Latest / Foul Territory / Skubal trade chat, Murakami’s market + new free agent Pete Fairbanks

Transcript

Skubal trade chat, Murakami’s market + new free agent Pete Fairbanks · Foul Territory

0:03
Speaker 1: All right, it is time for shake it up. We're
0:07
Speaker 1: talking a little bit of Trek Scuble and guys, we
0:11
Speaker 1: know we've talked about him, not only all season long,
0:13
Speaker 1: but a lot today for a good reason, and from
0:18
Speaker 1: Bob Nightingale, he says that the Tigers will listen to
0:22
Speaker 1: offers for two times Sky Young Winner Terrek Scruble. But
0:28
Speaker 1: as we have talked about, we talked about it with Ken,
0:30
Speaker 1: It just that doesn't seem likely that they would ever
0:34
Speaker 1: take an offer, right. I think Bob phrased it, you
0:37
Speaker 1: have to sacrifice your first born star players and best
0:40
Speaker 1: prospects or don't call it all KP. What do we think?
0:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that's probably the deserving package of getting
0:48
Speaker 2: a guy like Trek Scuble. You know, he automatically makes
0:51
Speaker 2: your team that much better. He's a back to back
0:53
Speaker 2: cy Young Award winner. He's a guy that you want
0:56
Speaker 2: starting playoff games. You know, in a perfect world, I'd
0:59
Speaker 2: love to see just stay in Detroit. I wish they
1:01
Speaker 2: could figure out a way to sign a deal. But
1:03
Speaker 2: knowing who his agent is, he's going to go to
1:05
Speaker 2: the end and you know, test the free agent market,
1:08
Speaker 2: which he deserves to do. But I love a guy
1:12
Speaker 2: like Trek Schouegl that you know, was brought up with
1:14
Speaker 2: an organization, finds it, finds his way rewards the organization
1:19
Speaker 2: with being the player that he thought he could be
1:21
Speaker 2: and the organization thought he could be. You know, it'd
1:23
Speaker 2: be great, it would be a great story if he
1:24
Speaker 2: could stay there, But probably very unlikely he stays there.
1:28
Speaker 2: You know, I think their run of success has you know,
1:31
Speaker 2: the emotional component to it where the fans want them
1:34
Speaker 2: to keep them, and you know, the front office has
1:36
Speaker 2: a tough decision to make because they've been successful the
1:39
Speaker 2: last two years, you know, mostly because he's been you know,
1:42
Speaker 2: their opening day starter and starting postseason games for him.
1:45
Speaker 2: But you know, you think back to an organization like
1:48
Speaker 2: the Angels that didn't trade show hey, and how behind
1:51
Speaker 2: they are as an organization, so they have a tough
1:54
Speaker 2: decision to make a right.
1:56
Speaker 3: Well, Bob may not think that highly of his firstborn,
2:01
Speaker 3: because I'm pretty sure this firstborn is not winning you
2:07
Speaker 3: a playoff series. Tarrek Scouble can win you a playoff series.
2:12
Speaker 3: So to me, the organizations that don't push as hard
2:15
Speaker 3: as they possibly could to get Schooble, what's the worst
2:18
Speaker 3: that comes of it, like you told your first pro
2:22
Speaker 3: number one prospect in your organization, Oh sorry, you know,
2:26
Speaker 3: I know we still like you even though we look
2:28
Speaker 3: to look to trade you for Tarrek Scruble. It's okay,
2:32
Speaker 3: there's no feelings hurt. Tarrek Scubele has put the Tigers
2:36
Speaker 3: on his back. He's not going to go to another
2:38
Speaker 3: organization and just start putting them. Put the list out there, Orioles,
2:42
Speaker 3: Red Sox, Philly like whatever the organization is that says
2:46
Speaker 3: they want to be all in, you should be all
2:49
Speaker 3: in for Tarrek Schooble because he will put your organization
2:52
Speaker 3: on their back. And I don't care if you already
2:54
Speaker 3: have a number one I don't care if it's a
2:56
Speaker 3: team like the Phillies who already has three legit playoffs starts.
3:00
Speaker 3: I don't care what the cost is because right now,
3:04
Speaker 3: if you trade for him in the offseason, you still
3:06
Speaker 3: get a qualifying offer for him when you let him walk.
3:10
Speaker 3: But the teams that could go for him, unless it's
3:12
Speaker 3: the Orioles, have an opportunity to pay him because you're
3:17
Speaker 3: gonna want to pay him when he's in free agency,
3:19
Speaker 3: because he is a generational ace that you get his
3:24
Speaker 3: prime for one year, and I would say the value
3:28
Speaker 3: is never higher. And I also would say the Tigers,
3:31
Speaker 3: if they do listen and do make this trade, they're
3:35
Speaker 3: not out of it.
3:36
Speaker 4: They're not completely.
3:37
Speaker 3: Out of it. Some would say, well, there'll be a big,
3:39
Speaker 3: a big step back. I get it, But you can
3:42
Speaker 3: get franchise changing players when you already have a good
3:46
Speaker 3: young cores on the team.
3:49
Speaker 1: H Well, I think that also begs the question. And KP,
3:53
Speaker 1: I'll pose this to you. Would offers get worse if
3:56
Speaker 1: this drags into the season.
4:01
Speaker 2: Probably, I mean, I think this is the maximum you're
4:03
Speaker 2: probably gonna get for him, and maybe the trade deadline
4:06
Speaker 2: when teams get a little bit desperate. But an entire
4:09
Speaker 2: year of Trek schoobl you know, starting opening day for me,
4:12
Speaker 2: you know, making thirty plus starts, you know, I don't
4:14
Speaker 2: think the value is ever going to be any higher
4:16
Speaker 2: than right now. And to cross his point, you know
4:19
Speaker 2: what the Tigers have built, you know, partially because of
4:22
Speaker 2: Trek School, but the nice young core that they have.
4:25
Speaker 2: You know, you're gonna get a king's ransom for him,
4:27
Speaker 2: and you can legitimately alter your your minor league system
4:32
Speaker 2: and even your major league roster with the hall that
4:34
Speaker 2: you're going to get back for a Trek Schooble. So
4:37
Speaker 2: whatever Detroit decides to do, I don't think there's a
4:39
Speaker 2: wrong answer here. You know, my number one choice would
4:42
Speaker 2: be figure out a way to sign him long term
4:44
Speaker 2: because he's really put the Detroit Tigers back on the
4:47
Speaker 2: map in the baseball world, but very unlikely knowing who
4:51
Speaker 2: his agent. And obviously, as a player that's won back
4:54
Speaker 2: to back Cy Young's and arguably the best pitcher in
4:56
Speaker 2: the sport, you earn that right to be a free
4:59
Speaker 2: agent and go out there test the free agent market.
5:01
Speaker 2: But a lot of it has to do with the player.
5:03
Speaker 2: Does Trek Scooble love being a Detroit Tigert? Is he
5:05
Speaker 2: love living in Detroit? You know, those are factors that
5:07
Speaker 2: you'll just really never.
5:08
Speaker 3: Know, And obviously this will never happen. And I'm just
5:12
Speaker 3: saying this because of how I would think as a
5:16
Speaker 3: general manager, as even an owner to be allowed to
5:19
Speaker 3: push this through. Think about a team, an organization that
5:23
Speaker 3: drafts so well and has found loopholes in the draft
5:26
Speaker 3: to be able to just get so much talent and
5:29
Speaker 3: a mass talent, but has been on the doorstep but
5:32
Speaker 3: never gotten to the chip. What if the Brewers traded
5:35
Speaker 3: for Tarek Scouble zero interest, zero interest in ever resigning him.
5:41
Speaker 3: I would be fine with that because it would be
5:43
Speaker 3: him and Freddie perolto good luck beating two aces, two
5:47
Speaker 3: number ones in one playoff season. You're totally pushing all
5:53
Speaker 3: in for this, and you give away four, possibly five
5:56
Speaker 3: prospects from your organization and to one year contract and
6:01
Speaker 3: at the end of the year, you know what you get.
6:03
Speaker 3: You get a qualifying offer, which all these organizations love
6:07
Speaker 3: to have. You make this deal, and you automatically become
6:11
Speaker 3: the favorite in El Central and possibly one of the
6:15
Speaker 3: toughest teams to play in the playoffs because of the
6:18
Speaker 3: fact that I know they got swept out. But it's
6:20
Speaker 3: time to strike because this is your last year of
6:23
Speaker 3: Freddy Peralta too.
6:25
Speaker 1: All right, good stuff. Once they get that overwhelming offer,
6:28
Speaker 1: which they will, they'll likely have no choice but to
6:31
Speaker 1: trade him. All right, Let's move on to the market
6:35
Speaker 1: for murder. I'm gonna you guys his name, really, I
6:39
Speaker 1: struggle with Wormy. It's gonna be fascinating. We know he's
6:49
Speaker 1: got that power, but we've also heard a lot of
6:52
Speaker 1: talk about concerns about his contact raids and also his
6:56
Speaker 1: defense at third. But I think it's fair to say
7:00
Speaker 1: that there's going to be a lot of interest in him,
7:01
Speaker 1: There's going to be a lot of chatter in him,
7:03
Speaker 1: and it's going to be really interesting to see how
7:04
Speaker 1: the market shakes out for him.
7:06
Speaker 4: KP.
7:06
Speaker 1: How do you see the market shaking out for him?
7:09
Speaker 1: And maybe the most logical fit for him?
7:12
Speaker 2: Well, I don't know much about him, but I know
7:15
Speaker 2: that he's got a ton of power. I know there's
7:17
Speaker 2: some swing and miss, and you know, you never really
7:20
Speaker 2: know some of these guys that come over from other countries.
7:23
Speaker 2: Do they want to play in these giant markets and
7:25
Speaker 2: do they want to be stars or do they want
7:26
Speaker 2: to go to some smaller markets and maybe kind of
7:28
Speaker 2: just blend in and hide. I mean, at the end
7:31
Speaker 2: of the day, are they are they leaving their country
7:33
Speaker 2: to come over and challenge himself to play in the
7:35
Speaker 2: best league in the world to make money or they'd
7:38
Speaker 2: become famous. I mean, these are the questions you have
7:40
Speaker 2: to ask if he wants to be you know, famous
7:43
Speaker 2: and playing a big market. Obviously you have your LA's,
7:45
Speaker 2: your New York's, your Chicago's, San Francisco's if he wants
7:48
Speaker 2: to play in a smaller market and maybe just you know,
7:52
Speaker 2: be able to blend in and make his money and
7:54
Speaker 2: then challenge himself and try to grow in the game.
7:56
Speaker 2: There's a lot smaller markets he can go to.
7:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I assume there's there's no way he's coming
8:02
Speaker 3: over to play in Saint Louis or Milwaukee or Cincinnati.
8:07
Speaker 3: I feel like if I'm going to another country and
8:10
Speaker 3: I've seen other guys come over and have success, I
8:12
Speaker 3: feel like it's a small it's a small list of teams. Obviously,
8:17
Speaker 3: he has a chance to, you know, following eachy Row
8:20
Speaker 3: steps and be a legend in Seattle, he has a
8:24
Speaker 3: chance to. I don't think the Dodgers have been linked
8:27
Speaker 3: to him. I don't think his style or game really yeah,
8:32
Speaker 3: I don't. I don't see how they have a place
8:34
Speaker 3: for him in the spot, you know, taking Max months,
8:37
Speaker 3: he's spot at third with his below average defense that
8:41
Speaker 3: more comedy brings, kn'ty h isn't playing first, So I
8:45
Speaker 3: don't think that that fits there. The Yankees fit is
8:48
Speaker 3: intriguing to me because of the fact that everyone's gonna say, oh,
8:52
Speaker 3: he strikes out a ton the Yankees love dudes that
8:55
Speaker 3: hit the ball really hard. I talked to a scout
8:58
Speaker 3: that said, the fear for him is not that what
9:02
Speaker 3: he's done recently. The excitement of him is what really
9:07
Speaker 3: is intriguing, because in twenty two he came out and
9:11
Speaker 3: looked like one of the if not the best hitter
9:14
Speaker 3: in Japan. And that's with Saya Suzuki there, who was
9:18
Speaker 3: putting together an all star possibly MVP type of first
9:21
Speaker 3: half and then he fell off. But more Kami's ability
9:25
Speaker 3: to make changes back in twenty two was hitting everything up, down, hard, soft,
9:30
Speaker 3: it didn't matter. They're intrigued by that. And this is
9:34
Speaker 3: a prominent There's a scout from a prominent team that
9:37
Speaker 3: would be in the market, and I'm intrigued to see
9:40
Speaker 3: if they buy the possible upside on him or if
9:45
Speaker 3: teams say, no, we don't want any of this because
9:48
Speaker 3: of the downside that they've seen in the last few years.
9:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, Christy, I was gonna ask you too. I'm not
9:52
Speaker 2: as familiar with the game in Japan, but I know
9:56
Speaker 2: the knock on him was not being able to hit velocity.
9:59
Speaker 2: But is that because you're not seeing as much velocity
10:02
Speaker 2: in Japan? You're seeing a lot more off speed as there.
10:04
Speaker 2: You know, obviously we've seen a lot of Japanese players
10:06
Speaker 2: come over here and make the adjustment. Like I, I'm
10:09
Speaker 2: just not as familiar with you. Maybe you're not seeing
10:12
Speaker 2: ninety five on the rag in uh Japan like you
10:15
Speaker 2: are here even in the minor league. So I mean,
10:18
Speaker 2: I know that's the big knock on him, as he
10:19
Speaker 2: can't hit pilocity.
10:21
Speaker 3: I said this on the show the other day that
10:23
Speaker 3: the same thing. Even when I played against Saya Suzuki,
10:26
Speaker 3: I was like, I don't know, like top of the zone,
10:30
Speaker 3: heaters can't really get to it. I'm trying to think
10:34
Speaker 3: Jojima couldn't couldn't hit a fastball.
10:36
Speaker 1: Back in the.
10:36
Speaker 3: Day, uh Aki Noori Iwamura who came over uh played
10:42
Speaker 3: with the Pirates and the Rays, wasn't able to hit
10:45
Speaker 3: the fastball. They made adjustments, and the guys, even even
10:49
Speaker 3: some of the players from Korea, the guys that can
10:51
Speaker 3: make an adjustment, they have the success. And the scout
10:55
Speaker 3: that I talked to said it wasn't the fact that
10:58
Speaker 3: he couldn't, Like it looks like his bat speed is there.
11:01
Speaker 3: It looks like he has the ability to make the adjustment.
11:04
Speaker 3: It was the fact that he didn't hit it. And
11:06
Speaker 3: sometimes KPU know this dude sit on pitches and if
11:10
Speaker 3: you're constantly getting splitters, you're constantly getting twelve six curveballs.
11:15
Speaker 3: Because the Japanese game is played more north south than
11:19
Speaker 3: it is east west. Now, all of a sudden, you're
11:22
Speaker 3: going from starters there that can touch one hundred easily
11:28
Speaker 3: to a starter that's throwing more like a triple A
11:31
Speaker 3: speed like eighty six eighty eight, and then you're going
11:35
Speaker 3: one bullpen guy who throws gas and then a bunch
11:38
Speaker 3: of you know, it's a large fall off to that
11:41
Speaker 3: velocity over in Japan. On a consistent basis, you're still
11:45
Speaker 3: seeing a lot of velocity. But wouldn't you rather hit
11:48
Speaker 3: seventy five percent of the guys that you're gonna see
11:51
Speaker 3: who have lower velocity than twenty five percent. That's how
11:54
Speaker 3: you make a career. You just annihilate dudes that don't
11:58
Speaker 3: throw well, and you just try to compete against the best.
12:03
Speaker 1: Okay, So this is an interesting part of this whole conversation. Right,
12:08
Speaker 1: we know that Jim Bowden wrote a little bit about this.
12:11
Speaker 1: He said that the other team that could be a
12:14
Speaker 1: sleeper is the Rockies because his power would be impactful
12:22
Speaker 1: at that altitude. What do you guys think about that?
12:26
Speaker 2: Ok, well, that's what I was kind of teeing up
12:28
Speaker 2: a little bit. I didn't want to give it away
12:30
Speaker 2: because I did read the notes before the show. I
12:32
Speaker 2: knew this was coming. But if you're a player who
12:34
Speaker 2: wants to just come over and maybe hide, it's a
12:36
Speaker 2: perfect place to go. You think about Chris Bryant went
12:39
Speaker 2: there and we never talked about it anymore. So if
12:41
Speaker 2: this player wants to come over, make his money, try
12:44
Speaker 2: to compete in the big leagues, and have no one
12:47
Speaker 2: ever really talk about him or care about what he does,
12:49
Speaker 2: Colorado's the place for him, but very unlikely that he
12:52
Speaker 2: would end up in Colorado.
12:55
Speaker 3: All I want to be is just on screen right now.
12:58
Speaker 3: I get this look my daughter all the time, and
13:02
Speaker 3: I'll explain it to the podcast. It's the look of
13:05
Speaker 3: tilting your head the eye roll. Sorry, Jim Bowden is
13:10
Speaker 3: not Jim Bowden. You are a friend of the show.
13:14
Speaker 3: You are a regular on this show. You have incredible insights.
13:17
Speaker 3: I can't wait till he comes on the show. But
13:20
Speaker 3: I would need to hear why Morikami is going there?
13:24
Speaker 3: Is it because he's going to go there on one
13:25
Speaker 3: year deal to increase his value. I feel like there
13:30
Speaker 3: has to be a reason why that would happen. And hey,
13:33
Speaker 3: you know what huge ballpark. You know, people think you
13:37
Speaker 3: just hit dingers. The people that have success there are
13:40
Speaker 3: the dudes that make contact because, as KP will tell you,
13:43
Speaker 3: you got to run around that freaking outfield. Everyone's like, oh,
13:46
Speaker 3: homer home or homer if you strike out in Colorado, ah, man,
13:50
Speaker 3: like you're leaving a lot of value on the table.
13:53
Speaker 3: So no, we are a legitimate show. No, Colorado should
13:57
Speaker 3: not get them unless we don't ever want to talk
13:59
Speaker 3: about out more a comedy again.
14:02
Speaker 1: Okay, well he said he did say it can help
14:04
Speaker 1: minimize his swing and miss issues, right, and that's why
14:07
Speaker 1: he said that it was part of the reason why
14:09
Speaker 1: he said that Eric I'm to strike out, Okay.
14:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would. I would say he's more likely to
14:14
Speaker 2: go to a place that's going to help him fix
14:16
Speaker 2: his problem of swing and miss than go to a
14:18
Speaker 2: place where he can hide his swing and miss in
14:22
Speaker 2: Colorado hasn't been a place that's over the last couple
14:25
Speaker 2: of years proven to say we have the department in place,
14:29
Speaker 2: the hitting coaches in place to you know, take a
14:31
Speaker 2: player and really improve them. So it's very unlikely, very unlikely.
14:35
Speaker 2: And if I can make that, I would do it. Yeah.
14:40
Speaker 2: So that's good. So maybe more comedy, Maybe more a
14:43
Speaker 2: comedy wants some Browns tickets.
14:45
Speaker 3: Who knows. Maybe that's why.
14:46
Speaker 2: Maybe he's a two way. Maybe he's also a tight
14:49
Speaker 2: end too looking for you know, I don't know.
14:51
Speaker 1: Welcome back to foul Territory. We are doing now by
14:55
Speaker 1: one of my favorite people that I have ever covered
14:57
Speaker 1: in my baseball career. That would be the one and
15:00
Speaker 1: only Pete Fairbanks. Pete, Hello, how you doing?
15:04
Speaker 4: OHI guys, pretty good? Pretty good? I gotta say pretty.
15:08
Speaker 1: Good, pretty good? Okay, all right, well then let's.
15:10
Speaker 4: Get sired cratsy to you know what is whistle a
15:13
Speaker 4: little bit there again?
15:15
Speaker 3: I thought we are all hydra I thought we're all hydrated, especially.
15:19
Speaker 4: In these, especially in these when I'm in the quad
15:23
Speaker 4: split screen, I try and stay as hydrated as possible.
15:27
Speaker 3: Love that, Love that.
15:28
Speaker 1: For you, love that with the best mugs possible as well.
15:32
Speaker 4: That's a good mug. That is a good mug.
15:35
Speaker 1: If you don't know this is Pete Fairbanks mug strikeouts
15:38
Speaker 1: for ls. You should go get one. It's a fantastic mug.
15:41
Speaker 1: It really holds a lot of coffee, and I need
15:42
Speaker 1: a lot of caffeine when I'm dealing with guys like
15:45
Speaker 1: Eric Kratz. All right, Pete, let's get right into it.
15:50
Speaker 1: As we know, your option was declined with the Rays
15:53
Speaker 1: last week. You had been with the Rays since twenty nineteen,
15:57
Speaker 1: done so many wonderful things with that organization. For that organization,
16:03
Speaker 1: you and your wife, Lydia have loved your time there.
16:06
Speaker 1: What was your initial reaction? Hi, Hello, tell her to
16:10
Speaker 1: come on it?
16:11
Speaker 4: Do you want to say Hi? Lottie? All right? Sayah,
16:16
Speaker 4: this is her moment. Well, she's If there's one person
16:20
Speaker 4: to steal a moment, it's Lottie. She did, uh. I
16:24
Speaker 4: think it was with Lauren CHEHATI. I think in twenty
16:27
Speaker 4: two in which she decided she didn't want to nap
16:30
Speaker 4: and did a full interview on It Will Be Network,
16:33
Speaker 4: sitting on my lap in her sleepsack. She's been known
16:37
Speaker 4: to she's been known to hijack a camera at whatever
16:42
Speaker 4: junction she sees fit.
16:46
Speaker 1: She has been all right, So Pete, give us your
16:48
Speaker 1: reaction when when you realized you were no longer going
16:52
Speaker 1: to be with the race.
16:54
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it's bittersweet, right you spend I mean
16:56
Speaker 4: my case has been my seventh year down here, so yeah,
17:00
Speaker 4: you know, just to to you know, walk away from
17:04
Speaker 4: that obviously is not a not something that I think
17:07
Speaker 4: i've fully you know, comprehended yet. But I mean, on
17:10
Speaker 4: the other hand, you know, getting to experience free agency
17:14
Speaker 4: and getting to see where that road takes me is
17:16
Speaker 4: something I'm definitely excited for.
17:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, as a you know, a free agent,
17:21
Speaker 2: you can never really you know, close the opportunity and
17:24
Speaker 2: maybe going back to the raids you need to negotiate
17:26
Speaker 2: with all thirty teams. But there's got to be a
17:28
Speaker 2: little part of you got to be a little bit excited.
17:32
Speaker 2: I imagine last year was a little bit difficult playing
17:34
Speaker 2: in a minor league stadium all year.
17:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was something. It was there's a reason that
17:40
Speaker 4: teams spend March down here and not the rest of
17:43
Speaker 4: the year. Yeah, it was an interesting experience. I'll be
17:47
Speaker 4: I'll be excited, you know, whether it's revisiting the trop
17:50
Speaker 4: or you know, playing in whatever a ballpark, It'll be
17:54
Speaker 4: it'll be nice to uh, to get back to business.
17:57
Speaker 3: I assume you haven't read comments or any thing, but
18:01
Speaker 3: I want your personal opinion going into free agency here
18:04
Speaker 3: and seeing what other guys get. Do you feel like
18:07
Speaker 3: eleven million dollars was too much for one what you've
18:10
Speaker 3: done and forty league closer in the game.
18:15
Speaker 4: Oh, you guys are gonna put me really on the
18:16
Speaker 4: spot here with I think, uh, you know, is it
18:21
Speaker 4: too much? That depends on your on your person. Do
18:24
Speaker 4: I think it was too much? Uh, we'll see, We'll
18:28
Speaker 4: see how the market shapes up. But you know it's uh,
18:32
Speaker 4: you know, I think on the other side of it, right,
18:34
Speaker 4: that's that's if you look at just Tampa's payroll, right,
18:37
Speaker 4: that's a lot to you know, commit to a bullpen
18:40
Speaker 4: guy when you have you know, Brandon's making what eleven
18:44
Speaker 4: and a half this year, Yan, he's making something similar,
18:47
Speaker 4: So you know, I kind of had a feeling that
18:48
Speaker 4: it would it would end up somewhere along these lines.
18:50
Speaker 4: But you know, we'll kind of see what what happens
18:53
Speaker 4: from here on out.
18:55
Speaker 1: All right, Pete, So it's your first time as a
18:58
Speaker 1: free agent, your first time going through free agency. First
19:01
Speaker 1: of all, I know it hasn't been long, but describe
19:04
Speaker 1: it for me. I guess so far your thought process
19:07
Speaker 1: and how a lot and you're gonna be taking a
19:09
Speaker 1: deep breath there. I'd see that.
19:12
Speaker 4: My thought process is see who calls? You know, that's
19:16
Speaker 4: kind of that's kind of the name of the game.
19:20
Speaker 4: But yeah, I mean it's definitely been a different experience.
19:23
Speaker 4: I've had to adjust my daily life in Saint Pete
19:26
Speaker 4: since I'm not not over working out at Alang like
19:28
Speaker 4: I was before. I had to make myself a free
19:31
Speaker 4: agent in the local gym space as well. But yeah,
19:35
Speaker 4: I mean I'm on I'm on the phone with Aaron
19:36
Speaker 4: a decent bit. Obviously, the GM meetings just wrapped up
19:40
Speaker 4: out in Vegas, so we were we were talking a
19:42
Speaker 4: bit through that, and you know, I see a lot
19:44
Speaker 4: of a lot of contact with him as we move forward.
19:50
Speaker 1: Are you wearing a Magic school Bus T shirt? I'm sorry,
19:52
Speaker 1: that's just.
19:54
Speaker 4: That's real quick. What about it? This is the O
19:57
Speaker 4: G two, not the remake? Oh no, no, no, no G
20:00
Speaker 4: miss President, not her niece.
20:02
Speaker 1: I see it's the O G. Why did you choose
20:04
Speaker 1: that T shirt?
20:05
Speaker 5: I have to know you don't like the you don't
20:10
Speaker 5: like magic school bos maybe or maybe I mean as
20:14
Speaker 5: a you know, my kids just got back.
20:16
Speaker 4: They just got back into it over like the last
20:19
Speaker 4: month or so. So yeah, I got all sorts of
20:22
Speaker 4: educational stuff, and my mom was a teacher. It's it's
20:24
Speaker 4: been ingrained in me.
20:28
Speaker 3: I love it.
20:29
Speaker 1: I love it. I love it. Between Star Wars Legos,
20:31
Speaker 1: we never know what's coming.
20:32
Speaker 3: Eric, I knew there would be some Legos and the
20:35
Speaker 3: Jingo fat helmet back there is.
20:37
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's right back there. But building one.
20:42
Speaker 3: Well well placed by you, just like just like Trisha's
20:45
Speaker 3: all her Indians, which she never had to stick it
20:48
Speaker 3: back there until Indiana football started doing well. Now all
20:51
Speaker 3: of a sudden she's like, oh Indiana, Indiana. I'm a
20:54
Speaker 3: big Indiana fan.
20:56
Speaker 4: I stuck this year to I put it here to
20:59
Speaker 4: hide the mess that follows the rest of it. So
21:04
Speaker 4: some might call it strategic. I say the strategic for
21:06
Speaker 4: a different reason, not necessarily, you know, product placement for
21:10
Speaker 4: my hobbies.
21:12
Speaker 3: What does an off season what does an off season
21:14
Speaker 3: day look like for you? I know you're not at
21:16
Speaker 3: al Lang anymore, which is so funny. Most people don't
21:19
Speaker 3: even know what al Lang is, but you have to be.
21:22
Speaker 3: You have to be. It is. It is a great
21:26
Speaker 3: place to work out. What does it look like for you?
21:28
Speaker 3: I mean, are you going to PF or are you
21:29
Speaker 3: going to Planet Fitness or La Fitness and like throwing
21:33
Speaker 3: up some fifty fives on the bench. What does an
21:36
Speaker 3: off season look like for you to get yourself ready?
21:41
Speaker 3: At this point, I assume you're not throwing yet. I
21:43
Speaker 3: mean that would be.
21:44
Speaker 4: A little bit, a little bit, not a nothing that's
21:47
Speaker 4: like super intensive, just kind of taking the arm for
21:50
Speaker 4: a walk a few days a week. So I mean, first,
21:55
Speaker 4: you got to get the kids launches right, you got
21:58
Speaker 4: to get them to school. Today. I went and watched
22:01
Speaker 4: a flag in which they say the Pledge of Allegiance
22:05
Speaker 4: and announced big news from the week for my son's school.
22:10
Speaker 4: And after that, I snagged a coffee, drove over to Tampa,
22:14
Speaker 4: worked out and threw with Yarbs, got back Lottie came
22:18
Speaker 4: back from school, crash the interview. But yeah, that's pretty much.
22:22
Speaker 4: I gotta be. I gotta be. I gotta be backed
22:24
Speaker 4: by like two fifty so I can go go hop
22:27
Speaker 4: in the drop off line. But it's a you know,
22:30
Speaker 4: it's it's the same as everybody else's off season that
22:32
Speaker 4: you know, just revolves around drop off and pick up
22:35
Speaker 4: a little bit more.
22:36
Speaker 3: Okay, well drop off drop off is fine. You do
22:39
Speaker 3: your drop off on your own. Are you a front
22:42
Speaker 3: of the line pickup guy? Because most people would say
22:46
Speaker 3: you don't have a job, and I was. I never
22:48
Speaker 3: had a job, and I would get to I would
22:49
Speaker 3: get there like maybe ten minutes early. There's thirteen people
22:53
Speaker 3: already in the pickup line, Like, are you a front
22:56
Speaker 3: of the line? Have you ever been front of the
22:58
Speaker 3: line guy?
23:00
Speaker 4: Uh? So, ours is not like a like a drive
23:02
Speaker 4: through pickup. We actually have to get out and walk
23:05
Speaker 4: up to the school. And thankfully I live close, so
23:08
Speaker 4: I try, and I try, and you know, sneak out
23:12
Speaker 4: a few minutes, a few minutes prior to uh to
23:14
Speaker 4: pick up time. That way, I'm not fighting with anybody.
23:17
Speaker 4: I can back can back the car in and get
23:20
Speaker 4: nice and comfy and make sure it's easy to pull out.
23:25
Speaker 1: Pete, Can I ask you a question that has nothing
23:27
Speaker 1: to do with the drive through line at school? But
23:29
Speaker 1: I want to ask you because you were with the
23:30
Speaker 1: Rays for so long, and we know that team had
23:33
Speaker 1: some amazing accomplishments. When you were with them, right, I
23:37
Speaker 1: want to know what your favorite moment was when you
23:39
Speaker 1: were with the Rays. There's a lot of moments that
23:42
Speaker 1: raise guys always bring up to me. They always talk
23:44
Speaker 1: about Mike Brosso hitting that home run off of Eraaldus
23:48
Speaker 1: Chapman against the Yankees and the CS. That was a
23:50
Speaker 1: big moment. But what was your favorite moment with the
23:53
Speaker 1: Ras and your time there?
23:55
Speaker 4: Were talking like team were talking personal? What's the criteria
24:00
Speaker 4: this when.
24:00
Speaker 1: You're just no, no, give me team and then give
24:03
Speaker 1: me personal.
24:06
Speaker 4: Personal was probably either a save on our first Ellis
24:12
Speaker 4: Knight that we did at the ballpark or punching the
24:17
Speaker 4: Alcs and twenty team moment would probably be going back
24:28
Speaker 4: to back Al East in twenty one. That was pretty fun.
24:33
Speaker 1: Twenty twenty one and that's that's a really, really good one.
24:36
Speaker 1: You want to talk about that save moment though, that
24:38
Speaker 1: you had for the ls Knight of the ballpark, because
24:40
Speaker 1: we had that game on Roku and I interviewed you
24:43
Speaker 1: afterwards when you got that saved because it was on
24:46
Speaker 1: the night that you were honoring ls your daughter and
24:49
Speaker 1: your foundation.
24:50
Speaker 4: Yeah, that was a good one. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure
24:53
Speaker 4: it was played on Roku. Just as early as you
24:56
Speaker 4: can are legally allowed to play a game. So I
25:00
Speaker 4: remember that a lot. I think that I think I
25:02
Speaker 4: picked somebody off. I think I picked somebody off and
25:06
Speaker 4: struck somebody out with a changeup, which are two uh
25:10
Speaker 4: you know, rare or rare occurrences for me. But yeah,
25:15
Speaker 4: I mean for us to you know, have the have
25:17
Speaker 4: that group down the turn Centron foundation, and you know,
25:20
Speaker 4: for it to play out the way it did, I
25:22
Speaker 4: thought it was pretty special, especially you know, for for
25:25
Speaker 4: the family and everything that we've you know, dealt with,
25:28
Speaker 4: and then how we've been able to make light of
25:30
Speaker 4: it over the last two years.
25:35
Speaker 3: All Right, I need you to weigh in on the
25:37
Speaker 3: debate debate that just went down last night, a L
25:40
Speaker 3: M v P cal versus judge. I get it. You're
25:45
Speaker 3: not throwing no way as Pete throwing any shade to
25:47
Speaker 3: whoever he says should have won it. But who do
25:51
Speaker 3: you think should.
25:52
Speaker 4: Have lent behind my water bottle for a second? Uh?
25:58
Speaker 4: Who do I think should have won it? I mean,
26:02
Speaker 4: I don't think that there was a wrong choice, right,
26:08
Speaker 4: I think it depends on how much you wait having
26:10
Speaker 4: to to squat behind the dish and catch one hundred
26:14
Speaker 4: and fifty pitches a night, and then you know, still
26:18
Speaker 4: be able to put the advats together. So yeah, I mean,
26:23
Speaker 4: I don't think you could be faulted for voting anyway.
26:26
Speaker 4: I think that you know, Cal had an unbelievable season,
26:29
Speaker 4: and Judge is still probably the best offensive talent in
26:33
Speaker 4: the game. So I'm gonna no, I'll flip a coin
26:39
Speaker 4: either way if you want me. I'll find a I
26:41
Speaker 4: don't know if I have a coin over here or not.
26:45
Speaker 4: I got it, actually do I have. I don't know
26:47
Speaker 4: how this is gonna work. I have one of the
26:48
Speaker 4: one hundred and one Dalmatian name tags over here. I'll
26:52
Speaker 4: flip that for you, all right, tails Judge.
26:58
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness, you're such an al East. You're such
27:02
Speaker 3: an ale.
27:02
Speaker 4: East public homer Like, yeah, no, not anymore, not anymore.
27:07
Speaker 4: I'm homeless now. I can't be a I can't be
27:09
Speaker 4: an Ale East homer. I'm not there.
27:13
Speaker 3: You you live you live down in Tampa.
27:15
Speaker 4: Now you live down in Tampa. Yep?
27:19
Speaker 3: Does this does this moment when you get I call
27:23
Speaker 3: it fired? You got fired? Like they don't want you anymore.
27:25
Speaker 3: So you're either fired, cut or sent down a JV team.
27:29
Speaker 3: Does this make you hesitate living in the city that
27:33
Speaker 3: you play in in a sense of like spending your
27:35
Speaker 3: off season? I get it, there's way worse places than
27:38
Speaker 3: spending an off season in Tampa, Like I enjoy that area.
27:42
Speaker 3: But people are People have always asked me like, wow,
27:45
Speaker 3: you moved to fourteen different organizations. Wow, what city was
27:49
Speaker 3: your favorite one to live in? I was like most
27:50
Speaker 3: of them, I lived in a residence in But guys
27:53
Speaker 3: with long term contracts, do you does this make you hesitate? Like? Oh, man,
27:57
Speaker 3: like teams can just do this. We might just want
28:01
Speaker 3: to stay in one city and it's not going to
28:03
Speaker 3: be the city that I play in.
28:06
Speaker 4: Well, what if there's a fourth option? I got bought
28:08
Speaker 4: out technically, So does that mean I was fired or
28:11
Speaker 4: does that mean I was just paid a severance package
28:12
Speaker 4: and still fired.
28:14
Speaker 3: I didn't know that. No, No, they fired you.
28:17
Speaker 4: The fired page. Yeah, I don't think. I think for me,
28:32
Speaker 4: it's not necessarily like having to pack up and move
28:34
Speaker 4: like I would live in Saint Pete regardless of it,
28:37
Speaker 4: regardless of if I played here or not. Right, Like,
28:40
Speaker 4: it's on an awesome spot. We love it, low key,
28:44
Speaker 4: great school, all the stuff, that I'm looking for. The
28:48
Speaker 4: bigger decision right for now is you know, I got
28:50
Speaker 4: kids that are school age. How do we figure out
28:54
Speaker 4: what to do whether you know, we go full time
28:57
Speaker 4: in the city, do we move back for in our case,
29:00
Speaker 4: probably Saint Louis and you know, work around the school year.
29:04
Speaker 4: So you know that's going to be the questions that
29:06
Speaker 4: we answer. Not necessarily you know, the oh I could
29:09
Speaker 4: get moved, well, that'd be fine, right if it's just
29:12
Speaker 4: you know, you and a wife or just you it's yeah,
29:14
Speaker 4: it'd spend a whole year and wherever just kind of
29:17
Speaker 4: depends on for me more of we got to get
29:20
Speaker 4: the family situation squared away before anything else.
29:24
Speaker 2: This is perfect because everyone who's never been through free agency,
29:28
Speaker 2: they make it seem like it's just so nice, it's
29:30
Speaker 2: so easy, like, yeah, you're gonna make some money, But
29:32
Speaker 2: all these tough decisions that you have to go through
29:35
Speaker 2: as a family, as a dad, it's a nightmare. And
29:39
Speaker 2: my friendly advice for you, someone who went through free
29:41
Speaker 2: agency like four or five times, because to Crass's point,
29:44
Speaker 2: I always got fired at the end of the year.
29:47
Speaker 2: Just have a conversation with your wife. You're gonna be
29:49
Speaker 2: a little bit annoying for a while. You're gonna be
29:50
Speaker 2: on your phone a lot. You're gonna be checking your phone.
29:53
Speaker 2: My advice to you is maybe get your agent like
29:55
Speaker 2: its own ring tone, so when he calls, you know
29:57
Speaker 2: it's him. Everything else is kind of you know, you
30:00
Speaker 2: get to it, if you get to it. That was
30:01
Speaker 2: kind of my big thing is I had his own tone,
30:04
Speaker 2: so I knew if he was calling, I would pick
30:06
Speaker 2: it up. But it was a nightmare, man. And obviously
30:08
Speaker 2: you're a much better player than I was, and it's
30:10
Speaker 2: gonna serve you a lot better. But have that conversation
30:13
Speaker 2: with your wife because you're gonna spend a lot of
30:15
Speaker 2: time on your phone.
30:17
Speaker 4: Yeah, do you have any ring tone suggestions? Should it
30:19
Speaker 4: be like the most annoying like stock halfle one? Okay, Yeah,
30:23
Speaker 4: I'll have to go through after that.
30:24
Speaker 2: When you like, when you're in another room, when you're
30:26
Speaker 2: in another room, it's very obvious who's calling.
30:29
Speaker 4: Like the sirens going off.
30:31
Speaker 5: Yeah, money, money, money, money.
30:36
Speaker 2: Yeah.
30:36
Speaker 4: That was just a Jerry m post from Jerry maguire.
30:40
Speaker 4: As soon as it comes on.
30:41
Speaker 2: I got I got one more question for you too,
30:43
Speaker 2: and it's it's not to throw shades at the Rays
30:45
Speaker 2: because obviously you had a ton of success there and
30:48
Speaker 2: we would never close the book on going back to
30:50
Speaker 2: the Rays. But seeing someone like a former teammate like
30:53
Speaker 2: Blake Snow, you know, leave Tampa, go some other places,
30:56
Speaker 2: but you know, land in a place like la and
30:58
Speaker 2: you know, finally win a World Series got to make
31:00
Speaker 2: you smile a little bit, right.
31:02
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I'm I'm super excited for Blake and
31:05
Speaker 4: Blast And I mean there's a lot of there's a
31:07
Speaker 4: lot of Ray ties over there, you know, especially shout
31:11
Speaker 4: out to my man not as uh, you know, maybe
31:14
Speaker 4: not as mainstream as Blake, but ben Ward Fat getting
31:16
Speaker 4: themselves a ring. So yeah, obviously, you know, you're super
31:19
Speaker 4: anytime that any of your friends, you know, see that
31:22
Speaker 4: kind of success, You're You're very excited for him, you know,
31:25
Speaker 4: regardless of where it is. I think that, you know,
31:29
Speaker 4: And as I told my agent, my dad, my mom,
31:32
Speaker 4: anybody that listened, I was like, I'm not really watching
31:34
Speaker 4: the World Series, but I'm gonna watch when those two
31:36
Speaker 4: are playing.
31:39
Speaker 1: We love that. So much support for your former teammates.
31:41
Speaker 1: Before we go, one one fun question for you, Pete,
31:45
Speaker 1: what's your favorite T shirt in your closet because you
31:47
Speaker 1: have so many. I've literally seen you wear about every
31:49
Speaker 1: single type of Pokemon, Star Wars, ted Lasso, Magic school Bus.
31:54
Speaker 1: You have to you have to give me.
31:55
Speaker 4: A favorite favorite. I'm getting this is perfect. Last question,
32:03
Speaker 4: has a lid has a doctor's appointment that we got
32:05
Speaker 4: to get to? Yes, I will say the favorite one
32:10
Speaker 4: in my closet. I got a Marvel Kith or Marvel
32:14
Speaker 4: x Men collab. Marvel Kith x Men collab from a
32:18
Speaker 4: few years ago. That's like a Cyclops trading card. That's
32:20
Speaker 4: probably that's probably number one.
32:23
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, that's fantastic. Pete Fairbanks, thank you so
32:26
Speaker 1: much for joining us. We appreciate the time. Say hi
32:29
Speaker 1: to Lydia and the kids for us. Next time, bring
32:31
Speaker 1: the kids with you. We love them on the show.
32:32
Speaker 4: Yeah, we'll get lotting on here next time. For sure,
32:35
Speaker 4: we can't have Isaac because he is way too coherent
32:38
Speaker 4: and talks a lot.
32:41
Speaker 1: I love it. I love it, Pete, thank you, We
32:43
Speaker 1: appreciate it.