some of your receiving value in the
25:56
Speaker 1: sense that maybe with the Marlins you worked a little
25:59
Speaker 1: bit more of the cows. And if it did, does
26:02
Speaker 1: that do you feel like you have enough pushback or
26:05
Speaker 1: do you definitely dive into it and say, Okay, I
26:09
Speaker 1: agree with it, it's the best for the pictures.
26:12
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean, I'm all for whatever makes the picture comfortable.
26:15
Speaker 9: Each guy is different. There are certain guys that like
26:17
Speaker 9: to shade a little bit more than others, and then
26:19
Speaker 9: there's certain guys that are like, I want to see
26:21
Speaker 9: you just right down the middle. So it's all dependent
26:23
Speaker 9: on the guy. But you know, I think that receiving
26:27
Speaker 9: is still good. Receiving numbers can still be attained even
26:31
Speaker 9: if you set up on the heart of the plate.
26:33
Speaker 9: I take a lot of pride in that, and I
26:35
Speaker 9: do a lot of work, you know, with Tomas and
26:37
Speaker 9: the guys, of working misfires and setting up down the
26:41
Speaker 9: middle and being able to catch those balls to the
26:43
Speaker 9: best of my ability. So the expectation for me is
26:47
Speaker 9: to still be able to put up good numbers behind
26:49
Speaker 9: the plate receiving wise. But yes, it's a little bit
26:51
Speaker 9: more difficult. But I think, like I said, it just
26:55
Speaker 9: depends on the guy. Because there's certain guys like Ras
26:57
Speaker 9: that you just spoke to that can move the ball
26:59
Speaker 9: around really well and he likes to be able to
27:01
Speaker 9: go back and forth.
27:03
Speaker 8: Or you got a guy like Joe Boyle.
27:04
Speaker 9: That you know, he's got electric stuff and he wants
27:06
Speaker 9: to see the big part of the plate.
27:07
Speaker 8: So it's just from.
27:08
Speaker 3: Guy to guy.
27:09
Speaker 8: It varies a little bit.
27:11
Speaker 6: Do you think have you thought about this setting up
27:13
Speaker 6: in the middle of the plate with the ABS system,
27:15
Speaker 6: Do you think it's going to give you a better
27:16
Speaker 6: advantage point of maybe some of those borderline misses kind
27:20
Speaker 6: of being over the heart of the plate. And what
27:22
Speaker 6: are those conversations like, you know, with your pictures and
27:26
Speaker 6: maybe you're catching coach in the organization about how you
27:28
Speaker 6: guys are going to implement those from you know, is
27:31
Speaker 6: it strictly going to be catchers or are pictures going
27:33
Speaker 6: to have the freedom to challenge as well?
27:35
Speaker 8: Yeah, we're still feeling it out.
27:36
Speaker 9: I mean, I'm pretty sure that there's a consensus that
27:39
Speaker 9: you know, having the pictures challenge is not the most
27:41
Speaker 9: ideal scenario, like ego, Yeah, exactly, they you know, the
27:44
Speaker 9: emotions behind it, but yeah, I think it's going to
27:49
Speaker 9: be primarily from the.
27:50
Speaker 8: Catcher or the hitter when we're up to that.
27:51
Speaker 9: But like certain scenarios, you know, still feeling it out,
27:55
Speaker 9: like when is the best time to do it?
27:57
Speaker 8: When can you afford to let you know, call slot.
28:00
Speaker 9: So that's something that's probably gonna have to be adjusted,
28:04
Speaker 9: you know, as we get more familiar with it. But
28:08
Speaker 9: as far as setting up down the middle, it it's
28:10
Speaker 9: going to have to force a little bit more awareness
28:13
Speaker 9: on my part, you know, of where the corners are,
28:16
Speaker 9: because if I'm set up down the middle and i've
28:18
Speaker 9: you know, catch a pitch that's off my body, I'm
28:20
Speaker 9: gonna have to know where my where my edges are
28:22
Speaker 9: and have to be a lot more aware of like
28:24
Speaker 9: how far I'm reaching to be able to know if
28:26
Speaker 9: a ball, you know, clips or if it if it doesn't. So, yeah,
28:30
Speaker 9: it's gonna it's gonna take a little bit more time
28:32
Speaker 9: and a little bit more spring training starts to be
28:34
Speaker 9: able to get a better feel for it.
28:35
Speaker 8: But yeah, it's an adjustment for sure.
28:39
Speaker 1: Are you good at it?
28:42
Speaker 9: I've only challenged so our system right now is you
28:45
Speaker 9: know you can challenge. You know, they want you to
28:47
Speaker 9: exhaust your challenges during the spring. But you know, if
28:49
Speaker 9: you think that there's a pitch that's closed and you
28:51
Speaker 9: don't feel like challenging, you just tap your glove then
28:53
Speaker 9: they let you know if it's a striker a ball.
28:56
Speaker 9: And so far, I think I've done pretty well with it.
28:58
Speaker 9: I've only missed a couple and the ones that I
29:01
Speaker 9: have missed. They're like those razor blade misses that are
29:04
Speaker 9: like right off the edge, which are going to be
29:05
Speaker 9: tough to tell during the year.
29:08
Speaker 1: What is the hardest part of the zone top, bottom, sides.
29:14
Speaker 8: Would I would say it's the top.
29:16
Speaker 9: I would say it's the top for sure, because obviously
29:18
Speaker 9: it's the top and bottom are both floating depending on
29:21
Speaker 9: how tall the hitter is. So you know, a guy
29:24
Speaker 9: could walk up that's six foot and his zone is,
29:28
Speaker 9: you know, right here, and then the next guy comes
29:30
Speaker 9: up he's sixty three, it floats up a little bit higher.
29:32
Speaker 9: So I mean it's tough the top and bottom. The
29:35
Speaker 9: corner stay the same, obviously, but the top and bottom. Personally,
29:39
Speaker 9: I think it's a little more difficult with the top
29:41
Speaker 9: because sometimes if I'm catching a ball over my head,
29:44
Speaker 9: it feels really high to me. But if you know,
29:46
Speaker 9: Aaron judges up to that, it's going to probably be
29:48
Speaker 9: a strike because he's so big, So that's going to
29:50
Speaker 9: be the biggest adjustment I think is the top.
29:53
Speaker 6: Tell me what you've seen out of shade, because a
29:55
Speaker 6: couple of years ago you had a left handed pitcher
29:58
Speaker 6: walking around camp that you know a lot of people
30:01
Speaker 6: considered maybe the best picture in baseball, where he was
30:03
Speaker 6: trending towards being the best picture in baseball.
30:06
Speaker 5: What have you seen out of him? And how excited
30:07
Speaker 5: are you to have him back.
30:09
Speaker 9: I'm really excited to have Shane back. I faced him
30:11
Speaker 9: quite a bit, you know, throughout my time with Miami,
30:14
Speaker 9: playing the Rays every year, and even a little bit
30:16
Speaker 9: in the minor leagues. He's always had unbelievable stuff, but
30:19
Speaker 9: I never knew him as a person, and now getting
30:21
Speaker 9: traded over here, getting to know him and the competitor
30:24
Speaker 9: he is, like, it's insane, Like he's he's so determined,
30:29
Speaker 9: and you know, I was talking to him the other day,
30:32
Speaker 9: He's like, we've never missed the playoffs while I'm you know,
30:35
Speaker 9: in the rotation, and I don't expect it to be
30:37
Speaker 9: any different now that I'm back. And that's just like
30:39
Speaker 9: his mindset. He's so confident and he's so eager to win.
30:44
Speaker 9: And I think that that having a piece like that
30:46
Speaker 9: in your rotation and in your clubhouse, it raises the
30:48
Speaker 9: bar for everybody else. So I mean, getting to know him,
30:52
Speaker 9: he's he's an incredible competitor and I can't wait to
30:54
Speaker 9: watch another full season of them.
30:55
Speaker 8: Hopefully.
30:57
Speaker 1: All right, you gotta you got, you gotta shoot U
31:00
Speaker 1: straight here. We always say that the East is really
31:02
Speaker 1: good in the NL and AL. Which division is better,
31:07
Speaker 1: the NL East or the AL East?
31:11
Speaker 9: I mean, I think right now it's the AL East
31:15
Speaker 9: for sure. I think there was a time to when
31:17
Speaker 9: maybe the NL East was a little bit better, but
31:19
Speaker 9: I think it's starting to shift a little bit, especially
31:22
Speaker 9: with all the big name signings that have been going
31:23
Speaker 9: on in this division. So I think that for a
31:26
Speaker 9: time it was the NL East and playing with Miami,
31:28
Speaker 9: that's you know, I thought that it was the best.
31:30
Speaker 9: But now with being with the Rays and getting to see,
31:33
Speaker 9: you know, what the division is shaping into, now, I
31:35
Speaker 9: really think it's the AL East for sure.
31:38
Speaker 1: All Right, did you see I wanted if I was
31:40
Speaker 1: on site, I would have reached out my hand for
31:43
Speaker 1: a handshake. I wanted to see if you were going
31:45
Speaker 1: to shake it. Did you see the Randy Rose arena
31:47
Speaker 1: and cal thing from yesterday? Oh?
31:50
Speaker 8: Yeah, I did.
31:53
Speaker 1: How would you have handled that? How would you have
31:55
Speaker 1: handled it? In the sense that you're with your You're
31:57
Speaker 1: with the team. You would be with the team the
31:59
Speaker 1: entire time, whether let's I'm trying to think YONDI Diaz
32:03
Speaker 1: and you are playing against each other in the WBC.
32:07
Speaker 1: Do you shake Yandy's hand, and how do you feel
32:11
Speaker 1: like Cal and Randy handled the entire situation.
32:17
Speaker 8: I don't know. I think everybody's different.
32:20
Speaker 9: You know, I've never played in the WBC before, so
32:23
Speaker 9: I can't really tell you what the emotions are like
32:25
Speaker 9: in that environment. I can imagine they're very high, and
32:28
Speaker 9: everyone's you know, passionate about their country and and and
32:31
Speaker 9: they want to win. And I don't know, And I
32:34
Speaker 9: think I don't know cal rally personally. I don't really
32:37
Speaker 9: know Randy personally either, so I don't know the dynamic
32:39
Speaker 9: there at all. I know, for me, like I know myself,
32:43
Speaker 9: and I'm a pretty personable guy, so I, you know,
32:45
Speaker 9: probably would have just you know, shaken his hand. But
32:47
Speaker 9: that's that's just me. Everybody's different. And like I said,
32:50
Speaker 9: I've never been in that environment before, so I can't
32:52
Speaker 9: speak to, you know, to what that is like.
32:56
Speaker 5: So tell me a little bit about your off season.
33:00
Speaker 6: Things you wanted to work on hitting wise, and how
33:03
Speaker 6: excited are you to be back in the trap, and
33:05
Speaker 6: maybe the difficulties of playing an entire season you know,
33:09
Speaker 6: in a minor league ballpark, especially under the lights that
33:12
Speaker 6: we know are not major league lights.
33:15
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean the planet Steinbrenner was tough, you know,
33:18
Speaker 9: just because obviously the atmosphere is it's not, you know,
33:22
Speaker 9: like a big league atmosphere.
33:23
Speaker 8: So it'll be exciting to get back into the trap.
33:27
Speaker 9: I'm excited about it because obviously getting to play indoors
33:30
Speaker 9: again in Florida is going to be nice. To got
33:32
Speaker 9: hot over there in Steinbrenner, but they've done some really
33:36
Speaker 9: good renovations to it.
33:37
Speaker 8: We went over there for FanFest and it looks great.
33:39
Speaker 9: New turf and some upgrades, so I think it'll be
33:42
Speaker 9: good for both the players and the fans too, So
33:44
Speaker 9: I'm looking forward to that.
33:45
Speaker 5: Is the roof slightly different color?
33:47
Speaker 8: Yeah?
33:48
Speaker 5: Or is it still?
33:49
Speaker 6: I mean from I drove by it the other day,
33:51
Speaker 6: it doesn't seem to be as white. Is it the
33:54
Speaker 6: inside looking any different?
33:55
Speaker 3: Yeah?
33:55
Speaker 9: I think the new panels that they put on are
33:58
Speaker 9: a little bit darker because they haven't been by the
34:00
Speaker 9: sun yet.
34:01
Speaker 8: So the some of the panels I think that.
34:02
Speaker 9: Were still intact were a little bit whiter, and then
34:06
Speaker 9: the new ones are a little bit darker because I
34:08
Speaker 9: don't think the sun's gotten to them yet, but it
34:10
Speaker 9: kind of looks cool. It's like a it looks like
34:13
Speaker 9: a like a pizza up there.
34:14
Speaker 1: Now, do you you did play a game in the
34:17
Speaker 1: trop before when you were at the Marlins. Correct? Yes?
34:22
Speaker 1: Whose air conditioning is better, Miami or no?
34:26
Speaker 9: I would say I would say Tropic Canna for sure,
34:29
Speaker 9: for sure, because I think Miami it was a retractable
34:34
Speaker 9: roof and a lot of times they would open it
34:36
Speaker 9: sometimes during VP and then close it back up for
34:38
Speaker 9: the game, so a lot of that hot air stayed inside.
34:41
Speaker 9: But the Tropic Cana field it doesn't retract, so that
34:44
Speaker 9: air is just constantly pumping at all times, so it
34:46
Speaker 9: gets nice and cool in there.
34:49
Speaker 1: Love that.
34:52
Speaker 6: Well, we can't thank you enough for coming on, Stay healthy,
34:56
Speaker 6: enjoy the air conditioning back in.
34:58
Speaker 5: The trough, and have a great year.
35:00
Speaker 8: I appreciate it, Kap, thanks for having me, guys,