Latest / Foul Territory / Ken Rosenthal at Tony Vitello's 1st MLB camp, Isaac Paredes trade buzz update + Ken Davidoff’s “101 Lessons From The Dugout”
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: Okay, let's get to other topics.
- 0:07Speaker 2: Ken you're a Giants camp, tell us about how Tony
- 0:10Speaker 2: Vaitello is learning about big league camp.
- 0:15Speaker 3: It was interesting. I attended his first media session and
- 0:18Speaker 3: he obviously is someone who has done this a long time,
- 0:22Speaker 3: just not at this level. He was at Tennessee and
- 0:24Speaker 3: he got asked, Hey, is this the most reporters you've
- 0:27Speaker 3: ever seen? Or maybe fifteen of us there, and he said, no,
- 0:31Speaker 3: we got covered pretty heavily at Tennessee. And one of
- 0:34Speaker 3: the things that people tend to underestimate, including myself, when
- 0:38Speaker 3: I look at the jump from college to the majors,
- 0:41Speaker 3: is college baseball right now is at a really high level.
- 0:45Speaker 3: They use analytics the way the major leagues do. They
- 0:48Speaker 3: train and do all these different things that are not
- 0:51Speaker 3: all that different from what we see on an everyday
- 0:54Speaker 3: basis in Major League baseball. So he comes into this
- 0:57Speaker 3: it's obviously different. One of the first things he mentioned
- 1:01Speaker 3: is that he doesn't know the players as well because
- 1:03Speaker 3: he didn't recruit them. He's met them now. He's talked
- 1:07Speaker 3: to them in phone conversations, maybe by text, but that's
- 1:10Speaker 3: a difference. Right when you're recruiting a player, you get
- 1:13Speaker 3: to know him, you get to know his family, you
- 1:14Speaker 3: get a real good feel. He doesn't have that yet,
- 1:17Speaker 3: but he'll build it. And the word that two Giants
- 1:20Speaker 3: people I spoke with today used to describe him, and
- 1:23Speaker 3: they use the same word was sharp. And if you've
- 1:26Speaker 3: got someone who's sharp, who's got a lot of energy,
- 1:29Speaker 3: a lot of personality, you tend to think he'll figure
- 1:31Speaker 3: it out. And he also has Jase Tinkler on his staff,
- 1:35Speaker 3: former Major League manager Ron Washington on his staff, former
- 1:38Speaker 3: major league manager Dusty Baker, and Bruce Bochi will be around,
- 1:42Speaker 3: so he'll have people to lean on and people he
- 1:45Speaker 3: can trust and have to bounce off ideas with. He
- 1:50Speaker 3: should be okay, but it's going to be one of
- 1:51Speaker 3: these stories that we follow all season because it is
- 1:55Speaker 3: so new and we have not seen this happen I
- 1:58Speaker 3: don't know on a hundred years or so where a
- 2:00Speaker 3: guy goes from college to the majors.
- 2:03Speaker 4: Well, you can also throw in some doom for the
- 2:05Speaker 4: Nationals who have Bleake pe Terra. Sorry, Ken, I'm just
- 2:07Speaker 4: taking you literally. But the Giants, though, did they build
- 2:11Speaker 4: their roster well enough to help him succeed? I mean,
- 2:13Speaker 4: you can have manager of this manager of that college.
- 2:15Speaker 4: Ra Ra and Tony Vaitelo. We had him on our show,
- 2:18Speaker 4: his unbelievable interview. He gets it, he understands he's not
- 2:22Speaker 4: going into this thing. I have all the answers, he said, Hey,
- 2:25Speaker 4: I'm going to learn from the people around me. I
- 2:28Speaker 4: have to learn a lot quickly. So did the Giants
- 2:30Speaker 4: do enough this offseason with Buster Posey in charge to
- 2:33Speaker 4: give him a team that can compete with the Padres,
- 2:36Speaker 4: the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers, and the Rockies in his division.
- 2:40Speaker 3: That's the question, and I'm not sure the answer to
- 2:44Speaker 3: that is yes.
- 2:45Speaker 1: What did they do?
- 2:46Speaker 3: They signed Tyler Molly, They signed Adrian Hawserd to bolster
- 2:50Speaker 3: their rotation. They didn't get a top of the rotation guy.
- 2:53Speaker 3: They got two guys who are pretty good, and Molly
- 2:56Speaker 3: coming off the injury, might be really good. But could
- 2:59Speaker 3: they have done more? Yes, they could have done more
- 3:02Speaker 3: there now to round out their position club, they signed
- 3:05Speaker 3: Harrison Bader to play center field, and they feel that
- 3:08Speaker 3: their outfield is going to be much better defensively this
- 3:11Speaker 3: year with Jung Hully healthy, with Elliott Ramos showing a
- 3:15Speaker 3: more of a committed approach to learning, and mastering left field,
- 3:20Speaker 3: and then they signed a Rise, Louisa Rise, that became
- 3:22Speaker 3: official just about an hour ago. He's going to play
- 3:25Speaker 3: second base. He is hungry to establish himself as at
- 3:30Speaker 3: least an average defender at second base again. And of
- 3:32Speaker 3: course he's got one of the great infield coaches of
- 3:34Speaker 3: all time to work with, and that's Ron Washington. So
- 3:39Speaker 3: I would have liked to have seen them do a
- 3:41Speaker 3: little bit more. But remember, they made a move that
- 3:45Speaker 3: if they had made it in the offseason, we'd be
- 3:47Speaker 3: declaring them winners. And that was the Devas trade last June.
- 3:50Speaker 3: Devers is here already, He's taken some flips from Ron
- 3:55Speaker 3: Washington and his fellow coaches this morning. They're gonna be okay.
- 3:59Speaker 3: I don't know how good they're going to be. They're
- 4:01Speaker 3: gonna have to figure out their bullpen, which right now
- 4:03Speaker 3: seems to be just this thing that is there and
- 4:07Speaker 3: they don't really have much definition to it, but they will.
- 4:10Speaker 3: They'll find it. And do I see them as good
- 4:12Speaker 3: as the Dodgers, of course not. Do I see them
- 4:15Speaker 3: as good as the Padres, probably not, but they still
- 4:19Speaker 3: can be a competitive group. And I believe the Diamondbacks
- 4:22Speaker 3: are going to be a competitive team too, especially if
- 4:24Speaker 3: they signed Gowan.
- 4:26Speaker 4: All Right, Ken, it's your favorite time of the year.
- 4:28Speaker 4: We're gonna get to work together for the WBC. There's
- 4:32Speaker 4: a thing out there about the ABS that's coming into
- 4:34Speaker 4: Major League Baseball this year. Are the catchers really at
- 4:36Speaker 4: a disadvantage because they have to go miss those two
- 4:40Speaker 4: weeks possibly for if you make a deep run, because
- 4:43Speaker 4: they're not gonna be with their team in spring training
- 4:45Speaker 4: and they're not gonna But most of them saw this
- 4:47Speaker 4: last year, right they did? They not see most of
- 4:49Speaker 4: these guys see this last year. Maybe they're missing out
- 4:52Speaker 4: on some strategy on this. But I don't know if
- 4:54Speaker 4: this is a huge deal that we're trying to make
- 4:56Speaker 4: it into.
- 4:58Speaker 3: I don't know that anybody's try to make it into
- 5:00Speaker 3: a huge deal, AJ, but we're talking about it. Ideally.
- 5:04Speaker 3: Would you rather be in camp for ABS and to
- 5:07Speaker 3: talk strategy and to go through it all for those
- 5:10Speaker 3: two weeks you're gonna miss if you're a major league catcher. Yes,
- 5:13Speaker 3: But we're also talking about the elite catchers in the game,
- 5:15Speaker 3: right cal Raley, Will Smith. Yes, they're gonna figure it out,
- 5:19Speaker 3: and I don't expect it to be a problem. It's
- 5:22Speaker 3: not necessarily ideal, as I said, but these guys are
- 5:27Speaker 3: really smart. They know what they're doing, and this is
- 5:30Speaker 3: something I'm sure they've been preparing for already.
- 5:33Speaker 1: And obviously it's not.
- 5:34Speaker 3: The same as catching pitches with the system and all that.
- 5:37Speaker 3: I get it. But the thought process is, oh, that
- 5:41Speaker 3: they're gonna be fine.
- 5:44Speaker 2: Hey, sometimes we do a little game on foul.
- 5:47Speaker 1: Territory called role play. It's not what you think.
- 5:50Speaker 2: We're just picking up our phones and we're talking as
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- 6:44Speaker 2: ftfam Ken. I know you touched on some of this,
- 6:49Speaker 2: but wanted to get your thoughts on where you think
- 6:53Speaker 2: the Astros are at with Esak Pratus. And I know
- 6:56Speaker 2: this is a guy who could be a valuable member
- 6:58Speaker 2: of their team, but it does feel like he's the
- 7:01Speaker 2: I don't want to say odd man out, but the
- 7:02Speaker 2: guy that's maybe most easy to trade.
- 7:04Speaker 1: And they did lose some suitors over.
- 7:05Speaker 2: The last twenty four hours, but fans are asking if
- 7:09Speaker 2: there's going to be any trade activity over the next
- 7:11Speaker 2: several days. And that's the name that I came up
- 7:14Speaker 2: with that I guess could still be moved around somewhere.
- 7:16Speaker 3: Right, that situation still has to resolve. And I know
- 7:21Speaker 3: the Astros have said, oh, we can carry both Christian
- 7:24Speaker 3: Walker and he Zac parades into spring training. Well, how
- 7:27Speaker 3: are you going to do that exactly? I mean they
- 7:28Speaker 3: can carry into spring training, I'm int into the season.
- 7:32Speaker 3: There's just not enough at bats, not enough playing time
- 7:34Speaker 3: around you've got your Don alvarezk he's a DH so
- 7:38Speaker 3: I still expect something to happen there. But you're right, Scott.
- 7:42Speaker 3: They lost the suitor with the Red Sox, who of
- 7:44Speaker 3: course acquired Caleb Durban and that would seem to be
- 7:47Speaker 3: their move. It doesn't seem that they're going to flip
- 7:50Speaker 3: some of the guys that they acquired, including Durbin, to
- 7:52Speaker 3: the Astros for parades.
- 7:54Speaker 6: That's not happening from what I understand.
- 7:56Speaker 3: And then the Pirates another team that has been in.
- 8:00Speaker 3: When they're a team that just spent twelve million dollars
- 8:02Speaker 3: on Marcella Zuna, they might not have another ten million.
- 8:05Speaker 6: Or so for parades.
- 8:07Speaker 3: So I know there are other teams in the mix.
- 8:11Speaker 3: The Astros have said, and Chandler Room of our network
- 8:15Speaker 3: has said that they have other teams involved. I believe
- 8:19Speaker 3: Chandler wrote in The Athletic that there were five teams involved. Well,
- 8:24Speaker 3: if there are five teams involved, the Red Sox and
- 8:26Speaker 3: Pirates aren't as strong as they were, there's still three others,
- 8:29Speaker 3: So I still expect something to happen. Timing I can't
- 8:32Speaker 3: tell you, but it just seems to me that he
- 8:35Speaker 3: has a lot of value. He's got a couple of
- 8:37Speaker 3: years of control, and he's a guy that people want.
- 8:41Speaker 3: So given that and giving Christian Walker's low trade value,
- 8:44Speaker 3: right now, he is, as you said, Scott the odd
- 8:47Speaker 3: man out, and I do expect before opening Day he's
- 8:50Speaker 3: going to be in another uniform.
- 8:53Speaker 5: All right, This is not power rankings. Who do you
- 8:56Speaker 5: think improved the most this offseason? Because now pitchers and
- 8:58Speaker 5: catchers are here, there's no more like nobody else can improve.
- 9:02Speaker 5: I'm kidding, obviously everybody can still improve, but who did
- 9:05Speaker 5: the best?
- 9:06Speaker 7: Who did in your mind? Who did the best?
- 9:10Speaker 3: The White Socks come to mind. Now, granted they're starting
- 9:13Speaker 3: from almost zero in some ways, but they made some
- 9:17Speaker 3: interesting moves, Muri Kami of course being the most interesting
- 9:20Speaker 3: of all. I felt the Orioles have done well, and
- 9:24Speaker 3: throughout the offseason they've added here and there. They still
- 9:27Speaker 3: want to do one more starting pitching or more starting pitcher,
- 9:30Speaker 3: so I would include them as well other teams. I
- 9:36Speaker 3: like what the Red Sox have done, but I'm curious
- 9:38Speaker 3: to see how it plays out. They've certainly done a lot,
- 9:40Speaker 3: and they've done it without trading any top prospects. I
- 9:44Speaker 3: still wonder as a lot of people are wondering whether
- 9:46Speaker 3: they're going to have enough power. Durbin is a guy who,
- 9:49Speaker 3: in fed way, because he pulls the ball in the air,
- 9:52Speaker 3: might be a pretty good hitter, might be even a
- 9:56Speaker 3: twenty homer guy. But he hasn't been that in the
- 9:58Speaker 3: Big believes yet. He's your player last year, So that's
- 10:02Speaker 3: one question I have with them. I like what Seattle
- 10:05Speaker 3: has done with the bullpen for air and then of
- 10:08Speaker 3: course getting Donovan. A number of teams look like they're
- 10:13Speaker 3: going to be improved, and people were saying, well, what
- 10:14Speaker 3: about the Mets. The Mets are going to be different.
- 10:17Speaker 3: I just don't know how much better they're going to be.
- 10:19Speaker 3: They're a lot different and they're going to be fascinating
- 10:22Speaker 3: team to watch. It's just how good are they actually
- 10:26Speaker 3: going to be?
- 10:28Speaker 7: Breaking news? Not crats? Ken hates the Mets, So just
- 10:30Speaker 7: make sure that we clip that.
- 10:32Speaker 4: It's not Cracks, it's everybody else. You hate life, Ken,
- 10:37Speaker 4: We can't. We try to cheer you up every time
- 10:39Speaker 4: you come on and it doesn't work.
- 10:40Speaker 1: He looks happy at spring training. Can true.
- 10:42Speaker 4: Maybe that's what it was, Maybe just outside you know
- 10:45Speaker 4: what next offseason instead of just sitting around. You should
- 10:47Speaker 4: fly to winter Ball and just cover that. For that
- 10:49Speaker 4: way you'll be happy, though maybe I.
- 10:50Speaker 3: Will be if it's a lockout.
- 10:54Speaker 4: Yes, we could do Korea Games like they did that
- 10:56Speaker 4: one year. You could do the Korea Games. You could
- 10:58Speaker 4: do a metre. I be sleeping, But Ken, that wasn't
- 11:01Speaker 4: my question. You brought up the Red Sox as a team,
- 11:04Speaker 4: and today was you know, there's some things out there,
- 11:07Speaker 4: but I want to know this name, and we haven't
- 11:09Speaker 4: heard a lot about this name, Tristan Cassas. Is he
- 11:12Speaker 4: on the Red Sox? Is he gonna because they have
- 11:14Speaker 4: Wilson Contreres. It's not like they didn't go out and
- 11:17Speaker 4: get a first basement basically to replace them. And this
- 11:19Speaker 4: guy has been hype pipe pipe pipe pipe for the
- 11:22Speaker 4: Red Sox. Skit skit, skit, skit skit for the Red Sox,
- 11:25Speaker 4: but he gets hurt every year.
- 11:27Speaker 7: Is he gonna be on the team?
- 11:28Speaker 4: Is he going to be a player that they can
- 11:30Speaker 4: count on for production?
- 11:33Speaker 3: I don't know how much playing time he's going to get,
- 11:36Speaker 3: And certainly someone to look at it spring training and
- 11:38Speaker 3: see what he is or where he is health wise
- 11:41Speaker 3: and take it from there. You could always send him back.
- 11:44Speaker 3: It wouldn't be the end of the world to do that,
- 11:46Speaker 3: and he'd be obviously protection And if he shows really
- 11:51Speaker 3: well in spring training, I guess you could trade him too.
- 11:53Speaker 3: I'm not exactly sure what the plans are for him,
- 11:56Speaker 3: And You're right, he's kind of a forgotten man because
- 11:59Speaker 3: he has gotten her and has had those problems and
- 12:02Speaker 3: faded off the radar, so to speak, while Roman Anthony
- 12:05Speaker 3: and Marcela Meyer and Christian Campbell have all come to
- 12:08Speaker 3: the four for Boston and varying degrees of success. So
- 12:12Speaker 3: I'm not exactly sure, Aj, what the answer to that is.
- 12:16Speaker 3: Part of the reason for spring training is to find
- 12:18Speaker 3: out answers to some of these questions. And it's interesting.
- 12:20Speaker 3: I was thinking about this this morning. Joel Sherman of
- 12:23Speaker 3: The New York Post wrote about it today. There are
- 12:25Speaker 3: a number of younger players, and I guess you could
- 12:27Speaker 3: maybe even put Casses in this group. Brett Batty with
- 12:30Speaker 3: the Mets, Matt Shaw at the Cubs, Casey Schmidt right
- 12:33Speaker 3: here with the Giants, and maybe Casses too. They're younger
- 12:36Speaker 3: guys who have kind of been squeezed.
- 12:39Speaker 1: Out of regular roles.
- 12:41Speaker 3: What do teams do with them, Do they keep them
- 12:43Speaker 3: for depths, do they trade them? How do they go
- 12:45Speaker 3: about it? That's going to be an underlying storyline of
- 12:48Speaker 3: the spring.
- 12:50Speaker 5: We found out from Jim yesterday in an article that
- 12:52Speaker 5: he wrote, Jim Bowden that his routine is he buys
- 12:55Speaker 5: an expensive pair of sunglasses and some SPF sixty sunblock.
- 13:00Speaker 5: What's Ken's routine every spring training? And how many spring trainings?
- 13:03Speaker 5: Do you know how many spring trainings this is for you?
- 13:06Speaker 7: Now?
- 13:07Speaker 3: I do, Eric, and it's a big number, and I'm
- 13:10Speaker 3: almost embarrassed to say it, but this is number forty,
- 13:14Speaker 3: and wow, it's It's not a particular routine I have.
- 13:17Speaker 3: I did start young, not as young as I would
- 13:21Speaker 3: like to have started, But no, I started jugs. I
- 13:24Speaker 3: don't really have a routine. I just enjoy it. It's
- 13:27Speaker 3: interesting to me. What makes it so fun for me?
- 13:31Speaker 3: And I experienced this this morning again.
- 13:34Speaker 1: All went along.
- 13:35Speaker 3: I'm on the phone with people. I've not seen people
- 13:37Speaker 3: in person for the most part, except that maybe the
- 13:40Speaker 3: winter meetings, and even there you don't really see people
- 13:42Speaker 3: in person. And here this morning, I'm talking to players again,
- 13:45Speaker 3: talking to executives in person. It's a huge difference. It's
- 13:49Speaker 3: one of the things I treasure most about my job,
- 13:52Speaker 3: and that, to me is the thing that stands out
- 13:55Speaker 3: every spring. I'm always so excited just to see everybody again,
- 13:59Speaker 3: even Aj.
- 14:08Speaker 1: Bet. I'm jam futures on the Twins.
- 14:12Speaker 2: Former Aj Pizinski team Minnesota Twins seventy three and a
- 14:16Speaker 2: half wins.
- 14:20Speaker 4: Under going under because I think at some point they're
- 14:24Speaker 4: gonna trade Ryan Joe Ryan Pablo Lopez could possibly be
- 14:28Speaker 4: on the list if depending on how it goes Byron
- 14:32Speaker 4: Buckson might go to him and say, hey, I've had enough.
- 14:35Speaker 4: We're not gonna be good for anytime soon. I mean,
- 14:37Speaker 4: I want you know, is Royce Lewis gonna be healthy?
- 14:40Speaker 4: That's always a question, right. I know they have some
- 14:43Speaker 4: young guys coming up, but they haven't really proven anything.
- 14:47Speaker 4: They traded ten of their twenty six guys away at
- 14:49Speaker 4: the trade deadline last year.
- 14:50Speaker 7: I'm going under. I think they're about a seventy one team.
- 14:52Speaker 7: I'm sorry.
- 14:53Speaker 4: Tigers have gotten better, the Guardians of the Guardians, the
- 14:55Speaker 4: White Sox have gotten better. The Royals are gonna be decent.
- 14:59Speaker 4: I think they might be the last place team in
- 15:01Speaker 4: this division.
- 15:02Speaker 2: I'm not going to say this everything because it's about
- 15:04Speaker 2: the players on the field, but management matters. Breaking up
- 15:09Speaker 2: with Derek Falby two weeks before springs training spring training.
- 15:12Speaker 7: Started there anymore.
- 15:16Speaker 4: And this is not a knock on Derek Shelan, but
- 15:18Speaker 4: Derek Sheldon's never been the manager of a winning team.
- 15:21Speaker 7: And that's that's not That's not a knock on him
- 15:24Speaker 7: at all.
- 15:24Speaker 1: I'm just unlucky he's he was with the Pirates.
- 15:26Speaker 7: I'm not saying that he can't be. I'm just saying
- 15:28Speaker 7: he hasn't been.
- 15:30Speaker 4: And to lose Rocco Baldelli, who was kind of the
- 15:34Speaker 4: steadying ship, not that Derek. Not that Derek Shelton is
- 15:37Speaker 4: bad at all, because I love Shelty you too, but
- 15:40Speaker 4: it's just it's different. You lose there, you lose your
- 15:42Speaker 4: president of baseball op.
- 15:43Speaker 7: And a new man. I think they're a seventy one team.
- 15:47Speaker 2: He's taking on tough jobs. I'm with you, I'm taking
- 15:49Speaker 2: the under and Krats. It was weird how they switched
- 15:55Speaker 2: executive chairs right they moved to the different pole ad
- 15:58Speaker 2: owner and he.
- 15:59Speaker 1: Was talking with a lot of confidence. I'm more of
- 16:01Speaker 1: an all in guy.
- 16:02Speaker 2: We're going to be competitive this year. I mean, look,
- 16:07Speaker 2: betamgam's putting out odds. They say, you're not going to
- 16:10Speaker 2: be competitive.
- 16:12Speaker 5: I mean, all in can mean two things. People think, Oh,
- 16:15Speaker 5: I'm all in. That means they're going for it. He's like,
- 16:19Speaker 5: I'm all in for exactly what I want to do.
- 16:22Speaker 7: Nothing.
- 16:23Speaker 5: I think they reduce their payroll by twenty million. They
- 16:26Speaker 5: reduce their payroll again this year by thirty million. Like
- 16:30Speaker 5: it's it's easy. It's easy to see what route they're going.
- 16:35Speaker 5: And there's no way. This is only borderline for me
- 16:38Speaker 5: if I'm going to put a larger amount on it
- 16:40Speaker 5: or a smaller amount on it. So I'm I'm going
- 16:43Speaker 5: with the under one hundred percent under.
- 16:46Speaker 2: Okay, cool, we all agree, and we got to take
- 16:48Speaker 2: some unders. You got to mix in some unders. That's
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- 18:16Speaker 2: Longtime baseball writer Ken david Off joining us right now
- 18:19Speaker 2: on FT and new hit author co author of the
- 18:24Speaker 2: book One on One Lessons from the Dugout. I have
- 18:27Speaker 2: it too, so we'll show it off while we say
- 18:29Speaker 2: hello to Ken.
- 18:30Speaker 1: Ken.
- 18:31Speaker 2: Great to have you on the show. There it is, Yeah,
- 18:33Speaker 2: you show it off. You're the one who put all
- 18:34Speaker 2: the work together. Thanks for show it off. Yeah, exactly,
- 18:38Speaker 2: we both can show it off. I like the cover too,
- 18:40Speaker 2: by the way. It stands out a lot because it's green,
- 18:42Speaker 2: and I see David Wright's name on here.
- 18:44Speaker 1: Nice and big.
- 18:44Speaker 2: But thanks for joining us, and first off, congrats on
- 18:48Speaker 2: the book. Give us the loadown and then we'll dig
- 18:50Speaker 2: through this a little bit.
- 18:52Speaker 6: Thanks for having me, guys. Great to see all of you,
- 18:55Speaker 6: and the loadout on the book is we My co author,
- 18:58Speaker 6: Harley roadebart He is a pediatrician and parenting expert. He
- 19:02Speaker 6: and I put together a list of one hundred and
- 19:05Speaker 6: one different items about baseball and softball and ways you
- 19:09Speaker 6: can take the lessons that you learn from these different
- 19:11Speaker 6: items and transfer them into your everyday life.
- 19:16Speaker 4: Ken, I'm going to say this, I read the book
- 19:21Speaker 4: so I could talk about it. I actually read the
- 19:24Speaker 4: entire book and I only got it on Saturday. So
- 19:26Speaker 4: this got me through Saturday afternoon content on television just
- 19:32Speaker 4: because we had a whole meeting producer Lady goes we
- 19:35Speaker 4: got the book not that long ago.
- 19:36Speaker 7: Who no way anyone finished it.
- 19:38Speaker 4: I'm like, uh, yes, actually some of us did finish it,
- 19:41Speaker 4: because we do do our job. What the thing that
- 19:44Speaker 4: stands out to me is this is a great book
- 19:45Speaker 4: for a lot of reasons. Now it's it's geared towards
- 19:48Speaker 4: more towards kids, correct, Am I correct? Because a lot
- 19:50Speaker 4: of it was ask your parents, ask your coaches, ask
- 19:53Speaker 4: your teacher, which which is awesome. I wish my son
- 19:56Speaker 4: would have had this book now before he was, you know,
- 19:59Speaker 4: into college, and now he just doesn't listen to anybody.
- 20:01Speaker 7: So that's fine. It's kids right there at the age
- 20:04Speaker 7: of that. But these lessons are so valuable.
- 20:07Speaker 4: And the thing that I love about this for kids
- 20:09Speaker 4: is it's short, right, Every pair of every one of
- 20:10Speaker 4: these one hundred and one is like a page or
- 20:12Speaker 4: two and you're like boom, okay, on to the next,
- 20:14Speaker 4: on to the next, and explains baseball softball situations, and
- 20:18Speaker 4: it explains how you apply it to your everyday life.
- 20:20Speaker 4: And one thing I always say about baseball and sports
- 20:22Speaker 4: in general, they teach you how to fail, and this
- 20:25Speaker 4: book does a great job of saying, hey, you're going
- 20:27Speaker 4: to fail, now, how do you put that into your
- 20:29Speaker 4: real world activities? And that's why I was like, oh man,
- 20:32Speaker 4: this is good especially for I would say, ten to
- 20:36Speaker 4: seventeen year old kids before they think they've got everything
- 20:39Speaker 4: figured out, which most kids not thinking eight.
- 20:41Speaker 6: Anyways, Well, hey, I thank you for reading the whole book,
- 20:45Speaker 6: and thank you for not finding anything interesting on TV
- 20:47Speaker 6: so that you read the book. I appreciate that. So yeah,
- 20:53Speaker 6: I mean, technically this is good for ages of twelve
- 20:56Speaker 6: and up, but I think it can give a little
- 20:59Speaker 6: younger two. There's nothing really risque in there. And yeah,
- 21:02Speaker 6: you said it. A lot of talk about failure obviously,
- 21:05Speaker 6: and I'm preaching the choir here, but the idea of
- 21:08Speaker 6: even the best baseball players fail to get on base
- 21:12Speaker 6: seven out of every ten times, everyone has I say
- 21:14Speaker 6: six out of every ten times on base percentage, And
- 21:18Speaker 6: how do you deal with that disappointment? How do you
- 21:20Speaker 6: react to that? How do you react when you come
- 21:23Speaker 6: to the field and you're not in the lineup that day?
- 21:26Speaker 6: That's chapter two, you know, Chapter two is you're not
- 21:28Speaker 6: in the lineup, how are you going to deal with that?
- 21:31Speaker 6: And just we take it through various different ways, not
- 21:35Speaker 6: not every chapter is about failure, but just all the
- 21:39Speaker 6: wonderful ways that this game can teach us how to
- 21:42Speaker 6: live our life better.
- 21:44Speaker 5: How many of these lessons would have been good for
- 21:46Speaker 5: you to learn before you lived through all of those situations.
- 21:51Speaker 6: Yeah, no doubt about Eric. And I do think Look,
- 21:53Speaker 6: it's my book, so I'm bias, but I do think
- 21:57Speaker 6: it can help as adults still. And someone asked me
- 22:01Speaker 6: recently to apply had this book impact my own career
- 22:05Speaker 6: covering baseball, and and there's a chapter small Ball. You know,
- 22:09Speaker 6: don't don't focus on the home run, especially when you're
- 22:12Speaker 6: just starting, you know, to focus on building up, putting
- 22:15Speaker 6: together you know, hit singles and bumping over and and
- 22:19Speaker 6: just putting some runs on the board. And that's the
- 22:21Speaker 6: way I approached my career. You know, I was first
- 22:24Speaker 6: covering the Yankees and Mets back in the mid to
- 22:26Speaker 6: late nineties. Like, I wasn't trying to get huge scoops.
- 22:30Speaker 6: I was just trying to build relationships and get small
- 22:33Speaker 6: nuggets of information that no one else had and building
- 22:36Speaker 6: up my credibility to the fact where I did feel
- 22:38Speaker 6: comfortable swing for the fences.
- 22:42Speaker 4: Okay, give us some examples, give us, give us, give
- 22:45Speaker 4: us some examples of how Again, I've read this so
- 22:49Speaker 4: I get it. But in this book it gives examples
- 22:51Speaker 4: of I mean, it was like on deck circle you
- 22:54Speaker 4: used to prep for tests and the bases are loaded,
- 22:57Speaker 4: how you prepare? And there was one about a drop
- 23:00Speaker 4: third strike, which I know a little something about, and
- 23:02Speaker 4: how you always need to run it out. Just because
- 23:04Speaker 4: you fail the first time doesn't mean that your life
- 23:06Speaker 4: is over. So can you give us some real world
- 23:08Speaker 4: examples that are.
- 23:09Speaker 7: In the book?
- 23:11Speaker 6: Yeah, happily, aj so on one of my favorites and
- 23:15Speaker 6: is Field's Choice, and I will press the panel here.
- 23:18Speaker 6: I'm pretty sure you guys can handle this, but just
- 23:19Speaker 6: to just to talk it through. So let's say, let's
- 23:22Speaker 6: say you're up, you're playing, you're in the field. It's
- 23:25Speaker 6: for they batters of first and second with no outs,
- 23:29Speaker 6: and you're up by four runs. So how do you
- 23:31Speaker 6: approach that situation in the field, up by four first
- 23:34Speaker 6: and second no outs? Asking you guys, you get the
- 23:37Speaker 6: out right, right? So now we but now we change
- 23:41Speaker 6: that in the field first and second no outs up
- 23:45Speaker 6: by one. How do you approach that?
- 23:49Speaker 7: You try to get the lead runner if you can. Yes, sorry,
- 23:51Speaker 7: all that.
- 23:52Speaker 6: So now let's carry that into school. Let's say aj
- 23:55Speaker 6: back when your son was still in high school. Let's
- 23:58Speaker 6: say he did not like chemistry, hardest class, but he
- 24:02Speaker 6: was acent it, he was doing a good job with it.
- 24:04Speaker 6: And tonight he's got homework in five different subjects. So
- 24:07Speaker 6: he's up four runs in chemistry. Right, he's got the A.
- 24:10Speaker 6: So maybe he can take his feet off the gas
- 24:12Speaker 6: a little bit in chemistry and do some work and
- 24:14Speaker 6: some other subjects that he likes better. But let's say
- 24:17Speaker 6: he's got a C plus in chemistry. Now he's only
- 24:20Speaker 6: up a run. Now he's got to let that lead out.
- 24:22Speaker 6: He's got to study hard on chemistry to try to
- 24:24Speaker 6: boost his grade up right, and he that's where he
- 24:27Speaker 6: needs to prioritize. So just the idea how a Fielder's
- 24:30Speaker 6: Choice can teach you how to prioritize on the file
- 24:34Speaker 6: and in life.
- 24:35Speaker 4: Jan if my son had a C plus and anything,
- 24:37Speaker 4: he'd be he'd be freaked out.
- 24:39Speaker 7: There would not be any This book wouldn't help him.
- 24:42Speaker 7: I promise you that this book would not help him.
- 24:46Speaker 7: He would he would, Yeah, he had a plus. If
- 24:50Speaker 7: he had c plus, I trust me this book.
- 24:52Speaker 4: The only thing this book would be used for is
- 24:55Speaker 4: we ain't going to talk about that on the TV.
- 24:59Speaker 6: But I think you get my point in any case, yes,
- 25:01Speaker 6: of course, and go ahead, got no. I was just
- 25:08Speaker 6: another parallel that's actually was quite serendipitous, was you know,
- 25:13Speaker 6: And if you know the book writing process, this book
- 25:16Speaker 6: was signed, sealed, and delivered by last fall. I mean
- 25:18Speaker 6: not all the chapters written. There was a production process.
- 25:21Speaker 6: So we're just have our feet up, letting the factories
- 25:24Speaker 6: do their job, and we're watching the World Series, and
- 25:27Speaker 6: lo and behold, mister Yamamoto pitches a complete game in
- 25:32Speaker 6: Game two in the World Series against the Blue Jays,
- 25:35Speaker 6: and before he goes back in the clubhouse, he picks
- 25:38Speaker 6: up every piece of trash in the dugout. And that
- 25:41Speaker 6: is our chapter ninety two. Clean up your own mess,
- 25:45Speaker 6: dragging the field, cleaning the dugout, clean up your messes,
- 25:48Speaker 6: take pride in your space. So we're just very proud
- 25:51Speaker 6: to see Yamamoto, you know, practice well, we're preaching. And
- 25:55Speaker 6: my joke has been maybe he got a sneak copy
- 25:57Speaker 6: of the book and I think more likely he was
- 25:59Speaker 6: raised that way in Japan, but it just shows the
- 26:02Speaker 6: value of that at the highest level, on the biggest stage.
- 26:07Speaker 5: I'm actually going to be reading this book to my
- 26:10Speaker 5: high school team that I coach because there's a lot
- 26:12Speaker 5: of very applicable things, and I feel like, as a coach,
- 26:15Speaker 5: you're applying these things, yes to baseball, but ultimately they're
- 26:20Speaker 5: not going to be big league baseball players. They're going
- 26:22Speaker 5: to be men, husbands, brothers, sons for the rest of
- 26:27Speaker 5: their life. Who were you thinking of when you wrote
- 26:29Speaker 5: these chapters when you're I know you're co author, so
- 26:33Speaker 5: you wrote it together. But when you were going through
- 26:36Speaker 5: these and you're like these life lessons and all this stuff,
- 26:39Speaker 5: who were the people that were coming to your mind
- 26:41Speaker 5: as you wrote these words?
- 26:43Speaker 1: All right?
- 26:44Speaker 6: Definitely my son. My son is now twenty two in college,
- 26:46Speaker 6: but he played ball and I coached on occasion when
- 26:49Speaker 6: I when my schedule allowed me. You know, I was
- 26:52Speaker 6: like the third base coach. I can be the mager
- 26:53Speaker 6: because I was too busy covering you guys. But I
- 26:57Speaker 6: just thought of my son playing travel ball, playing junior
- 27:02Speaker 6: high school ball, middle school ball, and the lessons we
- 27:05Speaker 6: tried to take away from that and all of his
- 27:09Speaker 6: his his teammates at the time, and now you know,
- 27:13Speaker 6: going down the line, maybe off grand kids. Someday I
- 27:15Speaker 6: can impart these two.
- 27:18Speaker 3: All right.
- 27:18Speaker 4: There's a couple there's a couple of chapters I wanted
- 27:20Speaker 4: to talk to about, and one of them is the Mound.
- 27:22Speaker 4: I love the Mound the Mound one because you're like,
- 27:24Speaker 4: the mound is in the middle of the diamond and
- 27:26Speaker 4: it's built up, and you got you stand there and
- 27:29Speaker 4: so take your shot on the mound.
- 27:30Speaker 1: Right.
- 27:30Speaker 4: I've had this conversation with my kids many times where hey,
- 27:33Speaker 4: you have to fake it sometimes and just tell yourself
- 27:36Speaker 4: that I'm the Kenny Rogers song right, the Greatest where
- 27:39Speaker 4: he strikes out and he says it's such a great picture.
- 27:41Speaker 4: It's kind of like that, like you just have to
- 27:43Speaker 4: tell yourself, I'm on the mound, it's my time, and
- 27:45Speaker 4: I'm gonna shine.
- 27:46Speaker 7: I love that chapter. And the other one, I don't
- 27:49Speaker 7: know what I forget what it.
- 27:50Speaker 4: Was called, but it was about the snapping when you
- 27:53Speaker 4: get mad and you lose your your cool and you
- 27:55Speaker 4: throw stuff. I don't know which one that one is,
- 27:57Speaker 4: but I just want to say, as someone that did
- 27:59Speaker 4: that lot, yeah, it wasn't the best idea and I
- 28:02Speaker 4: don't tell my kids to do that, but man, for
- 28:03Speaker 4: those for those ten seconds, you feel like awesome. So
- 28:06Speaker 4: don't do it, kids, But for those ten seconds, I
- 28:08Speaker 4: have to stay.
- 28:11Speaker 6: We didn't include that part as we edit out that
- 28:14Speaker 6: ten second part, but we h. You're talking about chapter
- 28:17Speaker 6: eighty two the head trip controlling your emotion, controlling your temper,
- 28:20Speaker 6: which I think fittingly precedes chapter eighty three. The umpire
- 28:24Speaker 6: accept responsibility and follow the rules, and you know they're
- 28:27Speaker 6: luck with They all blessed, all the umpires out there,
- 28:30Speaker 6: so you know when the umpire does make a rare mistake,
- 28:33Speaker 6: sometimes you just have to accept you can't control everything
- 28:36Speaker 6: in life and move on, right.
- 28:39Speaker 7: Or get ejected and move on to the next game
- 28:43Speaker 7: and move on to the next day.
- 28:44Speaker 4: That's why I get ejected as Aaron Boone does so often.
- 28:47Speaker 4: You cover him all the time. Just stand up for
- 28:49Speaker 4: your guys and then move on.
- 28:51Speaker 2: So yeah, this was written with an MD the sequels
- 28:53Speaker 2: coming out with catter aj on some of his the.
- 29:00Speaker 1: Which leads me to my next question.
- 29:02Speaker 2: Can you describe your relationship with David Wright and how
- 29:05Speaker 2: you got him involved with the book.
- 29:07Speaker 7: Yeah.
- 29:07Speaker 6: Look, I covered David for the entirety of his career.
- 29:10Speaker 6: I met him for the first time at the two
- 29:12Speaker 6: thousand and four Futures Game in Houston, and then he
- 29:15Speaker 6: made his big league debut I think it was about
- 29:17Speaker 6: a week later. And one of the best guys you'll
- 29:20Speaker 6: ever know in any walk of life. And I knew
- 29:24Speaker 6: David was living a quiet life in southern California. I
- 29:27Speaker 6: knew he was coaching his three young children, so I
- 29:30Speaker 6: thought this book would connect with him, and low and behold,
- 29:33Speaker 6: it did, and I was so grateful for David's participation
- 29:36Speaker 6: and his blessing, and we were talking through the forward
- 29:39Speaker 6: that he wrote. I was so thrilled to ruize he
- 29:42Speaker 6: actually does this, like he actually uses the game and
- 29:46Speaker 6: like one of his daughters plays soccer. So it's not
- 29:48Speaker 6: specifically not limited, I should say, to softball, baseball, but
- 29:52Speaker 6: he uses the sports to teach his kids about other
- 29:55Speaker 6: walks of life. So I think that's just wonderful and
- 29:59Speaker 6: very great to David for joining us on this journey.
- 30:04Speaker 2: So now I'm going to try and spin this into
- 30:06Speaker 2: the game that we cover all the time. For the
- 30:09Speaker 2: most part, here major league based. What parts do you
- 30:18Speaker 2: think apply well here to major league players? And what
- 30:22Speaker 2: other parts do you think, you know, don't apply well
- 30:26Speaker 2: to major league players? And I mean that with the
- 30:29Speaker 2: way that the game has changed, I mean we cover
- 30:32Speaker 2: a lot of really good dudes that look like they
- 30:34Speaker 2: were you know, and sound like they were raised well,
- 30:36Speaker 2: they have the right values and morals. I would say overall,
- 30:40Speaker 2: I think the players getting less trouble than they used to.
- 30:42Speaker 2: You can take that for what it is, but yeah,
- 30:44Speaker 2: your thoughts on the character of major league players, but
- 30:47Speaker 2: then also on the way that these players are evaluated,
- 30:49Speaker 2: because it makes me think back to where we started,
- 30:51Speaker 2: where you're talking about small ball and like generally nowadays
- 30:55Speaker 2: it's something that we bring up in the playoffs and
- 30:56Speaker 2: it's fun. But overall, if you're that kind of guy,
- 30:59Speaker 2: you don't get paid as much, so your value is lower.
- 31:03Speaker 6: Yes, got that's a very fair question. And yeah, this
- 31:05Speaker 6: book is written for, as we said, kids twelve and up.
- 31:10Speaker 6: And I yeah, if you want to drill down, for sure,
- 31:14Speaker 6: some lessons of major league baseball have evolved in terms
- 31:17Speaker 6: of if you want to succeed at the highest level,
- 31:19Speaker 6: you know, swing for home runs, right, because it's hard
- 31:22Speaker 6: to string three or four hits together off this caliber
- 31:26Speaker 6: of pitching. But I do think I'm confident that the
- 31:29Speaker 6: high majority of the chapters very much apply to the
- 31:34Speaker 6: game at the highest level because most of them having
- 31:36Speaker 6: to do do have to do with how do you
- 31:38Speaker 6: deal with adversity? How do you deal with unexpected circumstances?
- 31:42Speaker 6: AJ before mentioned the drop third strike right like be ready,
- 31:46Speaker 6: be ready to all times in your life if you
- 31:47Speaker 6: catch a break, you know, and that certainly applies to
- 31:51Speaker 6: major League baseball, and I just I do think that
- 31:57Speaker 6: most of the time, you still the right thing as
- 32:00Speaker 6: a twelve year old is the right thing as a
- 32:02Speaker 6: as a multimillion dollar ballplayer.
- 32:06Speaker 2: I'm going to ask you a couple of things about
- 32:07Speaker 2: the current sport, and we can stay on the New
- 32:10Speaker 2: York teams here for a moment with you, since that's
- 32:13Speaker 2: where you're based. So you covered the Yankees for a
- 32:15Speaker 2: long time. What do you think about their off season?
- 32:19Speaker 2: It seems like they checked the boxes. But when you're
- 32:22Speaker 2: a fan, and maybe when you're a Yankees fan especially
- 32:26Speaker 2: and you haven't won in a while for their terms,
- 32:28Speaker 2: you're like, wait, we're mostly running it back and We'll
- 32:32Speaker 2: have a couple injury returns at some point, So how
- 32:36Speaker 2: do you evaluate what they did?
- 32:37Speaker 1: And I'm just presenting the case here.
- 32:39Speaker 2: We just talked about them and they had a very
- 32:41Speaker 2: successful regular season and then they got bounced pretty good.
- 32:45Speaker 1: But oh we're back. You got us.
- 32:54Speaker 2: Sorry we froze Forer A second thoughts on the Yankees
- 32:57Speaker 2: running it back and it almost seems like, I mean,
- 32:59Speaker 2: you covered Brank Hassman for a long time. He's been
- 33:01Speaker 2: defending it like, no, we're running it back because this
- 33:04Speaker 2: team can win a World Series.
- 33:05Speaker 6: So your thoughts, Yeah, it's a It is a truly
- 33:08Speaker 6: fascinating gambit because, as you said, Scott, the fan base
- 33:12Speaker 6: is not happy. My point of curiosity, how does the
- 33:15Speaker 6: team feel? I mean, these two guys here, Agan Eric
- 33:18Speaker 6: can speak to the jolt a team gets mid season
- 33:22Speaker 6: when those new guys come in by a trade, right,
- 33:26Speaker 6: and the disappointment when that doesn't happen. So I'm curious
- 33:29Speaker 6: in that clubhouse, is there any what is the move there?
- 33:33Speaker 6: My hunch is that this group is pretty together and
- 33:38Speaker 6: so that's not going to be an issue. That is
- 33:39Speaker 6: just a matter of is this team talented enough to
- 33:42Speaker 6: win it all? It is, and I you know, to me,
- 33:47Speaker 6: the biggest areas of concern are I'm surprised I haven't
- 33:50Speaker 6: gotten more guys with higher floors for their starting rotation
- 33:53Speaker 6: and for their bullpen, because I think they have guys
- 33:55Speaker 6: with high ceilings. When you look at a kid like
- 33:58Speaker 6: Ryan Weathers, whose dad I covered on the ninety six Yankees,
- 34:01Speaker 6: David Weather's was a high ceiling, but I wouldn't say
- 34:05Speaker 6: as a high floor. So I still wouldn't surprise if
- 34:08Speaker 6: they brought in a couple more veterans who give them
- 34:12Speaker 6: just some more certainty in terms of the innings.
- 34:16Speaker 2: All right, and then I'll flip you over to the
- 34:18Speaker 2: Mets side of things. Super interesting offseason for them. They
- 34:22Speaker 2: switched it up quite a bit, and I don't think
- 34:25Speaker 2: anyone would doubt that they needed to switch things up
- 34:27Speaker 2: a little bit. It's actually funny where you talked to
- 34:30Speaker 2: a lot of Mets fans because I'm Offen in the
- 34:32Speaker 2: New York area, and they're pretty bummed that they lost
- 34:34Speaker 2: out on some of their guys, yet also excited for
- 34:37Speaker 2: who they brought in. I mean, in a perfect world,
- 34:39Speaker 2: it's like they wish they kept Edwin Diez and Pee
- 34:41Speaker 2: Alonzo and then still made these moves. You can't do
- 34:44Speaker 2: all of that. So what are your thoughts on what
- 34:46Speaker 2: they did this offseason? And also the way that they're
- 34:49Speaker 2: looking at a number of players out of position and
- 34:52Speaker 2: saying they'll figure it out.
- 34:54Speaker 1: Actually, it's funny. We've been talking about this with the Brewers.
- 34:57Speaker 2: They're playing all kinds of puzzle piece action right now
- 35:01Speaker 2: after they traded away Caleb Durban.
- 35:04Speaker 6: Yeah, so I think if they had brought in I'm sorry,
- 35:08Speaker 6: if they had brought back Edwin Diaz and done everything else,
- 35:11Speaker 6: I think would be an a plus offseason, and I
- 35:14Speaker 6: think there would be universal acclaim and even excitement among
- 35:18Speaker 6: the Mets. Are the very Mets fans who were so
- 35:20Speaker 6: upset that they traded Nimo and let Pete go. I
- 35:23Speaker 6: do think that bullpen just stands out to me. Devin Williams,
- 35:26Speaker 6: And if you you know, I'm no longer covering the
- 35:29Speaker 6: game full time, but I certainly still pay attention a lot.
- 35:31Speaker 6: And this whole idea that Devin Williams, Oh, if you
- 35:33Speaker 6: look at the underlying numbers, he actually had a good year. Like, no,
- 35:37Speaker 6: I'm not buying that. Like he struggled as the Yankees
- 35:40Speaker 6: closer and everything that comes with that responsibility. And now
- 35:44Speaker 6: he's going to be in the same town with a
- 35:46Speaker 6: lot of the very same media people in the same
- 35:50Speaker 6: volume of media. So that is not a slam dunk
- 35:54Speaker 6: for me. I do like Luke Weaver as a as
- 35:56Speaker 6: another guy there, and in terms of the defense, yeah,
- 36:00Speaker 6: huge risk. What's interesting is these guys are athletic, right
- 36:03Speaker 6: Bishett and Polanco, So you're not putting dhs out there
- 36:07Speaker 6: at new positions. But a risk for sure, But it
- 36:11Speaker 6: seems like it was a necessary to necessary move to
- 36:17Speaker 6: kind of blow things up and start over. And we'll
- 36:20Speaker 6: see if it works. I'll say now, I'd be very
- 36:23Speaker 6: surprised if they did not exceed last year's eighty three
- 36:26Speaker 6: and seventy nine record.
- 36:31Speaker 4: Ken, I just want to know, since you don't cover
- 36:33Speaker 4: the teams anymore, who ends the year with the better record?
- 36:35Speaker 4: The Yankees are the Mets this year, since you're not,
- 36:38Speaker 4: since you don't have to cover them, now, you can
- 36:40Speaker 4: give us your honest opinion who this year finishes with
- 36:42Speaker 4: the better record.
- 36:43Speaker 6: I would hope I was giving my hosesbite opinion before.
- 36:46Speaker 4: Yeah, now that I'm in the media, I know that
- 36:49Speaker 4: our media work.
- 36:50Speaker 6: So I don't have to say the Yankees just because,
- 36:55Speaker 6: but the Yankees have The Yankees have historically figured it
- 36:59Speaker 6: out better and more often than the Mets, and I
- 37:02Speaker 6: do think the Yankees have fewer question marks about the
- 37:06Speaker 6: overall team, So I would have to go with the Yankees.
- 37:08Speaker 6: Agent right.
- 37:10Speaker 5: We have a lot of players and writers on but
- 37:12Speaker 5: one of the common themes is New York tough city
- 37:15Speaker 5: to play in.
- 37:16Speaker 7: You know, there's a lot of pressure.
- 37:18Speaker 5: Why did you put so much pressure on all those
- 37:21Speaker 5: players as part of the media and reading your book,
- 37:24Speaker 5: it feels like there's the.
- 37:26Speaker 7: Soft side of you? Is there a way? Is there
- 37:29Speaker 7: is there?
- 37:31Speaker 5: Is there a part of you that saw some of
- 37:34Speaker 5: that media like that players can't handle New York, which
- 37:38Speaker 5: I don't one hundred percent believe, and maybe you took
- 37:42Speaker 5: it a little bit easier on players.
- 37:46Speaker 6: I do think this book is a reflection of the
- 37:50Speaker 6: fact that I was burnt out on the job that
- 37:52Speaker 6: you guys are doing now covering the game every day,
- 37:56Speaker 6: like it's it's such a grind. And I loved it
- 37:59Speaker 6: and it was my childhood dream, but I just reached
- 38:02Speaker 6: a point where like I wasn't enjoying this anymore. And
- 38:04Speaker 6: this book was such a refreshing change of pace for me,
- 38:07Speaker 6: just to really embrace the game in such a loving
- 38:10Speaker 6: way and talk about the game at its fundamental level,
- 38:14Speaker 6: to talk about the three outs and the nine innings
- 38:18Speaker 6: and the bases and all these different elements. So that
- 38:21Speaker 6: was a true joy for me. As for New York, Eric,
- 38:23Speaker 6: I'm curious. I'm interested to hear you say that, because
- 38:26Speaker 6: I believe it's a real thing. Like I saw enough
- 38:29Speaker 6: guys just struggle. More than anything. It's just the volume, right,
- 38:32Speaker 6: It's the volume of quantity of people. And I do
- 38:36Speaker 6: think the commentary is harsher than it is in other
- 38:40Speaker 6: markets by and large. But even like I always the story.
- 38:43Speaker 6: I always tell Randy Johnson, you know, Hall of Fame
- 38:45Speaker 6: pitcher all time at worse, the second best left the
- 38:49Speaker 6: starter ever, right, like just a fina. But Randy came
- 38:52Speaker 6: to New York and like he didn't like all that attention.
- 38:56Speaker 6: I think he'd be the first to tell you. And
- 38:59Speaker 6: he like I remember, like between start, you know, throwd
- 39:02Speaker 6: between starts, and he would throw and like media will
- 39:05Speaker 6: come up with him, like you, how'd your session go, Randy?
- 39:07Speaker 6: Like what are you talking about? Yeah, we know your
- 39:10Speaker 6: last two starts haven't been great. Did you change anything
- 39:13Speaker 6: up in your session?
- 39:14Speaker 3: Like?
- 39:14Speaker 6: What do you do differently? Like? That was like mind
- 39:17Speaker 6: blowing for Randy because I think, with all the respect
- 39:19Speaker 6: to the smaller markets, he played it like he would
- 39:21Speaker 6: just do his own business between starts and never get
- 39:24Speaker 6: a questioned about anything.
- 39:26Speaker 1: Yeah, that is a great It didn't help Ken.
- 39:28Speaker 7: Then he shoved the cameraman right. That didn't help me either.
- 39:33Speaker 7: I mean, that's let's.
- 39:37Speaker 1: Welcome to New York.
- 39:38Speaker 7: Yeah, now is a cameraman. That's right?
- 39:42Speaker 6: Oh, good pivot there.
- 39:43Speaker 7: He should have definitely should have read that. Listen.
- 39:45Speaker 4: I think that, I mean, I listen to someone that
- 39:48Speaker 4: played in big and small markets.
- 39:49Speaker 7: I don't know that.
- 39:50Speaker 4: It's definitely the media coverage. I think it all also
- 39:53Speaker 4: has to do with the way teams handle it, because
- 39:54Speaker 4: different teams handle things different ways. And it starts with
- 39:57Speaker 4: the manager in the in the front office people and
- 39:59Speaker 4: if you the guys who are right, and I'll give
- 40:02Speaker 4: Aaron Boone credit.
- 40:03Speaker 7: For this a lot.
- 40:03Speaker 4: And I don't know Cashman as well as I know Boonie,
- 40:06Speaker 4: but they really try to take pressure off the players, right,
- 40:09Speaker 4: like and I think Carlos Mendoza does a great job
- 40:11Speaker 4: in New York with us too, like that Aaron Boone's like,
- 40:14Speaker 4: throw it on me, I'll take it, you know, and
- 40:17Speaker 4: so that it's not on them. Then you can get
- 40:18Speaker 4: a manager that is like, oh, well, I don't know
- 40:21Speaker 4: why he did that, asked the player, and then the
- 40:23Speaker 4: players like, well, he gave me the bonner, he gave
- 40:25Speaker 4: me the hit and run, or he brought me into
- 40:27Speaker 4: the game, right, you know. So I think it can
- 40:31Speaker 4: be a thing, but it also can be mitigated and
- 40:35Speaker 4: lessened a little bit if you're people in charge help
- 40:40Speaker 4: you a little bit and not say, oh, it's all
- 40:43Speaker 4: the players fault or it's all you know, Oh well
- 40:45Speaker 4: ask him, Like, no, ask me, I'm in charge. I'll
- 40:48Speaker 4: handle the heat. And I think that helps.
- 40:51Speaker 2: Yeah, good point. Well, we appreciate the time. Great conversation
- 40:55Speaker 2: with you. Ken's book is available wherever you get books.
- 40:58Speaker 2: One oh one Lessons from the Dugout What baseball and
- 41:01Speaker 2: softball can teach us about the game of life and
- 41:04Speaker 2: if you go on the back. Some recommendations include Reggie Jackson,
- 41:07Speaker 2: Bernie Williams, Joe Girardi, and Cayrol Hutchins. Who's the winningest
- 41:10Speaker 2: softball coach in NCAA history. Ken, thanks again for joining us.
- 41:14Speaker 2: Congrats on the book. We appreciate you putting this together
- 41:16Speaker 2: and joining us.
- 41:18Speaker 6: Guys, thanks for having me. Great to see all