Tim Kurkjian Unfiltered: Season predictions and Opening Day memories + 1B/3B Coaches fear new rule

00:00:02
Speaker 1: Yes, is this a great game or what? Host Tim Kirkton. We've got half of the duo joining us right now on FT as we get ready for the start of the season. Tim, and it is great to have you on here. We have a lot to get too. But first, I think most importantly, we haven't had you on officially since Is this a Great Game or What? Joined the FT network. So welcome to the family. We love having you on for guest spots, and now we are going to see a lot more of you and your son Jeff.

00:00:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, and my son Jeff.

00:00:32
Speaker 3: The other half is standing right here just in case anything goes wrong with the technology. I drove up here this morning from Maryland. Took three and a half hours. I left my house at three forty five am so I could get here in time to make sure nothing went wrong with the first big taping of the year, with opening day the real opening day on Thursday. This is how I lived my life. I drive all the world just so I can sit next to a magician like Jeff in case the technology goes wrong, because I have zero faith that I'll be able to figure this.

00:01:08
Speaker 1: Out, and you get to do it with your son. I mean that's pretty cool, right. Hey, the driving is worth it when you get to go hang with family and you call it.

00:01:15
Speaker 2: Work, no doubt.

00:01:17
Speaker 3: And he rebuilt the entire studio in here. It looks absolutely great. My son is so talented at this boor pop up is so bad at everything, and Jeffrey's so good at all the things I'm bad at, which is almost everything.

00:01:35
Speaker 1: Well, we're going to get into the opening day episode special that you guys have prepared, but first let's just get over all thoughts on storylines and what you're excited about heading into not just tonight, but the entire league firing up officially.

00:01:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, the ABS system is going to be really interesting, and I talked to a bunch of players and managers this spring about it.

00:01:56
Speaker 2: One manager told.

00:01:57
Speaker 3: Me, I think it's going to be okay, but he worried that the strategy for when you challenge is sometimes going to be more important than the actual playing of the game.

00:02:09
Speaker 2: That worried me a little bit.

00:02:11
Speaker 3: And another manager told me that the whole system is really going to help the short guys in the league, which means if I had made a comeback, I would hit.

00:02:21
Speaker 2: Three forty this year.

00:02:24
Speaker 3: He had a guy on his team who listed himself as five to eleven instead of six feet tall, thinking it might help him in the ABS system. Yet another manager told me, no, they measure guys all the time. You're not going to get away with fake in your height or anything else. I think this is a work in progress. I can't wait to see how it goes. I wouldn't say I'm really excited about it. I'm just hoping that it works really well.

00:02:51
Speaker 4: Tim. Is that what we've seen so many guys shrink this spring? I mean Alex Bregnant went from six foot to five ten. I mean there's some guys that have gone lost like two and three inches. Is this like back in the day when the guys were gaining three years of their age once they started checking birth certificates. Now we're getting shorter because they're actually measuring you.

00:03:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, I shrink every spring, by the way, AJ, But yes, guys as always you Eric, all you ball players are the same. You're always looking for an edge no matter what. So it should be really interesting to watch. And I also, by the way, it's switching subjects. I saw the Mariners this spring, and I know this is this is kind of common to go this way, but they're starting pitching is great, and I think they've updated their lineup. I think that they might be the team to beat in the American League this year. And of course I saw the Dodgers and fellas last six years, they won three championships and played to a six thirty winning percentage.

00:03:45
Speaker 2: And the last team to do.

00:03:46
Speaker 3: That six year span three championships six thirty the fifty eight fifty three through fifty eight New York Yankees. That's how dominant the Dodgers are. And I think this is the best Dodger team that I've seen this decade. The rotation is ridiculously deep, the bullpen is way better, and they've had the best you know, everyday right field or all the free agent market. I'm not sure there's a weakness on this team right now. That's what Those are two things that I'm intrigued by. Are the Mariners this good? And how good are the Dodgers?

00:04:20
Speaker 4: All right? Well, then let's keep going down your list. Who's going to be pushing who's going to be pushing those two teams to try to beat them by the end of the season.

00:04:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, I saw the Blue Jays eric all through the postseason last year. They put it in play, they catch the ball, they are young, they're athletic, they push the action, they run the bases. So I really like the Blue Jays still, and I think they've upgraded their starting rotation just a little bit.

00:04:46
Speaker 2: Dylan ceased, so.

00:04:47
Speaker 3: I think they're right there with the Mariners. You know, the Tigers with that starting rotation is very dangerous. I saw the Red Sox. They're better than they were last year, and they made the playoffs last year. I think the Yankees are better than they were last year, especially with Garrett Cole maybe being back end of March, Carlos Rodan end of April.

00:05:09
Speaker 2: I think we're going to have a.

00:05:11
Speaker 3: Really interesting American League. I think, again, the Mariners are the best team, but they are about five other teams that could be the best team in the American League once we get to October.

00:05:22
Speaker 4: Is the American League still inferior? I get it, the Dodgers are in the National League, but last year it looked like the American League was still inferior to the National League, even though the Blue Jays were this close to winning the World Series.

00:05:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the National League is catching up a little bit.

00:05:36
Speaker 4: More.

00:05:36
Speaker 3: I still think the Phillies have a really good team. I don't think the window has closed Christopher Sanchez and the rest of that rotation. Andrew Painter has got a chance to be pretty darn good as the fifth starter. Zach Wheeler has some encouraging signs that he'll be back. We never underestimate the Brewers. The Cubs are better than they were last year. I think it's a pretty good National League. I think it's a slightly stronger league than the American League, but the Dodgers make it that way more than any team.

00:06:07
Speaker 4: Tim Are you a proponent like me that the games should be one game on opening Day? Meaning I get why we have the tennight as the Giants and the Yankees on Netflix, and then tomorrow is more of the standard opening Day on other channels, and then Friday we have another to other teams that open. But wasn't it kind of cool and when Cincinnati was always the first game right and then? And listen, I get why, and I get the money side of it, but it was cool right when it was always Cincinnati and that was a tradition for like one hundred years, and now we have games all over the place. Do you kind of wish we'd just go back to the one game and go from there.

00:06:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, I do.

00:06:46
Speaker 3: Look, Aj, I'm almost seventy years old. I'm a little bit hesitant to change on things.

00:06:51
Speaker 2: And yes, I thought it was.

00:06:53
Speaker 3: Really cool that the baseball season always kicked off.

00:06:56
Speaker 2: With the parade in Cincinnati.

00:06:59
Speaker 3: Every first pitch that was thrown for years and years and years was thrown in Cincinnati. They still have the parade there. And look, I understand this is all about money, this is about networks, this is about growing the game. I get it, but I think it's really I think it's always right that all the teams play the first day it starts in Cincinnati.

00:07:18
Speaker 2: I mean, look at the Blue Jays.

00:07:19
Speaker 3: I'm going to go to the blue Jays opener Friday night and then I'll do their game on the radio on Saturday. But so the season really opens on Wednesday and the defending World champion American League champion Blue Jays don't play until Friday. That's just kind of odd to me. But there are a lot of odd things. I'm willing to go along with it. But if I had my way, all the teams would play on the same first opening day and it would all start with a parade in Cincinnati.

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00:08:47
Speaker 4: All right, so what's your opening day routine? We talked about oh, spring training routine. I think Jim Bowden would buy sunscreen and sunglasses. Ruben Tomorrow is gonna wear his blue suit with his Billies pledge pin, What is your opening day routine?

00:09:05
Speaker 3: Well, I get up really early, as I often do. I drink a couple of diet mountain dews, not recommended for most people, but I don't drink coffee. And I just can't wait for the box scores of that first game to come out because there's no telling what might happen on opening Day. So my first full full opening day when I was a beat writer, the primary beat writer for a team. I was covering the Rangers in nineteen eighty two and they opened in Cleveland and George Wright, their rookie center fielder, went three for five on opening day.

00:09:40
Speaker 2: So I'm the beat guy.

00:09:41
Speaker 3: I go talk to George after the game because they won. I said, George, you have.

00:09:44
Speaker 2: A good time today. He goes, yeah, I've never been to a major league game before.

00:09:48
Speaker 3: So the first major league game he ever attended, he got three hits. I mean, these are the crazy kind of things that can happen on opening Day. I covered opening Day at the Astrodome in nineteen ninety and Glenn Davis got hit by a pitch three times on opening Day. That was the first and only time that has ever happened. He told me after the game. He says, it's never a good idea to have bruises on three parts of your body on opening Day. That's what happened to him. And in twenty twenty two, this is how pathetic I am in my life. I was doing a game between the Reds and the Braves. I was the clubhouse, I mean, the dugout reporter, and I realized that Joey Votto had never popped out to the picture in his career. You know, he never hit infield pop ups anyway, but had never popped.

00:10:39
Speaker 2: Out to the picture ever.

00:10:40
Speaker 3: And I flew to Atlanta thinking, this would be the greatest thing ever if Joey Vado did this in a game that I'm covering on opening Day.

00:10:49
Speaker 2: And in the fifth inning he fouled out.

00:10:51
Speaker 3: He hit a foul ball in the foul territory, and Max Fred great fielding Picture went and caught it for the first p one in the history of Joey Vado's career. These are the stupid things that I pay attention to.

00:11:05
Speaker 2: On opening Day. But that's what makes it so special.

00:11:08
Speaker 3: Crazy weird, quirky things happen on opening Day all the time.

00:11:13
Speaker 4: Yeah, but that's why people listen to you, because they want to hear the crazy, weird things. But they also want to hear your predictions because you've had You've been alive for seventy opening days, and I don't think you've gotten one prediction for the season right so far. So that's why they want to hear it. Give me your division winners in the National League.

00:11:32
Speaker 3: All right. In the National League, I'm going to go with the Phillies and the Cubs and the Dodgers. In the American League, I'm going to go with the Blue Jays and the Tigers and the Mariners. Those are my division winners. And you're right, Eric, if I'm six for six, that'll probably be a first. And I'm never apologizing for getting a prediction wrong.

00:11:53
Speaker 2: This is baseball. It's way too good to be able to be predicted.

00:12:01
Speaker 4: Is this the easiest prediction year of all time? Ten? For you?

00:12:05
Speaker 2: Well, the Dodgers are pretty easy. You know.

00:12:07
Speaker 3: Every year people ask me like, who's the presumptive favorite, who's the prohibitive favorite, and every year, they're like five options.

00:12:14
Speaker 2: I think there's only one option. That's how good the Dodgers are.

00:12:18
Speaker 3: But like you said, the American League is going to be a fistfight from five or six different teams. So I think it's far less predictable in the American League. But fellas you know this, the beauty of baseball is we never know who's gonna win ever. I mean when when Jordan's Bulls were great, you kind of knew they were going to win, and you kind of knew how the game was going to be played because Michael touched it on every possession. He dominated every game. It doesn't work that way in baseball. Showhy can only pitch once a week and the only bats four times in games, So that changes everything, and to me, that's why baseball is always the best game ever.

00:12:57
Speaker 1: Hey, Tim, quick question on a specific player that I'm curious to see and I want to see what his path looks like. Roki Sasaki had a ton of fanfare coming over to the major leagues and then last year obviously didn't go the way he wanted to until he magically rescues the team as a closer for part of the playoffs. Now fast forward to spring training and he can't find the zone, and hitters also look like they have a very distinct plan against him, and he looked awful in his last start. They're still giving him an opportunity. So how curious are you to see how this goes not just on the field, but also with a team that clearly recruited a player and promised him playing time. I mean, any team would do that, right if you're trying to recruit a player and it's not just about money, you have to say, hey, we're going to give you every pathway to succeed with development but also with playing time. But it happens to be a team that's a World Series contender, right.

00:13:49
Speaker 2: Again, Scott, the beauty of baseball.

00:13:51
Speaker 3: The light goes on, the light goes off for guys with absolutely no explanation. Roki Sazaki was pretty bad last year, and then he pitched one uninning and relief. We saw that great split, and he was basically great for the rest of the postseason. How does anyone explain how one inning and relief can turn a guy?

00:14:10
Speaker 2: But it did. So That's why I'm not too.

00:14:13
Speaker 3: Worried about Roki Sazaki this spring because We've seen him terrible and we've seen him really good. But the light goes on and offer him easier than most guys. I fully expect him to be a quality pitcher, either as a starter or reliever as this season goes along, but he is off to a ragged start. Look great, NBA jump shooters don't shoot fifteen percent for the floor one season and then forty eight percent for the three the next season. It never happens like that, but in baseball it does all the time.

00:14:42
Speaker 2: Which again makes it such a beautiful sport.

00:14:46
Speaker 4: I need your award winners. Obviously shows the MVP. So there's there's that, but there's also MVP, and I need to say Young's and if you have a Rookie of the Year, everybody will be watching.

00:14:58
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, well I'll be wrong, all right.

00:15:00
Speaker 3: I'm just gonna go Chalk because I'm just going Judge and O'tani. They're the two best players in baseball. They're ridiculously good. I'm gonna go with Chalk on the on the starting pitchers, you know, Paul Skins is the best picture in the National League. Trek Scooble is the best picture in the American League. I'm gonna go with Nolan McClain as the rookie of the Year in the National League. And I'm gonna go with Kevin McGonagall as the rookie of the Year in the American League, just because he made the Tigers that gave him number seven. I saw him in spring training. There's something about that kid that is so impressive.

00:15:33
Speaker 2: So those are my picks.

00:15:35
Speaker 3: I'm sure I'll be wrong on those also, and I'm not gonna apologize for that either, because I repeat, baseball is too good to know what's gonna happen six months from now, when we don't know what's gonna happen six minutes from now.

00:15:49
Speaker 1: Hey, let's finish with this, give us a preview and just more on is this a great game or what? You have a special game changer Opening Day episode looming.

00:16:00
Speaker 3: Right, So we're gonna look mostly at opening Day. I'm gonna do a team tim which I do for every episode. So I'm gonna take each position, catcher through pitcher and pick the greatest performance on opening Day nineteen forty.

00:16:16
Speaker 2: Of course, Bob Feller pitched.

00:16:18
Speaker 3: A no hitter on opening Day, so he is one of our pitchers. Ozzie Smith is our shortstop because he did that ridiculous, amazing backflip to start every opening day. So that's just one factor. We'll have quirk gins, which will be the quirkiest things that have ever happened on opening day. Those are just two things that we'll go into. Plus we have a few new bells and whistles this year, which Jeffrey and I have come up with.

00:16:43
Speaker 2: So again our podcast, we laugh and we learn.

00:16:46
Speaker 3: We don't have really hot takes. We're not making solid predictions or anything. We're hopefully here to entertain you and educate you on the best game in the world. That's when we have in store for tomorrow tomorrow's episode.

00:17:01
Speaker 1: We're excited about it. Yeah, and that episode will all be sponsored by Game Changer. You'll learn more about that actually coming up on our show, but also on Tim and jeff show. Tim, awesome, awesome to talk to you. Happy opening, Daitya, and we're excited to see the brand shiny new set.

00:17:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, which Jeffrey decorated completely, including he's got a bottle of wine back here that he says he's gonna it's got my name on it. He's going to open it when I die which I had to explain. I'm sixty nine years old. I'm not ninety nine years old. I'm not planning on dying anytime soon. And that bottle of wine is right back here.

00:17:38
Speaker 1: That might be I hope that that wine doesn't taste good by the time he opens it, which would mean he waited too long and you lived too long. So let's put it that way. Tim, thank you, your Jem, appreciate you, and we'll look forward to the episode for opening day.

00:17:54
Speaker 2: All right, Thank you, Eric, thank you, Scott, thank you Age. Talk to you soon.

00:17:58
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00:19:02
Speaker 4: That's what he said.

00:19:03
Speaker 2: That's what he said.

00:19:07
Speaker 1: Hey, we have good quotes from a story put out in The Athletic by Evandralik and Ken Rosenthal. MLB based coaches say the new rule to curb pitch tipping has put them in harm's way. Aaron Boone said that exactly in the quote in the story. They are in harm's way. Bottom line. And by the way, we miss you. Aaron. Come back on the show soon if you can. Here's one from Quintin Barry. He said he's the cub third base coach. He said, every third base coach, we've all been talking about how you're constantly in danger. They have to stay in their coach's box now and they can't move away. For example, Sandy Alomar, who's the Cleveland first base coach, said, it's a dangerous situation. Imagine Jose Ramirez, HiT's up all one hundred and fifteen miles an hour, pull side. You don't have time to react. And I'll go back to Barry here.

00:19:55
Speaker 4: He said.

00:19:55
Speaker 1: You never get a chance to get out of there. You can't get out of harms way ever. And I get what they're trying to do, but you're not going to stop anything by putting people in a box. He essentially said, base coaches are still going to be watching pictures and looking for tips even if you tell them they can't take three steps to their left or right. So what do you think about this? And is there a solution to this?

00:20:19
Speaker 4: Let them go where they want. I mean, just don't I mean, just make sure if you're the pitcher, that you have your own guys watch you in spring training and stuff to watch you if you're tipping or not. I mean, I never understood the base coach box thing anyways, because I wouldn't want to be standing there, and God forbid we have a situation like we did a few years ago where a guy got hit and died because he was close. And now that's why they have to wear the helmet, a little teeny tiny helmet that doesn't really cover their whole head anyways. So I think that, yeah, I don't get it. It's just the rule to make a rule to try to stop something. But I fully expect unless some team really complains that the third base coaches and the first base coaches are going to move around, it'll be a year.

00:21:02
Speaker 1: It'll be you think, what a year of what the umpires smoked?

00:21:07
Speaker 4: No, no, no, no, It'll be a year where the umpires are like, no, you got to be in the box. You got to be in the box. And then there's gonna be you know, there's gonna be a few that allow it to happen. But hey, don't don't get out of control. Every step helps to me. I'm not worried about the third base coaches as much, sorry Quinton Berry. But they can move. They can move farther into foul territory, they can move closer to you know, out of because it's not just it's not a complete box, it's an open box. Farther into foul territory. You just can't get closer or farther back behind third, and those guys then can move up as the runners coming to third to be able to wave them in. First base coaches, you got to be close because you're relaying the times to the guy at first. You're doing, you're doing a lot of stuff. Good first base coaches are always in there with the with the runner, and if they get out of there, if they have to be farther away, like closer to the dugout so that they're out of harm's way, they're just they're not able to do their job very well.

00:22:13
Speaker 1: What about right now? Right now guys can't move. They're going to be strict about it. It just got enforced, reinforced. Do you think that it's a serious problem? Like when yes, I just hope no one gets hurt, that's all. I just hope no one gets hurt.

00:22:28
Speaker 4: That's it. I just hope nobody gets hit and gets hurt. And God forbid, was I think his name was Mike Coolbaugh, the guy who unfortunately passed away from getting hit by in a line drive. I hope nothing like that happens. Because we talk about safety all the time on Major League Baseball. But then we're doing things that people are saying isn't safe. Then we move the coaches boxes. They have to be farther down the line when the pitch is made because some of the third basement get really close. Third base coaches get really close and there's a guy on second and they and they, you know, are worried about the runner and stuff like that, or there's a runner on third. So I mean, I don't know. I just think this is this is silly, silly talk.

00:23:03
Speaker 1: But what do I know if you were a commissioner for a day and you have a number of people within the league complaining about where bass coaches are staying, tell their pitchers not to tip.

00:23:13
Speaker 4: Huh case closed salt solf scout. It's it's a it's a very it's a easy it's an easy solution. I think it was Miles Michaelis who was saying, you know, they're they were getting it from Okay, they're getting it from over here, put it down, put it in whatever it is, like, maybe get it here and then as you're coming, as you're throwing the pitch, change it. Like I don't know, I just I have a hard time with a rule that you're moving somebody into harm's way, Like they would never put a player into harm's way, but they're willing to put the most underpaid coaches on every staff into harm's way. I just I have a hard I have a hard time with it.

00:24:09
Speaker 1: I have a thought. We're going to talk to Rob Freeman soon pitching Ninja, and within that conversation will go over how pitching has advanced more than hitting based on the tools that are available. Is it the worst thing in the world if you catch a tip every once in a while and a pitcher gets lit up and the hitter gets an advantage. I mean, I know you guys are hters, so you're probably gonna agree with this, but you also were catchers, so you're looking out for your pitcher. But it's not like everybody tips.

00:24:37
Speaker 4: No, I mean some people think everybody tips. What they don't. No, listen, if you're tipping, then you're tipping. And if people figure it out, are smart enough figure it out, then good for them. Then change it. But you also should be self scouting and have If they're running an AI program and you're doing something, you should be running a program similar to figure it out. And now with MLB doing all the same technology for all the teams, they all should have the same programs. They also be able to look at each other and say, hey, we shouldn't do this anymore. So Ryan Dempster, where he did his glove thing every time he threw a pitch. I mean, there are ways to avoid. This is not the coaches, okay.

00:25:11
Speaker 1: So just to be clear, it sounds like a j said, yes, Kratz, if you were a commissioner and let's say you come in today, you start today, and they just enforced that rule, you would get rid of the rule with the base coaches and be like, yeah, I hear you. This is too dangerous. We're overthinking this. You can go back to roaming around outside of the coach's box.

00:25:32
Speaker 4: Yeah, Or or I'm okay with saying, hey, you know what, let's let's keep it. Let's let's keep you in that box, or a little closer, like to see an actual tip from a pitcher. It's here, it's there, whatever it is. You got to get a little bit far farther down there. So it's okay if you're like, you don't have to quite you in the box. We want you to be safe, but tell the umpires, hey, you know what, just just peek at it a little bit. You're not you're not looking at a whole lot at that time. Keep them closer to the box, just so they're not confined to a box. I don't want anybody getting hurt, and I feel like that's what's going to happen.