Latest / Foul Territory / Buck Showalter examines postseason managers and decisions + MLB’s new CBA proposal allows for WHAT!?

Transcript

Buck Showalter examines postseason managers and decisions + MLB’s new CBA proposal allows for WHAT!? · Foul Territory

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Nathan, how are we looking? How are we looking?
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Better now that that's off the screen. How's that? We
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: got the great Todd Frazier here with us. There's another
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: guy I tried to acquire all the time, and we
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: never could get him.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Oh, come on, dog. Damn, I would have loved that.
• 0:25
  Speaker 4: He was your type of player, Buck. He was your
• 0:27
  Speaker 4: type of player.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Of course he was. God bless him. We could pick
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: the right guys. We just couldn't afford to pay him sometimes.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Was he a donkey? What is your type of player, Buck?
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: He's a baseball player, and everybody that played the game
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: knows what I'm talking about. Just right place, right time,
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: says the right thing at the right time. When he
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: steps on his tail, he goes, I screwed up. Just trustworthy,
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: know what you're getting every day. No one ever says
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: in the locker room, hey, Todd's having a bad day today.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: He's in a bad mood. Stay away from him. You
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: can't do that. Okay, I'm done.
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: Keep going. Hey, listen, I'm here for all that. Keep going.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: He's quasi talking about you. So, Buck, is there any
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: are there players you've seen this postseason? Maybe that you
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: hadn't expected. Who are those guys? You know, whether it's
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: a Ray, whether it's a Brewers or somebody that you've
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: watched and you said, you know, if I were back
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: in a in a manager seat, that's the guy, not Frazier,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: because he ain't doing anything for you now. But is
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: there somebody now out there that could produce for you?
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: You know, I think More importantly, everybody can see now
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: why Tampa and Milwaukee are good. I think we kind
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: of know L.A., but I think what a lot of
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: people miss about L.A. is how good a baseball team
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: they are. Yeah, they're talented and this and that, whatever,
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: and they've got maybe the best player in the game,
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: but they have a lot of baseball players on that team.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: And I think one of the hardest things to do
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: managing sometimes is to play a good hand well, and
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: I think Dave Roberts plays a good hand well. But
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: to answer your question, you know who's really caught my
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: attention is actually the manager of the White Sox, Will Benable.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Now I know why they're making improvements. He's got a nice,
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: calming feel there. He doesn't have a panic. I don't
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: know how you put it other than he's got a
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: good face, Carl. You can see that he's not going
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: to shake when the finger's on the trigger. But he
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: has respect for the players. But they play the game
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: a certain way. And I think he's a guy, more
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: than anything, That has caught my eye.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's a really good one.
• 2:38
  Speaker 5: I want to shift my gears to another manager in
• 2:40
  Speaker 5: Aaron Boone over with the Yankees.
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: You've been there before.
• 2:43
  Speaker 5: You understand the severity, what comes with playing in New
• 2:46
  Speaker 5: York and what comes with managing in New York. He
• 2:48
  Speaker 5: had some big decisions to make. Aaron Judge goes down
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: and he's trying to figure out who to play where,
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: where to start a guy in the lineup. He made
• 2:56
  Speaker 5: a couple different moves. Everybody's like, well, he needs to
• 2:58
  Speaker 5: make this and that. It's hard decisions. Can you just
• 3:01
  Speaker 5: go over, like, what kind of thing Aaron Boone was
• 3:03
  Speaker 5: going through this last three games to figure out who
• 3:07
  Speaker 5: to play? Because nobody hit there in this whole series
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: for the Yankees. Yeah, you're searching, Todd. And you got
• 3:12
  Speaker 5: a short window and your sense of urgency. You know,
• 3:16
  Speaker 5: you just don't sit there and take it. You got
• 3:17
  Speaker 5: to do something. And sometimes you do things unconventional for
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: the season. I've always said there's four times you manage.
• 3:24
  Speaker 5: You manage in spring training. You manage in the regular season.
• 3:27
  Speaker 5: You manage a certain way in September, and then you
• 3:29
  Speaker 5: manage a different way in the postseason. And sometimes you
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: can have too many toys. I don't think he did.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Let's face it. He lost Aaron Judge. That was tough.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: And there's a lot of organizations that would like to
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: win 90 games every year for the last X number
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: of years and be in the playoffs. But we all
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: know the expectations in New York. It's what have you
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: done for me lately? And that's the gig you sign
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: up for when you take it. You know the job descriptions.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: And the fans don't want to hear you complain about
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: how tough the job is. They really don't. Just show
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: me the end game. But there's a lot of things
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: that you do them because they give you the best
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: chance to win. Whether you walk somebody with the bases
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: loaded or you hit, you know, whatever you bring in.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: You know, I see the Yankees with eight left handed
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: hitters in the lineup. I immediately look at Tampa Bay's
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: left handed relievers because there's going to be a long
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: window there, a lane, whatever they call it today. to
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: do that but so what do you do Aaron's trying
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: to attack the starting pitcher and get him out of
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: there and the heck with what happens in the bullpen
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: but it was fascinating to watch and you really got
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: to see what Tampa Bay was Tampa Bay.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: So it feels like prior to the Dodgers kind of
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: going off on this recent run here and they're great
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: on the road but they played a lot better that
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: the Brewers and Rays have have become the two teams
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: that not only are hot and they have good vibes
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: around them. They're damn good teams. I mean, they just
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: fundamentally don't screw up. They never hurt themselves. They have aces.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: They have big boppers in the middle. They play small ball,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: this expectation that's on the Yankees every season. You hear
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Aaron judge. Well, you know, every year we don't carry
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: the trophy.
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: We fail.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Is that a, I mean, I don't know. Is it
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: is the right word fair? Because to me, that's unreasonable.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: It feels like the analytics. It feels like the the
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: advanced scouting that's being done nowadays can neutralize a payroll. Therefore,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: the Brewers and the Rays can be every bit as
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: good as the Phillies or the Braves or the Yankees
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: or the Dodgers. Now, the Dodgers combine them both.
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: They spend the hell out of it. And they are
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: a smart organization. But these smart organizations can neutralize many
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: of those benefits that the big money teams have. Yes
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: or no?
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: You know, Carl, what's funny is teams like Tampa and
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: Milwaukee eliminate all the excuses for the other teams. Oh,
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: woe is me. We only have this cycle, this area,
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: and then we have to recycle the players.
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: No, you don't.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: Just make better decisions on players. Hire better coaches, you know.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: Be better fundamentally sound in spring training throughout your organization.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: There's ways to do it. You know, I know at
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: the Baltimore, I said, okay, we can't, I'm tired of
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: hearing about the Yankees and the Red Sox and Toronto's
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: probably got more money than anybody if they want to
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: spend it. But I said, so what can we be
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: better at? Who are we? What's your identity? You know,
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: can we be better at player development? Can we be
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: better at scouting? Can we be better at relationships? Can
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: we be better fundamentally? Can we be better defensively? You know,
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: we had a prerequisite. If you didn't have own base
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: percentage and could, that's the baseball and above average rate,
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: you are going to play for us. So our players
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: got to the point where they go, okay, that's a
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: nice guy, but he can't play for us, you know,
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: because you got to have an identity for who you are.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: And I think Milwaukee and, and, um, Tampa have eliminated
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: excuses for big market clubs. And I tell you, if
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: they both end up in the world series, I wonder
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: how that's going to affect the lockout. Cause it's going
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: to change some of the narrative for sure.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 7:04
  Speaker 5: Yeah. The 2026 MLB playoffs are here.
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: And guess what? SeatGeek has you covered. Let's go.
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: If you're looking to go to a playoff game, which
• 7:16
  Speaker 5: I know everybody is, your favorite team, if they're around,
• 7:20
  Speaker 5: go find SeatGeek. They're going to find your best seat
• 7:22
  Speaker 5: that you can get. If that green light is on,
• 7:25
  Speaker 5: that means it's the seat to go. If it's red,
• 7:27
  Speaker 5: that means no. Guess what?
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: There's some big teams going. Kratzy, tell us about it.
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: I'm definitely going to a Brewers game. There's no bad
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: seats in Milwaukee. because the stadium is right on top
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: of the field. It feels like you're in the grass.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: And you know what? If your team lost this year,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: go get yourself some concert tickets.
• 7:46
  Speaker 5: They have it all. And, of course, we have a
• 7:48
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• 7:52
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• 7:55
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• 7:58
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• 8:01
  Speaker 5: and have the code automatically added to your account.
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: So you can use it later. Go to SeatGeek.
• 8:07
  Speaker 5: Now, as a manager, you have everything from top to
• 8:11
  Speaker 5: bottom figured out. You got who you're going to start.
• 8:14
  Speaker 5: That's out the window. You already understand that.
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: Pause, pause.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: Hold on, Fresh. Hold on, pause. Like Buck shook his head. No,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: he doesn't have it all figured out. The managers do
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: not have it all figured out. You read that, right?
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: You saw him like, well, wait a minute. Nope, don't, don't, nope.
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: Well, that's what I was getting to. Go ahead, Buck.
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: Go ahead.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: You know, there's an old thing. Let him ask his question.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: It might be something easier to answer than I was
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: preparing for.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: I know.
• 8:45
  Speaker 5: I was just trying to finish by saying, once you
• 8:48
  Speaker 5: have everything written down, what you hope happens, I guess
• 8:50
  Speaker 5: you should say. Now, how much work and time and
• 8:54
  Speaker 5: effort do you have to put in as a manager
• 8:57
  Speaker 5: for that time when all of a sudden your starter,
• 9:00
  Speaker 5: the top guy, goes, three innings now, all of a
• 9:04
  Speaker 5: sudden everything goes haywire. Is there something that you do
• 9:06
  Speaker 5: with your management and try to figure that out?
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: Or is it just, shoot, here we go.
• 9:10
  Speaker 5: We got to find our way just like we did
• 9:12
  Speaker 5: in the regular season.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, your job is the what ifs. You know, if
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: you don't know what you're going to do, if the
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: first guy gets hit with a line drive on the
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: second pitch of the game, you haven't– I never put
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: my head on the pillow without knowing who that guy
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: is going to be during the regular season. I think
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: basically when the teleprompter breaks that you set up before
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: the game and how you hope it goes, that's when
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: you earn your stripes as a manager. You know, the
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: script changed. You know, this guy's supposed to pitch two
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: innings as an opener. Guess what? He can't get anybody out.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: What are we going to do? Because you don't get
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: a timeout, you know, until tomorrow. And now these guys
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: pitching back to back and whatever. Tony La Russa had
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: a great line. You coddle them and take care of
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: them and do all these things and rest them so
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: you can abuse them at the end of the season.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: That's a little strong. And I think Tony was tongue
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: in cheek with it, but you're seeing that some now.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: This time of year, everybody's operating on that adrenaline that
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: the postseason brings you back to. You know, Todd, you know,
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: the last time you're in 100% is the day you
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: got out of the car in spring training. You know,
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: it's just different forms of you know, where you're at.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: I used to say, hey, Manny, your 80% is better
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: than that guy's 100%. So I think this time of year,
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: you've got to stay with a hot hand as much
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: as possible. And you can't say, well, that's just the
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: way we've always done it because there is some sand
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: ticking out. And I didn't have all the answers. There's things,
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: if I knew how they were going to turn out,
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: you know, you wouldn't have done them that way. But
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: you want to give your team the best chance to
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: win by the information that you have in front of
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: you from a 162-game season. That was pretty deep.
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: It definitely was.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: Hey, what about mascots? Are we firing any mascots today?
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: I think we handled the birds, and that's it. Here's
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: one for you, Bob. Once we're done firing mascots, did
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: you see this? This was the latest proposal from Major
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: League Baseball I don't know if you've seen it because
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: I think it may have just come out. They propose
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: starting in twenty nine. One hundred and fifty four game
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: regular season. OK, one fifty four best of seven division
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: series opponent selection in the wild card and the division series.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: So the team with the best record can pick who
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: they want to play. in the wild card, and then
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: the division series. So 154, hired team gets to pick
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: who they want to play in the wild card and division.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: The 154 apparently gets everybody a day off, which seemingly would,
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: as you just said, you get out of the car
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: and you feel a little better. You're not going to
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: feel great, but it gets you a day off. Just
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: first thoughts, and I know we just threw this at you.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: Well, my first thought is from a competitive standpoint, if
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: I pick you to play, you're going to have a
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: real edge on playing me. wait a minute, you picked us?
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: You picked us. Really? Okay, I got something for you.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: I got something for you.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: No, I don't, I like the idea of getting to
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: the point, either do it one or two ways. Have
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: the leagues separated, and the only time you play each
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: other is in the World Series. That used to be
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: really cool. Or everybody plays everybody, three at home, three
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: on the road. You can do the math with the
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: teams and the possible expansion or reduction of teams, quite frankly.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: and do it where everybody's facing the same competition. The
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: White Sox have played Arizona three at home and three
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: on the road. So when you're done, we've all got
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: the same criteria to get in there, and that would
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: give you some integrity to the schedule. But it's like
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: I don't think they're going to do it in our time.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: I like the 154. I do. I think there's a
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: lot of branches off that would be good. What do
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: you guys think?
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: Are there too many teams? I don't like 154.
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: I don't think it's going to happen because they want
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: those extra gates.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Stop. They can't knock you through. They get more in
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: the postseason. They get more in the postseason. You go
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: seven game division series now. I don't want more. That
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: was really my question.
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: I don't want more postseason because I feel like in
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: a sense we're watering it down a little bit. I
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: think if you're going to take We don't know who's
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: going to be the American League championship, but if you
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: go nationally championship and then you go broader out and
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: you look at the teams that made it, it's going
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: to be even worse when we look at the American
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: League championship and go broader out. The other teams that
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: made it were not playoff teams. So while we'd be
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: adding more games, I understand that to me, adding more teams,
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: could we have it where we would cut teams down?
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: so that we don't have the Astros, or like you said,
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: you have two divisions, and then everybody just has a
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: top-down trickle effect.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: I watch Houston and different teams. When you can get
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: into a playoff with 500 or less, there's something wrong
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: with the format. It's as simple as that. And don't
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: tell me it just happened this year only or that
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: year only, whatever. Anytime your format allows a team that
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: can't win more games than they lose, you've got something
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: wrong with your format.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm a fan of and I've heard this bantied
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: about two straight leagues. That's it. And the top eight
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: from each league will advance. I love that idea. And
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: I like the idea of less interleague play. I think
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: we once tried to have it just against your natural rival. Look,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: I was a kid that used to just want to
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: see Carl Yastrzemski line up on the first baseline wearing Boston.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: I didn't care if he played the All-Star game, but
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: I didn't care about the National League growing up in
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: an American League city. I just wanted to see my
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: dude up there. And I don't want the same uniform
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: on every player. I want to see my uniform. That's
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: the team I wrote.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: It's like the All-Star game. I used to love to
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: watch guys in their uniforms, look and compare the uniforms.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: And I've got a couple of BP jerseys. Looked like
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: I was from the Jetsons. I didn't wear them. But,
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: you know, we've kind of gotten away from some of that.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: You know, it's about your team and representing your team
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: in an All-Star game. And you got to compare, you know,
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: the Arizona home team with the Yankee home team.
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: Whatever, the way it all looked.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: But, you know, I don't want to be the old
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: guy on the front porch screaming at the kids.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: Well, you're clearly the new guy riding around in a
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: convertible there with the whole buckle-up buck. Why wouldn't they
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: have you on a tractor? I mean, you're a grinded-out guy,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: you know, groundskeeper. How about a tractor with buckle-up buck?
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: Seems more appropriate.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: How about not having it at all? Okay.
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: No, no, we're definitely having it. Claudia would be very,
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: very upset if we didn't have that front end.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: We worked hard on that. You did a tremendous job, Buck.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: Can we get a different version?
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: Can we get a different jersey on it?
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: Jacket?
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: We could see. We could see if we can do
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: some work.
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: I like the Texas. I like that one.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: I like that one.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: Hey, Bob, you tell them the story. All-star game in Texas.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: You were full gear. Baseball tonight. You were the manager.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: It was about 154 degrees. You come out parading in
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: a long sleeve. It was a long sleeve Yankee jacket,
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: wasn't it?
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: I didn't have my jersey with me. Oh. Okay, now
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: we know. Carl, do you remember the night before when
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: we're over at Six Flags over Texas and it's 173?
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: That's what I'm talking about.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: I thought you talked about the day of the game.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: No, no, the night before.
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: No, no.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: Back then you had to actually manage the game. I
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: had three first basemen, Frank Thomas, Tino Martinez, and Mo Vaughn. Frank,
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: after an at-bat, goes, I'm out of here and walks
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: out of the dugout. You know, the other two guys,
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: I'm trying to get everybody in the game and not
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: get anybody hurt. And, oh, by the way, you need
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: to win the game. And Randy Johnson's pitching for me,
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: who we just had a brawl with three days earlier.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: That was a lot of fun, too. So, yeah, the
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: All-Star game, it's so much easier to manage it now
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: because everything's set up for you. Back then, you had
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: to actually manage it.
• 17:31
  Speaker 5: Hey, how was it working with Carl over here, man?
• 17:35
  Speaker 5: I got the joy to be with him for five years.
• 17:37
  Speaker 5: Talk to me about what it was like working with
• 17:39
  Speaker 5: Ravi up there.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: He didn't like it too much in the beginning. He
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: didn't like it.
• 17:44
  Speaker 5: Uh-oh.
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: Oh, he's speaking for you now.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: I always kind of liked that. I had a lot
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: of respect for it. It's like being on college campus.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: Carl kept me from stepping on my tail, but we
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: knew we had to be out there by a certain
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: time for John Kruk and I to make it through
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: Taco Bell. You know, there wasn't a lot of places
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: to eat at Bristol after midnight, and if John didn't
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: get the taco, John had a sign on his door
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: at the hotel that said, marinating. It didn't say do
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: not disturb. It just said marinate.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: Do you boys know this? He eventually got to a
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: place where he was comfortable because this idea that analysts
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: now need to know the questions you're going to ask
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: before you ask it. No, no, no, no, no, no.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: That removes any spontaneity.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: Let's go back to, if you didn't work hard and
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: you didn't show up and you Everything wasn't beneath you.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: I've seen Carl embarrass guys on the air because he
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: had so much pride in that. He had so much
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: pride in that show and so much want to and
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: wanted to be good at it that it's, and I
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: won't name names, some guy showed up and no notes,
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: just kind of winging it. Carl could make him, he
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: would go, he would go, what did you mean by that?
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: Explain to everybody out there what you just meant by that.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: The guy would fumble around. So I learned my lesson watching,
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: you better bring it. But I also learned about not
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: cussing on the air Harold Reynolds and I were going
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: back and forth one time and Harold said something and
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: I didn't know we were, because usually they go 10
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: seconds to back and I went something like FU Harold
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: or whatever. I was kidding around with him and all
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: of a sudden I thought I'd made it. I get
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: back down to the room and they're blaring over the loudspeaker.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: I got called in on that one. Also, Carl asked
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: me one time on a pitch. This was like the
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: second show phrase. He goes, where was that pitch, Buck?
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: I said, well, it looks like it's right down the
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: cock to me, Carl.
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: I had an issue.
• 19:33
  Speaker 5: Hey, you're just being real. I mean, that's all you
• 19:35
  Speaker 5: can answer. We don't want you to tell me. That's
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: all we want.
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: I got a lot of cards.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: Oh, Lord.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: That night that Rob Nguyen was blowing the saves on
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: the West Coast.
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: Oh, God.
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: Got to understand, you got to get all the West
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: Coast games in in the can so they can play
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: them the next day. So you can't get... off the
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: air until San Francisco closes their game. We had this
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: big row of TVs, and Rob Ninn had gone through
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: a period, great closer, where he blew like four saves
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: in a row. And John Kruk was screaming at Rob
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: Ninn for blowing saves. Because we couldn't make talk of it.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: Sadly, that happened a lot. Mike McFarlane once fell asleep
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: underneath a tiny desk in a closet while we were
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: waiting for a 17-inning Rob Nen game to end. Just
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: before we say goodbye to Buck, you two may not
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: know this. Buck and I were at the All-Star game
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: in Seattle in 01. I ordered Chinese food to my room.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: I had an allergic reaction, had to be taken to
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: the hospital. Show Walter drives me to the hospital. Saved
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: my life. So I'm indebted to Buck.
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: Wow. Saved my life.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: My son was with me, and he goes... dead is
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: mr carl gonna die i said i don't think so
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: he's gonna go tonight his eyes were shut phrase all
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: right his eyes were shut his nose and nostrils were
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: almost shut this guy was he's getting ready to kick
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: the bucket i go oh you're serious he goes oh
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: yeah oh yeah i'm serious.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: Hey who was on this who was on the who
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: was on the set the next night doing sports center
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: of baseball tonight post enough carl thank you Thanks to Buck.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: All right, Bucky. Thank you, buddy. We appreciate it.
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: You look good.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: Good to see you again.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: God bless you. See you, guys.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: See you, buddy.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: We asked Buck Showalter earlier today. MLB came out with
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: a set of proposals, including a 154-game regular season, a
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: seven-game division series instead of a five-game division series, allowing
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: a team with a better record to select the lesser–
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: seeded opponent, and that one got under buckskin. He's like, okay, yeah,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: you do that. You're going to pick us. That's a problem.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: So the proposal that came out was responded to by
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: the players who suggested, well, the league made a few
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: scheduling proposals. We're going to review those. Players will weigh
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: in on them. So that's not a we're rejecting them. However,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: the unfortunately comes midway through where The response says the
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: league once again made it clear all of the proposals
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: are contingent on players agreement to a salary cap, a
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: system that guts player rights and compensation, as well as
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: its other anti-player proposals. So if you were a glass
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: half full person and read only half that, you'd be like, OK, well,
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: they're going to look at it and consider them. And
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: then you get to the bottom half. You're like, well,
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: that's not going to happen because they're tied to a
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: whole new economic system and that. that won't work. By
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: the way, I thought, Kratzy, that I thought that all
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: of these things were supposed to be done in private.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: I thought there was no negotiating through the media. What happened?
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: Where did that go sideways? That's a question.
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: That's a question for one of the sides that probably
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: runs a little bit more of a deeper PR program
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: than one of the other sides of these negotiations. So
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: That is, yeah, it should be done in private. You
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: look at other unions and how they negotiate their contracts,
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: all that stuff, it doesn't quite seem the same. Is
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: there benefit in a 154-game season for a player's health?
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: Possibly.
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: But if you're a player and you say, well, yeah,
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: that's what we want, please remember that the owners will
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: make sure they're prorating contracts. Your contract says, based on
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: a hundred and I think it's considered based on 159
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: game season, meaning you can miss a few games. I
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: know we play one 62 now, but you can miss
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: a few like because of rain outs, like the Orioles
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: only played one 61. He's Pete Alonzo still gets his
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: entire contract. If this gets cut down, just know that
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: you're getting cut down a few days pay also. And
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: the extra pay, The extra health benefit?
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: We'll see.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: We'll see where it lands. I'm into it only because
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: I think most people want more playoffs. And seven-game series
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: are better than five-game series. So if the tradeoff is
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: I got to give up eight regular season games for
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: more postseason games, not more teams, just more games, sign
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: me up for it and shoot. If somebody's going to
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: get pissed off because they want to play you, more
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: power to it. Stir the pot a little bit. We
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: like to stir the pot.
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: Stir it up.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Look at you.
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: Stir it up. I love it. Take a month off.
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: Make it 140 games. Listen, it's long. It's long. Make
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: the playoffs longer. I don't care. I just want baseball
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: next year. I want baseball. That's it.
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: Todd was in the third week of spring training going,
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: Are we playing all these games this year? Let's just
• 24:41
  Speaker 4: get right to the playoffs. Todd wants the lights when
• 24:44
  Speaker 4: they're the brightest. And some guys can feel like the
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: season is too long. A guy like me who didn't
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: play much, I was like, let's not cancel any more games.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: I want to get in a few. If we keep
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: having days off, I'm going to keep sitting on the bench.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: Neither of you, I assume, believe that salary cap will
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: be a part of next year's deal.
• 25:06
  Speaker 5: No. I don't, that's the one thing that the owners
• 25:12
  Speaker 5: feel like that's, whether you play or not, it's going
• 25:15
  Speaker 5: to be on salary cap. And that's a shame because
• 25:18
  Speaker 5: the game is in a really, really good place right now.
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: I think the owners are doing a really good job
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: of being like, well, we want this.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: It's the salary cap with this.
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: I feel like they see that there's an option or
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: there's ability to maybe push this salary cap narrative and
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: that they can get the other things slid in there
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: and say, okay, okay. We won't have a salary cap.
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: We'll toughen the penalties at the top end. We'll increase
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: the taxes. We'll make it harder to go over, but
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: the CAP word isn't going to be there, and we
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: will have a floor. We'll require teams to meet a
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: certain threshold. I don't know that they'll do that. I
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: think there's going to be something. I think they're going
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: to have a hard time convincing enough although owners will
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: be 30 to 30 to zero perfect everybody agrees i
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: just think i think that floor needs to be addressed
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: because of the competitive part you can't have a monopolistic
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: league that the that major league baseball is without having
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: competitive integrity and i don't think there is competitive integrity
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: year after year from all 30.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: Teams Fascinating numbers there, fellas. This is sort of the
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: conversation about the Yankees and the expectations every year. I
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: believe the Guardians, Rays, White Sox, and Brewers combined payrolls
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: is $ 50 million less. $ 50 million than the Dodgers. Less
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: than they're paying Shohei Otani. Combined.
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: Talk about... It's.
• 26:58
  Speaker 5: Absolutely... Amazing. And they say baseball is in a bad
• 27:02
  Speaker 5: spot right now. You got teams that are in this
• 27:06
  Speaker 5: thing and it's not the big name teams.
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: I mean, talk about parody. Talk about where baseball is.
• 27:12
  Speaker 5: This is awesome right now, honestly, that see all these
• 27:15
  Speaker 5: different teams that shouldn't really have chances to win the
• 27:19
  Speaker 5: World Series or even get to a playoff.
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: Get after it. The White Sox. Awesome.
• 27:23
  Speaker 5: They're one win away of playing the Rays. The Guardians
• 27:27
  Speaker 5: are making a nice little comeback. we talked about the
• 27:31
  Speaker 5: Brewers already, but the Rays, like these teams, they're very good.
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: And why are they good? One culture.
• 27:38
  Speaker 5: And two, they just got guys that love to play
• 27:41
  Speaker 5: the game of baseball and they don't need to be
• 27:43
  Speaker 5: the big names to win. So I hope the best
• 27:45
  Speaker 5: for all these teams. I know there only has to
• 27:47
  Speaker 5: be one winner, but this is really good right now.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I'll be honest with you. The neutralizer in, in
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: the expectation is the ability to, and the, the, think
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: about the guys that the Rays acquired. Think about Liam Hicks.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: Think about a rookie like Mesa who was thrown out
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: of a Marlins world and what he's doing. At some point,
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: the idea that you're just throwing dollars at things, when
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: the intelligence, when the analytics, when all of these things combine,
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: they can equal the dollars spent. And that's why this
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: idea that certain teams or only the teams are going
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: to win No more, babe. No more. Major League Baseball
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: has changed.
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: It's definitely changed. And it's changed for the better. It's
• 28:34
  Speaker 4: a watched game that you can see teams doing things
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: a different way. You're seeing different teams being able to
• 28:41
  Speaker 4: win in different ways, and it's not just one way.
• 28:46
  Speaker 5: I mean, Ravi, how about a guy named– you ever
• 28:50
  Speaker 5: hear of a guy named Ryan Valade? He just went
• 28:52
  Speaker 5: opposite field yesterday for the Rays.
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: Exactly.
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: At Yankee Stadium. I mean, are we serious right now, dude?
• 28:58
  Speaker 5: I mean, he's had one homer over his career, and
• 29:01
  Speaker 5: they make that number two, but the excitement at play
• 29:04
  Speaker 5: is like, and people are like, who are these people? Well,
• 29:06
  Speaker 5: get to know some of these names.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: All right, fellas. So, wow, baseball's been sending out proposals
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: and memos. So the memo, which was, you know, an
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: awareness if, in fact, we go into a locker room
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: Here is how you were supposed to act as a
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: team and during the lockout. And one of the things
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: that clearly stands out is holiday cards. The baseball says
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: the clubs shouldn't send them to players after December 2nd.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: So you guys have been involved with these things. Why
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: do we have to drill all the way down? It's
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: got to be a reason. You tell me why we're
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: drilling down. Is it because of what somebody might write
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: on a holiday card?
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: Communication?
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: What is it about holiday cards, Prej?
• 29:57
  Speaker 5: I don't really know. I think that would be a
• 30:00
  Speaker 5: nice move. Make the holiday card and say, you know,
• 30:04
  Speaker 5: have a great holiday, many blessings, and just write underneath maybe,
• 30:08
  Speaker 5: hopefully we can get this done sooner than later.
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: Merry Christmas.
• 30:13
  Speaker 5: You could send out a card and just write something,
• 30:15
  Speaker 5: just maybe a little dig or maybe a little like, hey,
• 30:18
  Speaker 5: hope your holiday is going well. Mine, I'm still thinking
• 30:21
  Speaker 5: about us coming back together. Something nice like that. But
• 30:25
  Speaker 5: I don't know.
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: I think it's.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: Maybe Fred, maybe it's Merry Christmas. How about four years
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: and 180 million? Happy holidays.
• 30:36
  Speaker 5: You could write to each person, write something different. Like
• 30:40
  Speaker 5: your superstar.
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 30:42
  Speaker 5: You can go, Hey, we know you're sitting pretty, but
• 30:45
  Speaker 5: let's make this happen.
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: Talk to everybody else. Merry Christmas. Something like that. Do
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: you want coal in your stocking? I don't know.
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: Whatever.
• 30:54
  Speaker 4: Todd is going to make a greeting card company and
• 30:56
  Speaker 4: he's going to start in Val. These all sound like
• 30:58
  Speaker 4: nice Valentine's day cards. I think it's funny because only
• 31:04
  Speaker 4: one organization really sent like the Phillies sent a big
• 31:10
  Speaker 4: Christmas holiday, new year's care package at, you know.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: In the off season.
• 31:16
  Speaker 4: So when I think of this, I'm not thinking of
• 31:18
  Speaker 4: like a generic card that was just sent. I'm thinking
• 31:20
  Speaker 4: of like, you're not going to get that big box
• 31:22
  Speaker 4: of chocolates with some like expensive cheeses and crackers and
• 31:26
  Speaker 4: stuff from the Middletons. Like, I'm kind of pissed about that.
• 31:30
  Speaker 4: But really, what I want to get down to is
• 31:33
  Speaker 4: the fact that they're planning on a lockout. Like, these
• 31:36
  Speaker 4: are supposed to be good faith negotiations. And you're like,
• 31:38
  Speaker 4: it's not going to happen. Here's what we're going to do. Like,
• 31:41
  Speaker 4: I get it. I know it's going to happen. I'm
• 31:43
  Speaker 4: not trying to be naive about it. I just don't
• 31:45
  Speaker 4: like that. Like, let's get it done ahead of time, Mike.