0:02

This

0:07

is baseball tonight the podcast.

0:11

This is a baseball tonight

0:13

podcast for Wednesday May 3rd

0:15

two thousand twenty three and today

0:18

will be better than yesterday. Working

0:20

from the shrink studios is Taylor Schwenk.

0:22

I'm Buster only working from my home in Montana.

0:25

Later on today we're going to be speaking with

0:28

future Hall of Famer Bruce Bochy the manager

0:30

of the Texas Rangers the first

0:33

place Rangers who face the Diamondbacks

0:35

yesterday. They trail four to

0:37

three bottom of the sixth inning when

0:39

this happened. One one count

0:41

to Duran who's already got a couple of hits he swings

0:43

and hammers this one

0:44

to left center field. That one is back. Look it

0:46

up Thomas. Out of here. Into the Diamondbacks

0:48

bullpen. On

0:59

their way to a six to four victory that's

1:02

a sound from one oh five point three the fan.

1:04

Yeah there's some distinct personality

1:07

that the Rangers taken on. We've talked a little bit

1:09

about it on the podcast here in recent

1:11

weeks. You're going to be asking Bruce Bochy about that.

1:14

The Orioles and the Royals the

1:16

Orioles are playing so well and

1:19

Ryan Mountcastle had himself a day

1:21

Ryan Mountcastle torpedoes

1:24

one to left field and the Orioles

1:26

are right back in this. Oh

1:30

in the span of two pitches two

1:33

loud and lethal swings

1:36

from Rutsman and Mountcastle home

1:38

run number seven for Mountie a long

1:40

awaited trip around the bases makes

1:43

it three to make it

1:45

four in a row left center

1:48

field headed for the fountains.

1:50

Ryan

1:52

Mountcastle home runs in

1:55

back to back innings

1:56

and he is back in a big way.

1:59

Orioles won that game 11-7.

2:02

They are rolling in a really competitive

2:04

American League East. We spoke last week with

2:06

Jeff Passen about all the injuries to pitchers

2:09

and wow, the hits just keep on coming. Astro

2:11

starter Luis Garcia was placed in the 15th

2:14

day injured list Tuesday. The

2:16

second Houston starting pitcher to be put on

2:18

the list this week, of course, Jose

2:21

Arquiti was placed on the

2:23

injured list after he came out of Sunday's

2:25

start with his shoulder issue. He

2:28

was able to left Monday's game after just eight pitches

2:30

because of right elbow discomfort.

2:32

Bad news about Rockies right hander

2:34

Herman Marquez is going to have Tommy

2:36

John surgery.

2:37

This is nearing the end of a contract

2:41

for which he has a 2024 club option. That's

2:45

not going to help his chance of getting that. For

2:47

the Yankees, more bad news. Lou

2:50

Trevino is going to get Tommy John

2:52

surgery and Carlos Rodano had

2:54

an elbow issue in spring training. He's

2:57

being slowed by a back issue. Erboon

2:59

telling reporters yesterday that

3:01

they're going to be looking more into that. We

3:03

finally had some good pitching news. You

3:05

get the Cardinals, Adam Wainwright,

3:07

set to make his debut on Saturday

3:10

and wow, the Cardinals need it. They

3:12

lost again yesterday. We're going to be speaking with Xavier

3:15

Scruggs about everything Cardinals

3:17

when he joined us in just a little bit.

3:19

The Red Sox, the Blue Jays. This

3:22

is a big series for the Red Sox playing

3:24

in Fenway Park against Toronto, a

3:26

team which has given them all kinds of fits

3:28

the last couple of years. Connor Wong

3:31

is emerging for the Red Sox this

3:33

year. It was six all. Bottom

3:35

of the eighth inning, he came to the plate.

3:37

Then he swings and hits one high, left field.

3:40

Daley Marshall back by the wall,

3:42

looking

3:43

up and it's gone. Connor

3:46

Wong does it again and the Red Sox

3:48

lead at seven six. Can you believe it? Two

3:52

home runs at double and a single for

3:54

Connor Wong. A high towering

3:57

drive as the lights flash

3:59

here at the.

4:01

from WEI 93.7 FM

4:04

Masataki Yoshida also had a great game

4:06

he's been ridiculously hot. We

4:09

mentioned the Yankees they face the Guardians

4:11

at Yankee Stadium Sarah Langs was in attendance

4:14

we're gonna be hearing from her in a moment about

4:16

that experience they're

4:18

looking for offense from anybody and

4:20

yesterday Anthony Rizzo helped them out.

4:30

It was 2-2 bottom of the seventh inning this is what

4:32

happened. That

4:38

was Joe Torelli Field, did he get enough? He

4:42

got enough! See ya! A home run for Calhoun! And

4:45

the Yankees lead 3-2. That

4:46

of course was the voice of Michael Kay on the

4:49

Yes Network the final score was 4-2. The

4:52

Rays the Pirates the Rays have had

4:54

great pitching they lead the majors

4:56

in home runs and on Tuesday

4:59

night they did this. There

5:01

goes the runner off first, the pitch is a ball

5:03

from the second at

5:04

a time and a range! Steel

5:07

around! Rocco Steel second!

5:11

Siri waited long enough it took

5:13

off and hits to the plate the

5:15

range leads 3-1.

5:16

So they use a double steal

5:19

on their way to a 4-1 victory. Justin

5:21

Verlander and Max Scherzer are lined up to

5:23

return for the Mets playing

5:26

against the Detroit Tigers. This is Justin

5:28

Verlander talking about

5:30

how he's feeling going into his 2023 season debut.

5:34

Yeah, I

5:34

mean 10 out of 10 you know. It's

5:39

nice to finally you know start to get that

5:41

little energy you know a little nervous

5:43

and it starts to kick in you know you know your start

5:45

days getting close. Yeah,

5:48

I'm ready to go.

5:50

The Braves the Marlins and Ozzie

5:52

Albee's is off to a great

5:54

start this year. This is what he did in the top

5:56

of the second inning on Tuesday.

5:59

This one off the bat of Ozzy Albee's

6:03

and gone. Well, sometimes the

6:05

faster they come in, the harder

6:07

they go out. And the Braves have grabbed

6:09

a one to nothing lead. Eighth

6:12

of the season for Ozzy.

6:14

Eight homers for Ozzy Albee. So far this

6:16

year, the Braves win this game 6-0. Bryce

6:18

Elder was outstanding for

6:20

Atlanta in this game. Bryce Harper

6:22

was back in the Phillies lineup on

6:25

Tuesday night, 160 days after

6:27

having Tommy John surgery,

6:29

but the Phillies

6:29

get blown out by the Dodgers 13 to 1.

6:33

Now 3-2. Betts shoots from the

6:35

second pass stop. And

6:37

the Dodgers come through here after

6:39

team ended up second and third. Nobody

6:42

out. They get Mookie Betts, a two out, two

6:44

strike, they set.

6:45

The A's, the Mariners, had a great

6:47

game. It was one all when Jared

6:50

Kellenick broke a tie. And

6:52

the right handers, one-oh pitch

6:54

on the way to Kellenick. Swinging a fly ball down

6:56

the right field line and deep into the corner.

6:59

Fair to fair ball. Short hop off

7:01

the wall. Caballero was scored. Ty

7:03

France, the third. Kellenick in at

7:05

second. The throw in is cut off by

7:07

the second baseman. Jared

7:10

Kellenick with a two out RBI

7:12

double. The end of the right field corner

7:14

gives the Mariners a two to one

7:16

lead over the A's here in the top of the eighth

7:18

inning. Taylor, what else you got? Everyone,

7:21

I want to promote Buster's Instagram over here at

7:23

Buster only. We're putting clips from the show

7:25

on there. So if you're listening to that, you know, probably

7:27

some stuff you heard. But you can see Bruce

7:29

Bochy's beautiful face on Instagram.

7:32

You know, that's a place you can go to catch that. Or

7:34

Xavier Scruggs, he's a handsome guy too. Check

7:37

out Buster's Instagram. They're all hanging out over there. Sarah

7:40

Abbott has been pushing out content over there. It's been

7:43

a good time. His follower count is growing. Are

7:45

you liking the interactions over there,

7:47

Buster? Oh yeah, I absolutely love

7:49

it. Like any way that you get

7:51

to share in baseball

7:54

conversation, I think it's fun. Like

7:56

I know you're aware of this. I go on Twitter and

7:58

people, you know, throw.

7:59

questions at me that might challenge what I've written or

8:02

they go back and I'm just, I just like sports

8:04

conversation. I think of it as like being

8:06

in a bar, hanging out,

8:08

and just, you know, someone says something,

8:10

hey, you know, this team is good. This team is bad.

8:12

And then you just have a back and forth about it. I

8:14

think it's a lot of fun. Yeah, it's a lot more

8:17

of a positive environment over there. So check out Buster on Instagram

8:19

at Buster only.

8:26

0 0 9 6. This is the Numbers Game

8:28

with Sarah Langs. Sarah Langs,

8:30

reporter, producer for MLB.com. Sarah,

8:33

how was your birthday? On Tuesday,

8:35

the baseball gods arranging for you

8:37

and Mandy Bell to be in the, your good friend Mandy Bell

8:39

to be in the same ballpark, Yankee

8:42

Stadium, the Guardians, who Mandy covers

8:44

for MLB.com

8:45

against the Yankees. How was

8:48

that? It was amazing.

8:50

I mean, as I mentioned, and

8:52

as you know, with someone having

8:55

a friend who's a beat writer means

8:57

that's a friend you basically

8:59

don't see during the season because

9:02

they're always wherever the team is. And

9:04

I always look out for when she

9:06

going to be in New York. Sometimes

9:09

she's not on the trip and figuring

9:11

out that she was going to be here

9:13

on my birthday with amazing. And

9:16

it was just incredible. I mean, you

9:18

know, just sitting there doing our

9:20

normal work, but getting to be next

9:22

to each other. I arrived to the

9:24

press box and there were four cookies,

9:27

six cupcakes and a present

9:30

next to where she was sitting. And I

9:32

was the stressed out person texting

9:34

her like, where are you sitting?

9:37

How am I going to know where to sit?

9:39

Because I've been in press books since

9:41

plenty, but not in a while.

9:43

And just making sure I'm in the right spot.

9:46

I'm sitting with the visiting reporter.

9:48

She's all this unwritten rule stuff.

9:51

And she's like, oh, my computer

9:53

is the sticker. Meanwhile, it is

9:55

going to be very easy to find.

9:58

Little did I know.

9:59

Yeah, and that's actually, you know,

10:02

back in the day in old Yankee Stadium,

10:04

when I was covering those teams in 90s,

10:06

that press box was not easy to cover in. Yankee

10:09

Stadium press box is excellent. Like

10:11

there's space and you

10:13

got to, you know, you can spread out, you got a good

10:15

view with the field. It's actually

10:17

a great place to work. I

10:19

got to tell you, I felt so stupid yesterday

10:22

after we got done taping with you, because it

10:24

was your birthday and that's what we focused

10:27

on talking about. What we didn't talk about was

10:29

something that you

10:29

sent me a note about last

10:32

week and you were the last person to promote

10:34

anything. And then later

10:37

after I talked to you, I saw your tweets

10:40

about fist bumps and I'm like, oh my

10:42

God, I completely forgot to ask

10:44

her about that. Can you please now

10:47

a day late,

10:48

tell us what that's about.

10:49

Absolutely. So as

10:52

is very well salvaged at this point,

10:55

I'm a huge fan of birthdays, especially

10:57

mine. But all birthdays, as

11:00

my birthday was approaching, I

11:02

realized that I want to use

11:04

my birthday this year to

11:07

do something to raise awareness

11:09

and money for research for us.

11:13

And it's not just my birthday, but

11:15

is ALS Awareness Month.

11:18

And in the wildest of coincidences,

11:21

my birthday May 2nd is

11:23

the date that Lou Gehrig streak ended.

11:26

So there's just so much that

11:28

seemed to be shouting at me, hey,

11:30

let's use this day and this

11:33

month for good. So I

11:35

spent, I mean, probably months thinking

11:37

about what should I do? I want

11:40

people to do something on social media.

11:42

And I ended up coming up with the idea

11:45

of fist bumps for ALS. So

11:47

the idea is post

11:50

a video or a photo of yourself

11:52

fist bumping someone, you know, or

11:55

a pet, for instance,

11:57

which I was very excited to see. you

12:00

already with some dogs. I love

12:02

dogs. Hands are welcome as well.

12:05

Inanimate objects, statues, whatever

12:08

you may think of. But the idea is some

12:10

sort of fist bump. And if you're

12:12

willing and able and would like to

12:14

donate to Project ALS, which

12:17

is doing a ton of important

12:20

research on ALS, there's

12:22

a link to do so you can find it on

12:25

my Twitter. And either way,

12:27

just sharing that hashtag and reminding

12:29

people that this is something

12:31

a lot more common than you think that

12:34

a lot of people are dealing with. So I

12:36

just thought it was a kind of fun, light

12:38

hearted thing we could share on

12:41

social media. And you know, some

12:44

of these challenges need you to do

12:46

so much. I didn't want to be

12:48

difficult. I thought this one's are

12:50

pretty easy. And everyone

12:53

does them, especially in baseball. So

12:55

this one's for ALS is what

12:58

I'm, I guess, promoting. I'm

13:00

not good at the word promoting and certainly

13:02

not with myself. But

13:04

I am promoting for ALS

13:07

and helping to find a care.

13:09

All right. Yeah, I will send

13:11

you the video. Quinnie, as you know, my dog,

13:13

I will send you a fist bump with her. I send

13:16

you videos of her all the time. She's swimming.

13:19

And now as it warms up here, out

13:21

here in Montana, and she's

13:22

she, boy, she's got a lot of energy.

13:25

But yeah,

13:26

donation was made. And I nominated

13:29

Jessica Mendoza, Tim Kirch and then

13:32

two others that I knew you knew, which

13:34

would be Justin Turner and Julio

13:36

Rodriguez. So

13:39

you know what, it's a cool idea to

13:41

cool initiative. And

13:43

thank you for doing that. All right, let's

13:45

play the numbers game. Number three.

13:47

Number three is

13:50

five and a third. So yesterday,

13:52

I was kind of hoping we might

13:55

get a birthday no hitter for me,

13:58

that Bryce Miller, Mason Miller,

13:59

match-up between the Mariners

14:02

and A's looked like either guy should

14:04

do it for a while. It was Mason

14:06

Miller of the A's who ended up with the

14:09

longer no-head band, but

14:11

Bryce Miller for the Mariners was making

14:13

an MLB debut. He was

14:15

perfect through five and a third inning.

14:19

That is tied for the second longest

14:21

perfect band by any pitcher

14:23

in his MLB debut in

14:26

the expansion era, which goes back

14:29

to 1961. The only one longer

14:31

was Nick Kingham on April 29, 2018, six

14:36

and two thirds innings. Perfect

14:39

for the Pirates. And I remember this

14:41

game so well because

14:43

it was a Sunday baseball day. We

14:45

were on the road for baseball

14:48

tonight on the road. We were then

14:51

Anaheim for a Angels

14:54

Yankees game. And I remember being

14:56

our little makeshift green room,

14:58

researching this note at the time

15:01

for Kingham, getting ready

15:03

to run it on baseball night or

15:05

potentially cover a perfect game.

15:08

Number two.

15:10

Number two is three. So

15:12

on the other side of pitching,

15:15

the Phillies have now pitched Cody

15:17

Clemens, who is unlike

15:20

his father, not a pitcher by trade

15:23

in back-to-back team games. He

15:25

is the third position player

15:28

to pitching consecutive team games

15:30

in at least the expansion era, which

15:32

goes back to 1961. As I just said, joining

15:36

Luis Gonzalez, who did the slasher,

15:39

and Hans-R Alberto, who did

15:41

it twice last year. We tend

15:44

to go expansion era for position

15:46

players pitching because positions

15:49

prior to that are little fuzzier.

15:52

But I did love

15:54

looking out for Roger Clemens,

15:56

of course, because he was a starting

15:58

pitcher. Never pitch on back

16:00

to back day and now his son

16:03

has. Not ideal for the

16:05

Phillies, but does make for a fun

16:07

note.

16:08

Number one.

16:09

Number one is 20. So

16:12

it's amazing. The Rays continue

16:15

to be really good. They continue

16:17

to have really fun Rays streak

16:20

notes to bring. So the

16:22

Rays are now 20 and 0

16:24

this season when they score first.

16:27

They score first. The game is over.

16:30

That is high

16:32

with the 1990 Reds

16:34

for the longest winning streak

16:36

when scoring first by any team

16:39

to serve a season since 1900.

16:42

And by the way, those Reds held

16:45

first place wire to wire among

16:47

the World Series. So I mean,

16:49

it's incredible that even with

16:51

that season opening streak over,

16:53

there is so much. They're still

16:55

doing really, really well.

16:58

All right. Xavier

17:00

Scruggs is coming up and I'm going to mention

17:02

to him that the Yankees, if they're playing in the American

17:05

League Central, you'd be like, OK, it's still a little bit early.

17:07

But

17:07

they're not. They're

17:09

chasing the Rays and they're chasing the Orioles

17:11

and they're chasing the Jays and they're chasing

17:13

the Red Sox. You got to see

17:15

the Yankees in person yesterday. You got to witness

17:17

that lineup, which is thin. You were there at

17:19

Yankee Stadium when they had the news yesterday. Carlos

17:22

Rodon,

17:23

he's out indefinitely because they don't know exactly

17:25

what's going on with him.

17:27

I think they're in trouble, Sheriff, maybe

17:29

for the first time since that year in which they traded

17:32

Andrew Miller and traded a role as

17:34

Chapman. What do you think?

17:36

It does feel like they are. And part

17:38

of it, as you said, is sort of circumstance.

17:41

It isn't even the

17:43

team and the roster they have, but

17:45

it's that division, the Reds. And

17:47

as we talked about yesterday, I mean, everyone's

17:49

above 500 right now in

17:52

that division. And with the new

17:54

balance schedule and playing each other

17:56

less, these teams will have

17:58

fewer chances to cut. each other

18:00

down and end up sort of

18:03

lowering each other's record. So I mean,

18:05

the Alesis playing and they

18:08

six 79 clip outside their division

18:11

right now. That'll be the highest

18:13

we've ever seen. Of course, they'll play

18:15

more games outside the division

18:17

than any division ever

18:20

had. They do think that

18:22

this is a tough situation

18:24

for them. I mean, the lineup definitely

18:26

gets very thin towards the bottom.

18:29

And you wonder what kind of

18:31

moves they might make at the deadline.

18:34

I mean, I do think that because

18:36

everyone is about 500 and

18:39

again, it's really, it's only made third,

18:41

but there will be a lot of motivation

18:44

to go out and make a move because

18:46

even though the razor so far

18:48

ahead right now, all of those teams

18:51

are feasibly in it.

18:54

Yeah. So I've got some distinct thoughts about

18:56

what the Yankees could look for at the trademark at coming

18:58

up here when I talk with Xavier. And

19:01

in a moment, we're going to be talking with your friend, Bruce

19:03

Bochi.

19:04

If I'm going to ask you about the first place

19:06

Rangers 1811 so far, and

19:08

I asked you for one word,

19:11

one word, that's all you can give me. Why

19:13

they're winning. It can't be Bochi. It can't be

19:15

the manager change. Okay.

19:16

Give me one word for why you

19:18

think the Rangers are so much better than they have been

19:21

in the past.

19:22

I mean, right now I go with resilience.

19:25

I just go with the fact that Corey Seeger

19:27

gets hurt and we think, okay,

19:30

they're off to a great little start, but

19:33

Corey Seeger, it's hurt and now they're

19:35

going to ball out of it. And that hasn't

19:38

even bothered them. They

19:40

are still scoring plenty of friends.

19:42

The Dolly Square, see it. I mean, all

19:44

of his home runs getting a chance

19:47

to four home or game model is that

19:49

two weeks ago, Nathaniel,

19:51

well-winning while Josh Young. So

19:53

I have really enjoyed what they've been doing

19:56

and I think for zillion it's what

19:58

they'll need moving forward. Jacob

20:00

Dornam on the IL, having

20:02

those two names on the injured

20:05

list, if they continue to do this for

20:07

another month, then the word has

20:09

to be Bochi pursuing that ship.

20:12

And keep it now. And just

20:14

keeping them in check and in first place.

20:17

Well, I'll run the word resilient past Bochi

20:21

and see what he has saying. Sarah, thanks for doing this.

20:23

Thanks so much for having me, Buster.

20:29

Bruce Bochi is the manager of the Texas

20:31

Rangers. Bochi is the first place Rangers, 18

20:33

and 11. I

20:35

mentioned to you that I was talking to your good friend

20:38

Sarah Langs, and I asked her for one word

20:41

to describe why the Rangers are

20:43

where they are. And she said, it's got to be resilient.

20:46

Because you lose it, Corey Seager. You

20:49

had Jacob DeGrom having some injury issues early

20:51

on. She thinks that's the word

20:53

that fits your team. What do you think?

20:55

I think

20:58

that's a great word to fit this club. We

21:00

lost Mitch Garber, too, who was going to

21:02

assume a lot of the DH

21:04

role along with catching a couple of times a week

21:07

and with those injuries. But also,

21:10

some tough games that we've lost. We had a tough

21:12

series in Cincinnati. We had

21:14

a couple get away from us. But

21:17

they came back and played very well against New

21:19

York. And, you know, Buster, during

21:22

the course of 162 games, yeah,

21:24

you're going to deal with those ups and downs,

21:26

those valleys, as they say.

21:29

But you know what's going to

21:31

happen and what's important is how you handle it. And

21:33

these guys have

21:34

just done a terrific job.

21:37

So we had Marcus Simeon on the podcast

21:39

recently. And I knew the answer to this

21:41

question when I asked him, which was, so

21:43

tell me about your home run celebration for

21:45

your team. And the reason why I knew the answer was just

21:47

being around you guys for a couple of days.

21:50

Like, you guys have such

21:52

an understated group.

21:54

And he was like, nah, we don't really

21:56

have anything yet.

21:58

And I don't know if that's changed at all.

22:00

But it really jumped out of me when I was around

22:02

you and your players like there's

22:04

a very business like attitude

22:07

among your group

22:08

Yeah, I love it. You're right.

22:10

You know, there's the you know, they may

22:12

come up come up with something and I you know What

22:15

I would be fine with that. I really would

22:17

be but I you know They you

22:19

know, they're pros and that like they've

22:22

been there done that Very

22:24

professional how they go about their work,

22:26

but they have fun too. Trust me It's

22:29

a good group a fun group But

22:31

you know, they're not one to over celebrate

22:33

or or get too high on

22:36

some of these wins and and I think

22:38

that works You know, I'm kind of that

22:40

even kill but you have to enjoy

22:43

the wins which we do But you

22:45

know in a subtle way, I guess

22:48

and so I kind of like it be honest

22:51

Where does that come from? Who's at the

22:53

core of that in your eyes and watching your players?

22:56

Wow, that's that's a tough one Yeah, I say

22:58

Marcus you know Marcus

23:01

very

23:02

Very business like pro like but

23:05

you know enjoys playing but you know He

23:07

just has a it starts with his work

23:09

ethic. It's every day. Yes his routine

23:12

But now think Cory to

23:14

see her I think our core guys up

23:16

the middle both of them play a role

23:18

in this you know, they

23:20

they just go about their business and in

23:23

such a

23:25

Professional way that I

23:28

think it just rubs off on everybody now

23:30

we we do have

23:32

You know our other guys and Sometimes

23:36

play with their hair on fire a little bit Garcia

23:39

I'd say look a little bit the rain those

23:41

guys and it's a good blend and I've

23:43

had that before on clubs and But

23:46

I think it's a good mix with veterans

23:48

young guys and and they feed

23:50

off each other very well Alright

23:52

so tell me where you stand now

23:55

with Seager and where he's going and

23:57

what's your expectation is with the Grom

23:59

Yeah, Corey, in fact, I just walked in from

24:02

watching him take ground balls at short. So

24:05

he's really coming around. He's made

24:07

a lot of progress in the last four or five

24:10

days. After this weekend,

24:12

we'll reevaluate him. I

24:15

think we're looking at seven

24:18

to 10 days in that area before

24:21

we start some games,

24:24

probably some rehab. I

24:26

know he's not big on that right now. I

24:29

would have a load of concern with that, to be honest.

24:32

But I will say, he's

24:34

the guy that's always working on his hitting.

24:37

So he's been doing that for a couple of weeks. So

24:39

I probably can answer the question

24:42

better after this weekend series with Anaheim

24:45

or with the Angels. With Jacob,

24:47

he hasn't started throwing

24:49

yet, but he feels great. He says he's

24:52

really not feeling anything. We said when

24:54

he got to that point, we'll

24:56

get back to playing catch. So that's

24:59

going to happen real soon. So

25:01

now I'd say we're in that probably

25:04

three-week area, and we're almost

25:06

a week into that now.

25:09

So that big story in baseball

25:11

in 2023 are all these new rule changes. And I was saying,

25:14

as I was getting ready to talk to you, I was

25:16

thinking about how you were at the

25:18

forefront, I think, of one of the major rule

25:20

changes that we saw more than a decade

25:22

ago, which was the catcher collision rules. You

25:25

were very outspoken how you,

25:28

as a former catcher, felt like that

25:31

this was something that was important moving forward.

25:33

And I remember how much criticism you took at

25:35

that time. People were not happy

25:37

with you, not only what

25:39

your suggestion, putting in the rules against catcher

25:41

collisions, but the fact that you were so outspoken

25:44

about it. What do you remember about that? Yeah.

25:47

Well, you know what? It's what

25:49

I really believed. I thought

25:51

it was the dumbest role in

25:53

sports. I really do. The

25:56

catcher is so vulnerable. And I'm

25:59

not a

26:00

not opposed to contact

26:02

and things like that. But this

26:04

was something that really

26:06

made me nervous

26:09

and scared for some of these

26:11

catchers. I saw catchers really

26:14

in their careers, guys in the minor

26:16

leagues. You know,

26:19

Buster got all the attention, which Buster

26:21

didn't like. But you know, the fact that

26:24

we almost lost, you know, one of

26:26

the best catchers ever in the game on

26:28

the collision when he was in front of home plate,

26:30

he wasn't even blocking home plate. You

26:33

just didn't have that protection.

26:35

And I still remember Herman Edwards,

26:37

the football coach, he was talking

26:39

about it. And I had not met

26:41

him or talked to him about it. He goes, this is crazy.

26:44

I've never seen anything like this. This

26:46

would be like a guy in football, not

26:49

allowed to make a fair catch, you know? And

26:51

we have equipment to protect

26:53

us from getting hurt. And the catcher, he

26:55

really didn't have that kind of gear. So it

26:57

should have been done a lot earlier. And

27:00

you know what, Buster? It actually got me to the

27:02

major leagues. In 1978, we had

27:04

a young guy, Reggie Baldwin, Dave

27:06

Parker ran over pretty much into his

27:08

career. And you know, they had to call up another

27:10

catcher. They called me up. So, and

27:13

I had my collisions in that, hey, I

27:15

get it. It was part of the game, but it

27:17

did not make sense to me. And I

27:19

was adamant that, you know, we

27:22

need to do something about this. Either

27:24

that or change the rules and let

27:26

us hit the first baseman, the second baseman, the

27:28

third baseman. Let's just make it a real fun

27:30

game. Right. Well,

27:32

what I remember too, talking with you at that time,

27:35

cause you're right. I mean, it's always referred to as the Buster

27:37

Posey rule, but your

27:39

level of concern had been

27:41

raised long before that. I

27:43

remember you telling me about a catcher you hadn't seen in Diego, I

27:45

think it's Gary Bennett. And what

27:47

you saw in him, you just thought at

27:50

that time, like,

27:51

oh my God, someone's gonna get killed here if

27:53

we don't change this. I'm

27:55

guessing the way that it's played

27:58

out, you couldn't probably.

27:59

has pleased you because the number of catchers

28:02

who get hurt on collisions now has disappeared.

28:04

Right. And

28:06

I don't think anybody misses that part of the game.

28:08

I don't. I haven't heard any complaints. Hey,

28:11

I miss that

28:13

home plate collision and you

28:15

can still have them. If the catcher gets the ball

28:17

gets in front of home plate, you can still hit

28:19

them. But at least at that time,

28:22

he's got a chance to protect himself. But

28:24

the one you're talking about, Gary Bennett, Brian

28:27

Jordan, who played football and it

28:29

was not a dirty play or anything. But here,

28:31

I mean, as fast as he is, as big as he

28:33

is, he had been it. I really

28:36

thought, you know, this guy's really,

28:38

really hurt. And he was, he had to go in the DL.

28:41

But I said, we're going to snap a neck.

28:43

We're going to have a guy we're going to carry off

28:45

and he's going to be put in a wheelchair. And now, and

28:47

like I said, I've known, I knew some minor

28:49

league catchers that really ended their careers,

28:52

you know, getting busted up at home plate.

28:55

And it just did not make sense.

28:57

But I'm glad the rules been changed.

29:00

And it's for the better. So what

29:01

do you think of the new rule changes in their impact?

29:05

I love them. I really do. The

29:07

pace of game is so much better. It's kind of what

29:10

it was like when I first came up. It

29:13

really was, you know, back in 1978, you know, those games are

29:16

about two and a half hours. I

29:18

think it's worked out very well. I

29:20

think it's going to work out for

29:22

the players, the fans. And

29:25

what I mean by that is it's so

29:27

much easier to play these guys more

29:29

because they're not out there as long.

29:32

The games are crisper. I've already

29:34

taken Jonah Hine back. Now today,

29:36

I'm D.H. You know, day game after night game, I

29:39

think twice already. I've caught him

29:41

a day game after night game because it's a two

29:43

hour game to catch him on the knee. And he

29:46

says, I have no problem. So I think

29:48

you're going to see less injuries.

29:50

I think you're going to see your guys out there

29:52

more, which the fans want to see your core players.

29:55

You don't have to arrest them as much. The

29:58

other things. You know, the bases

30:01

that, you know, I haven't really noticed a big

30:03

difference. Although the numbers say, you know,

30:05

guys are running more and all that, but you

30:08

know, the slight step can still mitigate

30:10

that. Uh, but, uh,

30:12

the no shifting you're getting

30:14

to see Marcus seeing yet, uh, sending

30:17

him make these plays across the bag. Like

30:19

I haven't seen in a long time. It's fine.

30:22

Hey, I really enjoy his athleticism

30:24

and that's, that's why this, uh, this

30:27

was, uh, a change so we could see

30:29

this from these players again, and we're saying it. And

30:31

I think the fans are enjoying it because the

30:33

all up buster, we can't forget. We are in an entertainment

30:36

business and now I think he's, these

30:38

fans are enjoying this brand of baseball a lot

30:40

more.

30:42

All right. You've got three championship rings from your

30:44

days with the San Francisco Giants in part because

30:46

of the work of Madison Bumgarner, who

30:48

was, you know, as a free agent, I've said in the podcast, it wouldn't

30:50

surprise me if, uh, you know, if he wouldn't want

30:52

to pitch for you again, when I was in San Francisco

30:55

last week, Giants, people were wondering

30:57

if he would go back there at some point. I

30:59

know you don't want to get into, you know, his next spot,

31:02

but I'm curious about your best Bumgarner

31:04

story that you like to tell friends because

31:07

I think, you know, this is a player about

31:09

whom everybody's got stories. What's

31:11

a favorite story you like to tell friends about? I've

31:15

told this a few times. So it's, uh,

31:17

people probably heard this, but, uh,

31:19

you know, it, it, it was, uh,

31:22

the moment to the, uh, I

31:24

really enjoyed, uh, you know, when, when

31:27

this happened, but I remember I had some,

31:29

uh, some, uh, media,

31:31

they, they were, it was a post game

31:34

deal that came in my office. I think Rick,

31:36

uh, Rick Sutcliffe was in there and, and

31:38

Bumgarner was standing at the door.

31:40

He wanted to talk to me. So I had to have, you

31:43

know, the whole group leave and Madison

31:45

comes in and just straight faces. He can

31:47

be now the preface says he just threw

31:49

a complete game. About 118 pitches.

31:53

And he looks at me and he says, you know, if you want

31:55

to win this, you'll start me the next game, I

31:58

mean, just serious. I said,

32:01

I'm not starting in the next game. And

32:03

cause we had a day off the next day, we had to go to

32:05

Kansas city. He goes, I,

32:07

I'll, I'll pitch one after that. I

32:10

said, I'm not starting on that one either. I

32:12

said, you know, if you feel good, then we'll

32:14

use you in the pen. He says, who's starting

32:16

out when I said, uh, you know, Hudson,

32:19

you know, and Tim was a real

32:21

close friend. He goes, I let how do you start, but

32:23

I'll be there, pick them up and, uh, put me in

32:25

if you want to win this. He kept saying that. So

32:28

there is a young, you know, he was pretty young

32:30

at the time, but, uh, he wanted the

32:32

ball and as you know, I don't know if there's

32:34

a better post-season performance

32:37

and what he gave us there. His picture

32:39

should be on that 2014 ring.

32:42

52 and a third innings, both in that

32:44

post-season can you, I mean, that feels like

32:47

you might as well be talking about like the dead ball

32:49

era, the idea that any, any

32:51

starting pitcher would throw 52 and a third innings.

32:54

And I don't know if that's necessarily something we would

32:56

even get back to. What about you? Yeah,

32:58

I agree. Uh, because you know, you look

33:01

at guys who, uh, who had tremendous

33:03

post-season performances, uh, Gibson,

33:05

a lowlitch. I mean, what he did with the Tigers,

33:08

but I mean, he had to go, he had a pitcher

33:10

wildcard game and a division series

33:12

championship series and seven games

33:15

come out of the pen, go five innings.

33:17

Uh, you really should have to win in that game

33:19

when you think about it. Uh, but, uh,

33:22

they were nice and gave it that felt, you know,

33:24

did a great job of being the bridge to get to

33:26

them. But I don't think we'll, we'll see

33:28

this again. I really don't know

33:31

what he did. And, uh, uh, to have

33:33

that many innings and not just ending,

33:35

but look at the numbers, uh, just

33:37

incredible. Uh, you know, just shows

33:39

you what a, you know, when, when you have

33:42

a great athlete or a pitcher like this, and

33:44

you know, how good they are under

33:46

pressure because part of our game is,

33:48

you know, get out of the talent, but it's performing

33:50

under pressure too. And nobody was better

33:52

than bomb.

33:54

All right, Boach. Thanks for doing this. So he's great

33:56

to talk with you. You too, Buster. Enjoy

33:59

seeing you and talking with.

33:59

You know, see you down the road.

34:02

Xavier Scruggs

34:05

is an ESPN analyst and he's among the hosts

34:07

of the MLB Network show off

34:09

base. X, how you doing?

34:11

I'm doing good, Buster. I'm all ready

34:13

to talk baseball with you, baby. Let's do it.

34:15

All right. So we'll start with this. You

34:18

obviously, based on your experience playing baseball,

34:21

you've heard a lot of players through the years

34:23

and sure managers, coaches would go, it's

34:25

still early. It's still,

34:28

you know, it's don't worry. We

34:30

got we got time to figure this out. When does it stop

34:32

being early for you?

34:34

Because I asked that question now that we're in the

34:36

first week of May. Yeah,

34:38

I think right around now, like once May

34:41

starts just because I guess from a player's perspective, it's

34:43

like you don't want to get yourself too

34:45

much in a hole individually

34:48

because then you start to realize, OK,

34:50

I'm affecting the team in a totally negative

34:52

way. And it's already been an

34:55

extended amount of time. Right. You

34:57

think about spring training, you think about the first month of the season,

34:59

that's two months of the season. If you don't have timing,

35:01

if you don't have, you know, your pitch

35:03

selection, if you don't have play discipline,

35:06

all that stuff from a hitter, I'm thinking from a hitter standpoint,

35:08

the same thing from a pitcher in defense. Like

35:11

it's time to start thinking about what you need to do to make

35:13

changes.

35:15

Yeah, I thought about that yesterday. Important

35:18

because you've seen the White Sox shake up the roster. Yeah,

35:20

like they made a rash of changes. You can tell like

35:23

in the front office coaching staff, they're probably like, OK, we

35:25

got to shake this up because it's getting laid out there early.

35:27

All right.

35:31

So as I told

35:33

you before we got started as a huge fan of the Minnesota

35:35

Vikings, they were coached for a long time by Dennis Green, who's

35:38

most famous for something he said while

35:41

coaching the Arizona Cardinals. Give

35:43

a listen.

35:44

But they are who we thought they were. And we

35:47

let them out the hook. All right. And

35:49

I'm just using this as a vehicle to get into talking about

35:51

different teams, talking about different players. And

35:55

St. Louis Cardinals actually wake up today,

35:57

they're 10 and 20. You know,

35:59

are they? They're they who

36:01

we thought they were they something different because

36:03

I thought they were as big a favorite

36:05

When their division is any team in baseball when

36:07

we started spring training?

36:09

Yeah, I'm not gonna panic on the Cardinals

36:12

yet and being a former Cardinal

36:14

This hurts like it really hurts seeing

36:16

them start this way just because the expectations

36:19

were extremely high Talk about

36:21

two MVP candidates one that won

36:23

the MVP In

36:25

the same lineup and then adding Wilson

36:27

Contreras as well Like these things just don't

36:30

add up at the moment But what

36:32

I think I think they are

36:35

who they are right now, honestly I don't think they're

36:37

as bad as they are right now But I don't know if

36:39

this team is gonna be able to find a

36:41

way to get back to the top of the division Because

36:43

I haven't seen the pitching staff do

36:46

much at all and I'm talking about give me

36:48

some length through the game Give me five

36:50

six innings, please it before before

36:53

the other team starts hurting us like

36:55

yesterday I did specifically I'm thinking about the first

36:57

game in the series against the Angels four

37:00

runs in the first inning off Stephen Matt So there

37:02

has to be some type of length in this

37:05

in the pitching in the starting rotation We've

37:07

seen Aaron Notto hasn't gotten off to a great

37:09

start as well The outfield

37:12

we don't know what's going on in the outfield who's gonna

37:14

step up and perform And because

37:17

nobody has stepped up they send Jordan Walker

37:19

back to triple eight like it just don't make sense The

37:21

preparation for this point of the season

37:24

doesn't seem like it was there from a Cardinals standpoint

37:26

They're not playing defense. So I

37:28

can't say that they are a lot better than what

37:30

they are right now I just don't think they are

37:32

who we thought they were

37:35

So at the beginning of spring training when when

37:37

we had the Cardinals on an exhibition game just

37:40

being around that team I thought this is a great

37:42

situation for Ali Marmal

37:44

like he and Dan and Dale basis He

37:46

can say you know what guys I'm gonna ride the hot

37:48

hand. We got a ton of competition We got a ton

37:51

of young guys if you want to play then

37:53

you got to perform

37:54

And as it turns out it feels

37:56

like that that's almost become an issue

37:58

like it's become a problem home where they're

38:01

moving guys in, moving guys out. And I completely

38:03

agree with you about Jordan Walker. Like when he was sent

38:05

down last week, it made me shake my

38:07

head because my thought was, look,

38:10

and this through spring training, if you're gonna start

38:12

the year with this guy on the Major League roster,

38:14

you gotta be prepared to ride it out for at least

38:17

half the year. If you believe in his potential,

38:19

great, but you kinda gotta ride

38:21

with him as he goes through inevitably through

38:23

some of the slides, and instead, boom,

38:27

after a month, they send it back down

38:29

to minor leagues. And I've been around

38:31

teams, you've been around teams where I've always felt like

38:33

the guys who wind up paying the price for a

38:35

bad start

38:36

are the young players. Because they can

38:39

move because they're not making any money because they're

38:41

get minor league options. They're not moving

38:43

any of the veterans. And so it's almost like,

38:45

okay, we got a problem. The guy batting eighth

38:47

in the lineup, we're sending him to the minor

38:49

leagues. And the one

38:52

thing too I don't like is because Walker's 20

38:55

years old and the development had already started

38:57

at the big league level. He was starting to learn

39:00

what pitchers are trying to do. And

39:02

now they're talking about swing changes and all

39:04

that. And I think that's more of an excuse,

39:06

right? To allow

39:06

these outfielders to figure out what

39:08

they have. And another thing I'm disappointed

39:11

is this team didn't go out and get a veteran outfielder.

39:13

They didn't do anything in the off season to help

39:15

supplement in case something like this happens.

39:18

Now, the one thing that's good, but also

39:20

bad is Nolan Gorman is swinging

39:22

the bat good offensively. So you

39:25

starting to figure out what he looks like as

39:28

far as a figure in this lineup. But then that takes

39:30

away from a DH spot from one of the outfielders

39:32

as well. So it's almost like to me,

39:34

the Cardinals who are so prepared

39:36

for all aspects of the game and so

39:39

good at identifying what

39:41

roles in this game, they don't have

39:43

that a lot for this team. And another thing too, I'll tell

39:45

you, not having Pujols,

39:48

not having Yadier Molina, Wayno's

39:50

been gone all season too, until he

39:52

returns on the sixth. You're talking

39:54

about not having the clubhouse figure

39:57

that you're used to having for a long.

39:59

extended amount of time in this Cardinals organization.

40:02

I think that also has something to do with how

40:04

the expectations have not lived up to what we've

40:06

expected.

40:07

All right. I'm going to make you head of baseball ops for the

40:09

Cardinals. Now

40:10

you've seen all these young players. They have,

40:13

how would you prioritize it? What would the message

40:16

be like? Okay, this guy's going to play. This

40:18

guy's going to play. Cause I wasn't trying to make

40:20

sense of like,

40:21

I go in, guy comes out, guy goes

40:24

in, guys go as opposed to look,

40:26

not me. I'm in, is there a shortstop? All

40:29

the young is not our shortstop or make

40:31

a decision. That's the way it feels sometimes. What

40:33

would you do in each of these spots where

40:35

they seem to be just rotating a bunch of guys? Edmond

40:38

was so good last year. I have to

40:40

have Edmond playing. Obviously he was, it hasn't

40:42

been off to the great start, but this is a

40:44

player that impacts the game in so many different

40:47

ways. I've got to have him playing every day.

40:49

Um, from an outfield standpoint, I got

40:51

to look at Tyler O'Neill. I still got to give

40:53

him the opportunity because he showed me he

40:56

was once a top player in

40:58

all of major league baseball back in 2021. I

41:00

got to see if there's still that there. Um,

41:04

for me, also have to have Lars Nukebar in there

41:06

because of what we've seen recently

41:08

last year, toward the end of last year, and even in the WBC.

41:11

And then, and then Walker ultimately

41:13

has to, uh, has to be in there as well, because

41:16

he he's my young stud. Like things

41:18

might get built around Walker here in the future.

41:20

So I feel like he's got to be there. Now, Dylan

41:23

Carlson is the one I feel like is

41:26

the one that probably should have been the one

41:28

that sent down. He's 20, 23 years old. He's

41:30

one that's still young. I think he still has

41:32

an opportunity, but we've seen over an extended amount

41:34

of time, he has not done much at

41:37

all. So I think he's the one ultimately

41:39

that would have to take the seat out. And I know that's disappointing

41:41

because he's got a lot of potential too.

41:45

Uh, and you mentioned Adam Wainwright coming back.

41:47

It feels like the timing of this is perfect for

41:49

this team. Like they need him back, even

41:51

though he might not necessarily be the ace

41:53

who's going to come in and strike out 15 guys

41:56

and throw at eight innings every time.

41:58

But it feels like they need just. It's a stabilization.

42:01

Somebody just coming in and settling

42:04

things down.

42:05

They do. They need someone that's been there, done that

42:07

for a long period of time. I think

42:09

you're starting to see these guys kind

42:11

of feel that pressure a little bit. Nolan Aronada

42:14

talked about that a little bit yesterday. He said he's

42:16

not necessarily panicking, but he knows

42:18

that he's one of the guys that should be performing

42:21

and that weighs on you. And I think Wayno's

42:23

one of those guys that can help alleviate

42:26

some of those issues in the clubhouse, kind

42:28

of calm everybody out. Let's get back to playing

42:30

Cardinal baseball, doing the little things

42:32

the right way and definitely be that type

42:35

of guy. But also they need someone to give them

42:37

some innings too. Like there needs to be another

42:40

guy in the rotation that can give them five innings

42:42

at least because you're not getting quality starts

42:44

right now. So hopefully Wayno can bring that to the table

42:46

as well.

42:47

All right, let's apply Dennis Green's

42:50

thought to the American Legees

42:52

and run through those teams.

42:54

I don't think Tampa Bay Rays are coming back.

42:56

Like this is the best Tampa Bay offense that

42:58

I've ever seen. They always find pitching. It's

43:01

a team that other people are gonna have to catch.

43:03

I don't see them coming back to the pack. What about you?

43:05

Yeah, I don't see it either. And

43:08

the one reason being is this team

43:10

has gone from 26th in home runs

43:12

to now being the team at the top. Like the

43:14

power is real at this point. We have to

43:16

expect this team to continue hitting

43:19

home runs at a high clip. And I

43:21

think what you've seen is the development of

43:23

some of the younger players who have now found

43:25

their swings in this lineup. I look

43:27

at Harold Ramirez being a guy that, okay,

43:30

the power is starting to become for real. They

43:32

had said he had had power, but

43:34

they had never gotten him out of it.

43:35

Now starting to get those consistent

43:38

bats, you see the power. Yandy Diaz's adjustment

43:40

over the off season as well. You add Brandon

43:43

Loughs 39 home runs from 2021 back

43:46

in this lineup too. I

43:48

think the power is for real with this team. And

43:50

I think that's the one aspect that we've

43:52

been saying that they've been missing, right? We've been waiting

43:54

to see, okay, who's the one power guy that

43:56

they might be able to get free

43:58

agency wise. They had the rumor.

43:59

of a Freddie Freeman a while ago. But

44:02

now I think you start to see it more

44:04

into this lineup. That helps. The pitching

44:06

staff is unbelievable. Shane McClanahan

44:09

at the top. You had a Zach Efland of that,

44:11

Rasmussen quietly. One of the better starters

44:13

as well. And then the bullpen is unreal

44:16

when you talk about Fairbanks and Jason Adam there

44:18

in the back. This

44:20

team is for real. And and we yes,

44:22

we have to take into consideration who they've played.

44:25

But at the same time, you look at who they've beat

44:28

up on like great teams

44:30

beat up on bad teams, and that's what they've

44:32

been doing. Now they'll be tested a

44:34

little bit more. And I'm interested to

44:36

see how they respond. But this team, we have to take them

44:38

for real. How about Taylor

44:41

Swanks, Baltimore Orioles? And they're

44:43

looking right now. Hey,

44:45

Taylor, I think you in good hands, my man,

44:47

because this team is special. It's

44:51

more of like a grittiness to this team

44:53

that that is exciting to watch and

44:56

they don't give up at bats. And I

44:58

think that's one of the things that sometimes we can't quantify.

45:01

But it helps each player in the lineup. And

45:03

then when I look at the back end of this bullpen

45:06

and I see Batista, but then

45:08

I see your near Kano like he's

45:11

basically a closer himself to when

45:13

they don't have Batista available, do those

45:15

even give up hits? Doesn't even get up walks like

45:17

what's going on right now? This team is special.

45:20

And you add Adley Rushman on top of that

45:22

as far as from an offensive standpoint,

45:24

but also a defensive standpoint. One of

45:26

the best catchers, maybe becoming the best

45:28

catcher in our game. There's

45:31

something real about this team. Now, the division

45:33

is tough. We understand that. But

45:36

I think what you see is a foundation

45:38

of winning and an expectation of winning

45:41

now early on in the season. And they

45:43

got a taste of some of that last year. So I

45:45

don't see why not. They continue to build off

45:47

of that, especially with Brandon Hyde at the helm.

45:50

He's doing a great job with these young players.

45:52

So a few years ago, when Cedric Mullins was starting to

45:54

emerge in the big leagues, I reached out

45:56

to Buck Showalter, who knew him from

45:59

his, you know, his last.

45:59

days with the Orioles, last year's with the Orioles,

46:02

etc. was just coming up and he talked about how serious

46:05

a worker he is and when like someone

46:07

who asks a lot of questions and applies

46:10

what he hears and you mentioned

46:12

not giving away plate appearances, that's

46:14

something you can see like every game he's

46:17

battling and Adley Ruchman,

46:19

you know Jim Palmer, the Hall of Fame pitcher

46:21

I talked to in the offseason about him, he goes, he

46:23

doesn't give up

46:24

any pitches. Like he

46:26

talks about on offense and on defense

46:29

and he talked about the level of investment

46:32

that Adley has offensively

46:34

and defensively is special

46:36

and I think that's it's the heart of what you're talking about.

46:39

Like this team competes pitch

46:41

to pitch as well as anybody in baseball.

46:43

You know I was just gonna say you're absolutely

46:45

right, you start to see a feed off in the guys

46:47

like Mount Castle, Hayes, Jorge

46:50

Mateo, like these guys and another

46:53

thing I love too is you talked about Cedric

46:55

Mullins and I think about

46:57

Mateo, this team does a great job of putting pressure

46:59

on the defense and I think we can

47:02

see specifically with the legs

47:04

what these guys are able to do not just from a stolen

47:06

base standpoint because we know that's amazing but

47:08

going first to third, going first

47:10

to home, being able to take chances.

47:13

I love that from this Orioles team and

47:15

a lot of times it has opposing defenses

47:17

on their heels.

47:20

So if the Yankees are in the American League Central,

47:22

I think we could still say it's early

47:24

but they're not. They're in the best division

47:27

in baseball, they're 17 and 16. Carlos Rodin, we

47:30

found out yesterday, we don't know when he's gonna pitch again,

47:32

he's having this back issue. Aaron

47:35

Judge is out, Giancarlo Stanton is out, it's

47:37

an older roster. I think they're in trouble.

47:40

Ah man, it's hard

47:42

for me to panic

47:44

just because we saw

47:46

this team last year be one of the best team,

47:49

maybe the best team for three fourths

47:51

of the season last year and talking

47:53

about one of the better offenses and had

47:55

some good starting pitching and a good

47:57

bullpen. So I can see them going

47:59

on.

47:59

on better stretches, but when you mentioned the

48:02

injuries, like, and

48:04

what it does when judge and stand are out

48:06

at the same time, and now we've seen a lineup

48:09

that almost hasn't really competed

48:11

at all over the past couple of

48:13

weeks, I am concerned. And

48:16

another thing too is we expected

48:18

this rotation to be dominant

48:20

with the one, two punch of Cole and Rodin. We

48:23

haven't seen that yet. We don't know when Rodin

48:25

is coming back. That's disappointing.

48:28

And then also look at the back end of the bullpen

48:30

too. When we can't close

48:33

out games, that is tough.

48:35

So there's a lot of aspects of this team in

48:37

which you're not seeing the

48:39

best part of it clicking, whether it be offense,

48:42

whether it be pitching, starting pitching, relief

48:44

pitching, we're just not seeing it. And

48:46

they're rolling out now a

48:49

lineup that looks more like a triple A

48:51

lineup. And it's tough for them to compete

48:53

at a high level against a lot of these teams. And

48:55

you talked about the East, man, it doesn't

48:58

get any easier.

48:59

No, and

49:01

here's the thing. And I, you know, we talked about this in

49:03

the podcast yesterday. We always assume at

49:05

the trade deadline, you typically

49:07

know who's gonna be aggressive, right? The Dodgers

49:10

will go and get somebody. We know in recent

49:12

years, the Padres are a team. They're gonna

49:14

be all in. We know the Mets with Steve Cohen,

49:16

they're gonna be all in. The Yankees typically

49:19

will go and get guys. But what I'm hearing

49:21

from executives around baseball is

49:23

the trademark of this year is gonna be trash

49:25

because they feel

49:28

like there's just not that many difference

49:31

making players available. This one

49:33

executive said to me, who on the Oakland

49:35

Athletics roster are, do you feel like you're

49:37

gonna go and get that is

49:40

actually gonna help you out? And he ran

49:42

through this executive, ran through every

49:45

of the non contenders, teams we assume are gonna be

49:47

sellers.

49:48

There's not a lot out there, you

49:50

know? And so if you're the Yankees

49:52

and you're thinking,

49:53

you can, as you have in the past, go get two

49:56

or three guys can make a difference. I don't

49:58

know if they're necessarily gonna be there.

49:59

Before you go talk to me about the Red Sox who

50:02

I think are you know, they're playing better than what

50:04

we thought Their offense is better than what we thought verdugo

50:06

looks terrific

50:07

And by the way tonight, we're gonna have verdugo

50:10

against manoa called some trash talking

50:12

between those two guys. That's going to be fun

50:14

Uh, yoshida's made this adjustment

50:16

at the plate. He's uh, probably

50:18

a better hitter than what people expected hitting for

50:20

more power They're

50:21

fun to watch. I I believe

50:24

oh man, honestly Alex

50:26

cora I feel like underrated

50:28

as a manager like he he ultimately

50:30

gets The most out of his players and

50:33

when we expect this team to not be good

50:35

or to maybe struggle Like they seem to

50:37

rise to the occasion and I think a lot of credit

50:39

goes to him Um, yoshida

50:42

has made the adjustment in which you

50:44

can tell how much of an impact he has

50:46

in this lineup verdugo Cora

50:49

challenged verdugo to come back in better

50:51

shape this year Be more focused and

50:54

have a better approach and have a better routine

50:56

on a day-to-day basis We've seen that already

50:59

three walk-off hits for verdugo Um

51:02

leading major league baseball doing a great job of having

51:04

a focused approach. I love that but

51:06

also I think What I saw

51:08

last time from chris sail, I think you're

51:10

starting to see obviously the velocity is

51:12

there You're starting to see maybe more of the sharpness

51:15

back from the slider. I think that's going to be an important

51:17

piece I don't count this team

51:19

out and I think a lot of us did early on Uh

51:22

during spring training or during the offseason because we

51:24

expected to see them Maybe make some more

51:27

more moves that that made a lot more sense But

51:30

I think alex core does such a great job

51:32

of working with what he has jaren duran has

51:34

now come back This year and taking

51:37

leaps and bounds better than what we've seen last

51:39

year So you just hope to continue

51:41

to see that from this team because it makes the division

51:44

all that much tougher

51:45

I mentioned the minnow versus verdugo Played

51:48

appearances. I can't wait because

51:50

you know, just haven't got a sense I remember talking

51:52

to verdugo once and he mentioned to me how much you love playing

51:55

the yankee stadium because he loved the trash talk

51:57

He loved the back and forth with the fans And

52:00

Manoa seems to be, you know, this similar,

52:02

that similar type of personality. And

52:05

I don't think there's any malice beneath it

52:07

for either guy. I just think that's how they compete.

52:10

Yeah, I love that because a lot of times

52:12

we don't see that so much in the game anymore,

52:15

right? You love the competition.

52:17

You love the ability to show, hey, I'm

52:19

better than you. Mono, Imano, love

52:21

the trash talk. Cause sometimes

52:24

today it gets a little buddy buddy, right? We're

52:26

chatting with the guys before the game. We're hugging

52:28

on them and all that. Let's get after

52:30

it. Let's see what they got. You versus me,

52:33

let's go. I love it.

52:35

Yeah, I love watching those old videos where all

52:37

the players in the eighties are talking

52:39

about the trash talker that Larry Bird was.

52:41

And you know, Larry Bird and Dominique Wilkins

52:44

going at it. That's the way it's going to feel

52:46

to, and they all laugh. They talk about,

52:48

you know what, he backed it up. And so it'll

52:51

be fun watch tonight. All right, sir. Good

52:53

to talk to you.

52:54

I appreciate you, Buster. Jessica

52:57

Mendoza is a baseball analyst

52:59

for ESPN and for Los Angeles

53:02

Dodgers broadcast. Jess,

53:04

how you doing?

53:05

Doing awesome, Buster. Really

53:07

good. All right, so you're on a time

53:09

limit here because you're a mom

53:12

and you have a practice to get to. So let's

53:14

hit it right away. Big story this week in baseball,

53:16

Bryce Harper's returning from Tommy John surgery.

53:20

He's setting a record for the

53:22

quickest return for a position player 160 days from

53:24

the time of surgery to

53:27

the time he gets back in the Phillies lineup. But

53:29

you're not surprised based on the progression

53:32

of this type of surgery.

53:34

No, my sister had Tommy John surgery

53:36

as a position player back

53:39

in college. She actually did it against our team Stanford

53:41

when she got hurt. And I

53:44

remember thinking and doing a ton of research just once

53:46

a family member, you're kind of like, you know, it's

53:48

always interesting when it's a non-picture, obviously softball

53:51

too, very different. But I

53:53

was so shocked at how long

53:55

it took them to clear her even though

53:57

it was well over a year after

53:59

the surgery. She was as strong as she had ever been.

54:03

And I remember thinking this was, you know, almost 20 years

54:06

ago, just how the blueprint,

54:08

this is what the doctors were telling her, is that they go

54:10

off of, this was then, the Tommy John

54:13

surgeries for baseball pitchers. That basically,

54:15

because that was the most common form of surgery,

54:17

even though up to that point, there had been some

54:19

position players, but the blueprint was

54:21

really going off of what pitchers

54:24

had to do. And I'm sitting there going, okay, first of all, not

54:26

only is she not a pitcher, but she's a different sport. She's

54:28

not going to throw overhand that capacity. She was

54:30

an infielder. She heard it diving

54:33

into a third baseman trying to go in a third as

54:35

a base runner. So it was definitely a weird

54:37

position to be in, to tear

54:40

it in the first place. So it wasn't like she

54:42

did it throwing or anything like that.

54:44

But

54:44

I remember with Harper and

54:46

just knowing, I mean, like we

54:49

do, I mean, he is 150% of

54:50

his day is

54:52

baseball. Like he lives for

54:54

this game. And I just knew

54:57

that if anyone was going to recreate and

54:59

be kind of the guinea pig of the position player

55:01

that was going to be well beyond anyone else, it

55:03

would be him. So I wasn't surprised, especially

55:06

like in spring training, remember how we knew he was only going

55:08

to be on the 10 day DL and everyone kind of was like, okay,

55:10

this isn't going to be all star break knowing

55:12

Harper, but the fact that he's back is,

55:15

is not a surprise to me. And I'm hoping that it'll be successful.

55:17

So more position players that have Tommy John

55:20

don't have that to me, antiquated blueprint

55:22

of waiting like a pitcher.

55:25

It's funny you mentioned that Scott Boris, that's exactly

55:27

what he texted me when I asked him, why was it

55:29

that Bryce came all the way back? And he talked about his passion

55:32

for baseball, but then he talked about not

55:34

needing the fact that he doesn't throw overhand,

55:36

you know, you're not swinging overhand

55:39

as a position player. He

55:41

felt like that he'd be able to come back. I also

55:43

wanted to ask you for this interpretation.

55:46

When I talked to Carl Crawford, who had Tommy John

55:48

surgery,

55:49

came back up to 221 days. He

55:51

was a left handed hitter like Bryce is,

55:55

but Carl Crawford through

55:57

left handed. Bryce was right handed. My

56:00

instinct is, you know, by a person

56:02

who has no knowledge about Tommy John surgery,

56:04

other than what I'm told, is

56:06

that a left-handed hitter who

56:09

finishes with his right arm, that

56:12

you might be vulnerable to the torque

56:14

of a finish, where you miss a swing or you

56:16

foul a ball off and your arm's extended, especially

56:19

someone who swings as violently as Bryce,

56:21

but I know you don't think that's necessarily going to be

56:23

a factor. And obviously, Dr. Neil

56:25

Eletras, who did the surgery, doesn't because he

56:27

cleared him. Well,

56:29

I think there's a difference of torque, which

56:31

will definitely be there. And it'll be there

56:33

to your point. I mean, Bryce Harper has one

56:35

of those very max effort type swings. I

56:37

think the biggest thing for people to understand that it's what

56:39

would cause a tear. So it has

56:42

to be like either for a position player,

56:44

kind of a freak thing that happens, like getting

56:46

yourself into just a really vulnerable position

56:48

that you wouldn't normally be in. Because

56:51

Bryce Harper's swing time and time again, you almost

56:53

have to think of this as he's got a brand new

56:55

ligament. He's got what he had

56:57

before. And so it basically

56:59

is not putting him in a position to where he

57:01

could tear it again. And with his swing, I don't

57:03

care how violent it is. It's not

57:05

the position that creates the vulnerability to

57:08

that specific ligament. It doesn't mean that he won't

57:10

use that ligament or that it won't

57:12

be something that he'll use in that deceleration process.

57:15

But he'd have to do something freakish for that

57:17

to be the thing to re-tear the ligament.

57:19

All right. You got a chance recently to talk

57:21

to Kevin Long, the hitting coach for the Phillies, about

57:23

Brandon Marsh, who, look,

57:26

he's part of the reason why the Phillies just seem

57:28

to me like a team is ready to take off

57:30

because they're a kiddie core. You

57:33

know, Brandon Marsh, Bryson Stott, Alec

57:35

Bohm have gotten off to great starts. They really

57:37

haven't gotten that much out of trade turner. They really

57:40

haven't gotten that much out of Kyle Schwauber. Bryce

57:42

Harper is just rejoining the team. And

57:44

yet they, you know, going into that game

57:47

on Tuesday night, they'd won seven out of 10 games.

57:50

What's Marsh done?

57:51

Because I know people around baseball are

57:53

surprised he's become such a productive hitter. Gosh,

57:56

it's so cool to dive into it, Buster.

57:58

I mean, looking

57:59

just at him with the Angels. So that's

58:02

less than a year ago, before he came over to the Phillies at

58:04

the end of last year. And you spoke to

58:06

Heaven Long, like I've become close with him just because

58:09

I'm obsessed with hitting. I

58:11

love talking shop with him, but I remember talking

58:13

to him in the postseason last year about

58:15

his stance and how he really widened

58:18

it out, got low into it. Buster,

58:20

you know, you see mechanical adjustments happen

58:22

all the time with hitters, but never really something

58:24

that extreme. It's always like a little hand

58:26

placement. You might see maybe open versus

58:29

close. Something usually very subtle.

58:31

You don't see something so extreme. And

58:33

what Kevin Long noticed with Branton and Marsh was the

58:36

two things. First of all, the fact that he was really

58:38

upright. And because of that, he

58:40

had to do a double toe tap or a double stride.

58:43

So he would stride once and then stride again.

58:45

And in that second stride, maximum

58:48

head movement. So he's going from a tall position down

58:50

to where he needed to be to hit. And his

58:52

timing was always off. So

58:55

he really tried to get him low in his stance.

58:57

That's not something for everyone. It was something to maximize

58:59

what Brandon

58:59

Marsh is really good at. And that's leg drives.

59:02

To really get him to start in his

59:04

legs. So now he's a very minimal

59:06

stride, something very simple. Not a lot

59:08

of head movement. And where you see the numbers,

59:11

Buster, is the four-seam fastball. That's

59:13

a pitch like he hit barely over 200 on

59:15

the last two seasons. And that's going

59:17

through last season. And now, I mean, he

59:19

has over 1,000 OPS. I know, still small,

59:21

we're a month in. But it's definitely a huge

59:24

dramatic change in the Phillies are loving

59:26

it. I think a lot of people don't realize he's leading

59:28

that team in almost every offensive category.

59:31

Yeah, he's one of the major league leaders in war.

59:33

Like, that's how good he's been. And it's

59:35

interesting. I talked to Dave Dombrowski, the head

59:38

of baseball ops the other day, and asked

59:40

him to walk me back through that trade.

59:42

And he said that he sent Kevin Long,

59:45

or called the Phillies sent

59:47

him video of Marsh hitting and asked him, do you

59:49

think he's going to hit? Can you fix this? And Kevin Long was

59:51

like, oh, yeah.

59:52

And they certainly have done that. Three

59:54

minutes, three quick topics for you. Bookie

59:56

Betts playing shortstop. We're going to see it on Sunday

59:59

Night Baseball this week.

59:59

or see Mookie anyway, we'll see if he actually

1:00:02

plays shortstop. What do you think?

1:00:04

I mean, I love it for the temporary, right? I mean,

1:00:06

it's unbelievable the versatility of this player.

1:00:09

And I know we'd see it with a lot of players now that can play

1:00:11

in multitude of positions, but the way that he does

1:00:13

it, so like the transition, I

1:00:15

mean, the fact that he hasn't played there in Major League Baseball,

1:00:17

he just comes in. You talk about top

1:00:20

three critical positions in all

1:00:21

of baseball, shortstop is one of them. And,

1:00:24

you know, to put him there, I think my concern

1:00:26

is this can't be the rest

1:00:29

of the season where he's going from shortstop,

1:00:31

sometimes second base, sometimes right field. He

1:00:34

has enough on his plate, I feel like mentally of

1:00:36

what he puts himself through as a hitter that

1:00:38

I do feel like and we've seen this so much, simplify

1:00:41

it defensively. And he puts a lot of pressure

1:00:43

on himself defensively. It's his natural,

1:00:46

he has such a natural ability to be able to field and do

1:00:48

things. But if he makes a couple errors that you're

1:00:50

going to see that affect his offense. Don't do

1:00:53

that with Mookie Betts. I love it now

1:00:55

because they need it. Obviously, Gavin Lux is down. Chris

1:00:57

Taylor's been struggling. He's getting a little bit hotter

1:00:59

lately. But I do think when we look at

1:01:01

trades for the Dodgers at the deadline,

1:01:04

I would not be surprised if they go get a shortstop because

1:01:06

for Mookie Betts to have to continue to fill this

1:01:08

void, I don't think is a long term solution.

1:01:11

And there'll

1:01:11

be a lot of speculation about Tim Anderson becoming

1:01:13

available now the White Sox off to a terrible

1:01:16

start. What's it like for you to watch Corbin Carroll

1:01:18

run? Oh,

1:01:19

my gosh, he

1:01:21

is literally the most exciting player in

1:01:24

baseball to me. And that's I know saying something.

1:01:26

And it's not

1:01:27

just because of the speed. The speed is so

1:01:29

fun. And by the way, it's so fun to see in baseball,

1:01:32

everyone stealing bases. I mean, it's

1:01:34

just an exciting part of the game, regardless

1:01:36

if you have speed or not, right? But Corbin Carroll

1:01:39

has this athleticism and this like

1:01:41

instinct to be able to pick up things, do

1:01:43

things. And then he's got the power. He's

1:01:46

a small guy buster. And one of the

1:01:48

biggest things that scouts said early on

1:01:50

was the power wasn't going to be there because of his size.

1:01:52

And he just proves just talked about Mookie

1:01:54

Betts, like so many of these smaller players

1:01:56

that are given opportunity and the fact that

1:01:58

they can go on and be one of the best players. in the game and Corbin

1:02:01

Carroll is going to be that. He is one of the best

1:02:03

players now, but his name is not out there

1:02:05

because of the speed, because of the athleticism

1:02:07

and honestly the power. He

1:02:09

can hit some home runs that are, wow, they

1:02:12

make your jaw drop.

1:02:13

Last one, Julio Rodriguez off to

1:02:15

kind of a slow start for the Seattle Mariners. And

1:02:18

it feels like I've watched his movie a hundred times before

1:02:20

he got a really accomplished young player and

1:02:22

opposing pitchers basically decide, we're just not

1:02:25

going to throw him strikes because he's swinging the balls out of the

1:02:27

zone. 17th highest rate

1:02:29

in the big leagues in terms of pitch,

1:02:31

swinging in pitches out of the zone.

1:02:33

I don't think he's going to see

1:02:36

consistent production until he changed that habit.

1:02:38

What do you think? It's there. We

1:02:40

saw it when he first came up. I'm actually more

1:02:43

concerned about his low back that he missed

1:02:45

some games with. And I feel like when

1:02:47

you're trying to maximize for your team,

1:02:49

a team that is struggling, the Mariners, I think

1:02:51

as a surprise team along, you mentioned

1:02:53

the White Sox earlier of not having the

1:02:55

wins that they should. Julio puts all

1:02:58

that on his back literally. And

1:03:00

we've seen now some injuries start to create about for a

1:03:02

guy that's this young.

1:03:04

And I know that him not, we've

1:03:06

seen that from him early when he's not

1:03:08

putting pressure on himself. He has a great eye.

1:03:10

He's not one of those young players that chased all

1:03:12

the way through the minors. And then it's not

1:03:15

a surprise that he's doing it. I think it's a surprise

1:03:17

now because he is now the star.

1:03:19

When

1:03:19

he first came up, he was the prospect. It

1:03:21

was exciting, but now everyone's going after

1:03:23

him. He is number one target on his

1:03:25

back and the team is losing. So what

1:03:28

I see from him is trying, he doesn't want to walk. He

1:03:30

wants to get the big hit because honestly there's not

1:03:32

a lot of guys right now in that lineup that are consistently

1:03:35

providing production on a day in and day

1:03:37

out basis. Plus that low back and he

1:03:39

missed some games. Keep an eye on that because

1:03:41

that's a huge concern for me up in the Northwest.

1:03:44

All right, Jess. Thanks for doing this. I'll

1:03:46

talk to you soon. All right, thanks Buster.

1:03:51

Bleacher tweets. All righty Buster, bleacher

1:03:53

tweets for a Wednesday. First

1:03:56

up we have Brad Barber at B Rad Barber.

1:03:58

He writes in what is the significance. of

1:04:00

runners left on base seems to figure

1:04:02

good offenses and their players have more men on

1:04:05

and More and leave more

1:04:07

men on does having a high left on base

1:04:09

mean the player is doing poorly

1:04:13

It can for sure now Look

1:04:15

if it to your point if you have a

1:04:17

player who's in a high-volume offense

1:04:19

and Say he's hitting fifth or six

1:04:22

and he's constantly coming to play with runners on base.

1:04:24

He's gonna have more runners left

1:04:26

on base

1:04:28

But on the other hand if

1:04:30

you're a guy who's not in a good offense and

1:04:32

he's not driving in runs and Jose Abreu For

1:04:34

example would fit that bill said a lot of opportunities

1:04:37

to drive in runs for the Astros. He's not necessarily

1:04:39

doing it and you know another way to look

1:04:42

at it is

1:04:43

What our relief pitchers valued

1:04:46

what's valued in relief pitchers? you

1:04:48

know one of those skills is stranding

1:04:51

runners

1:04:52

and So on the flip side of that if

1:04:54

a hitter is not driving in runs and clutch

1:04:56

situations I think that's

1:04:58

you know, that's gonna draw attention from front offices,

1:05:01

you know, it's drawing my attention buster Cedric

1:05:03

Mullins Yes, his runners in scoring position the

1:05:06

way he's batting with guys on base It's been phenomenal

1:05:08

another two RBI night maybe even more than that last

1:05:10

I love the fact he's having a big year, right? I

1:05:12

thought last year he's kind of you know and

1:05:14

a little bit of a down year after the year before but this

1:05:16

year He's telling it. Oh my god, and he's he's electric

1:05:19

on the bases I mean, he's everything we

1:05:21

thought he would be with these new world changes. So very well

1:05:23

get him on the pod Let's go. We've had him on

1:05:25

before he's you know, I enjoy talking with him.

1:05:28

Yeah. Yeah, let's do it

1:05:29

Let's go to Michael Mahone at eater of cheeses

1:05:31

He writes and isn't it time to ditch the mic'd up players

1:05:34

It makes incredibly difficult Makes

1:05:36

the players job incredibly difficult hardened by

1:05:38

increasing the chance of missing plays or injury

1:05:41

due to distraction The pitch clock affords

1:05:43

too little time and a large majority of

1:05:46

us just don't like it People are mad about

1:05:48

the players being miked up buster. How do you feel about this?

1:05:51

I

1:05:51

It just makes me laugh,

1:05:54

you know, please give me the injuries that have

1:05:56

been caused by players wearing microphones

1:07:59

Distracting no a lot of players

1:08:02

love doing it

1:08:04

Yeah, and it's it's quantifiable

1:08:06

at this point in terms of the reaction

1:08:08

to it I mean you just rattled off a number

1:08:10

of instances that were very well

1:08:12

received You know you can look at look

1:08:15

like views on social media You

1:08:18

know we get some more anecdotal stuff

1:08:20

But like you know we see a wide swath of opinion

1:08:22

on these things that I'd say they're overwhelmingly positive Let

1:08:25

me give you another one Bryce Harper a couple

1:08:27

years ago. Yeah, I told this story in the

1:08:29

past Like he agreed to wear the microphone

1:08:31

he like in the second inning

1:08:33

the Phillies Gave up like 10 runs

1:08:36

in the second inning. We're like oh boy

1:08:38

You know it's a blowout Bryce isn't gonna feel comfortable,

1:08:40

but Bryce gets it. It's a long season It's 162

1:08:43

games not only did he wear it in

1:08:46

the half inning that we had talked about Guess

1:08:48

what he wore it for the rest of the

1:08:50

game He actually had his earpiece

1:08:52

knocked out in the middle of the game tracking down

1:08:54

a ball in the warning track He went and found

1:08:56

the microphone

1:08:58

and the ear the earpiece and got

1:09:00

back on with the producers like y'all stay on as long

1:09:02

as you Want players

1:09:03

get it they know this is

1:09:05

part of the future

1:09:07

And so you know it's I

1:09:09

think it's up for some fans to catch up with the players

1:09:12

Yeah, totally I think it would might have been 2020 during

1:09:15

spring training was one of the first times you guys did

1:09:17

it or someone did it at ESPN on a

1:09:19

broadcast and Like the reaction

1:09:21

was so overwhelming everyone loved it

1:09:24

You know there were the plans were immediately made

1:09:26

to keep doing it You know the pandemic happened and all that

1:09:28

but I just remember coming on the show You

1:09:31

know starting around then and that going down

1:09:33

and I was you know I really enjoyed it and you know

1:09:36

changes were made immediately at the highest

1:09:38

levels of the company to do more of that

1:09:41

Yeah, a large majority just

1:09:43

don't like it. Yep. All right You know

1:09:46

despite all the evidence to the contrary

1:09:48

that yeah a lot of people do like it including

1:09:51

the players who are doing it

1:09:53

Alright last tweet for today

1:09:55

a Ron at Aaron plays Major League Baseball

1:09:58

Aaron writes in Alex for doing There you

1:10:00

go. Colton Wong, Josh Wienkowski,

1:10:03

Matsutaka Yoshida, all-heim

1:10:06

bloom acquisitions. They're all off to a terrific

1:10:08

start this year, and the Red Sox have a much better vibe

1:10:11

this year than last. Can we please put

1:10:13

some respect on Bloom's name?

1:10:16

All right. Here's the deal. As we speak

1:10:18

right now, the Red Sox would be one of the six teams

1:10:20

in the playoffs in the American League. They would

1:10:23

be the sixth entry.

1:10:25

If they don't make the playoffs, the

1:10:27

fan base is going to be upset. That's just a reality.

1:10:30

And by the way, we talked about Verdugo, we talked

1:10:32

about Wong, we talked about Yoshida, so

1:10:34

we've covered the players. Would you agree with me, Taylor? Oh,

1:10:37

yeah. Yeah, we've hit them all. We gave

1:10:39

the Red Sox a lot of respect yesterday and

1:10:41

yesterday starting the bleacher tweets with love for

1:10:43

Alex Verdugo. So don't stop saying that we're not doing anything

1:10:45

for you Red Sox fans. Yep. All

1:10:47

righty. Agreed. That's

1:10:50

it. Bleacher tweets on Twitter,

1:10:52

and we'll be back

1:10:53

on Friday. That's it for today. My thanks to Bruce Bochy,

1:10:55

Jess, Xavier, Sarah, and Taylor. Have

1:10:57

a great day, everybody. Thanks for listening. Stay

1:10:59

safe, and remember, hate and inequality based on skin color

1:11:02

is something we need to fight against

1:11:04

every single day.