New Royals OF Isaac Collins & Padres pitcher JP Sears join FT

00:00:05
Speaker 1: Isaac Collins joining us on the show. Isaac, great to be with you. You're you're following up a great guy and Miguel Rojas. That gave us a lot of information, so we're hoping that that continues. How are you welcome to the show.

00:00:17
Speaker 2: I'm great, Thanks for having me on.

00:00:19
Speaker 1: You're welcome.

00:00:20
Speaker 3: You're welcome.

00:00:20
Speaker 1: All right, So tell us a little bit about the change going over from Milwaukee to Kansas City and what you know, your expectations, and what you're looking most forward to.

00:00:31
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it's obviously a new team. Uh, you know, it feels good to kind of a clean slate and just you know, start fresh. And you know, I can just really be myself and I don't I don't need to uh, you know, live up to any expectations or anything.

00:00:44
Speaker 2: I just you know, I can just be me.

00:00:46
Speaker 4: And I know, uh, I learned last year, you know, my rookie season that you know, my game works, and if I can just be the best version of myself each day, you know I can I can help the team win. And you know, all the people I've met in Casey so far, they're you know, great people. I've learned very quickly that the organization is you know, very family friendly and uh, you know, relationship first, and that's always that always makes the transition easy. You know, I got drafted by Colorados. This is my third organization, but first time, you know, going from one big league club to another.

00:01:22
Speaker 2: So it's been good.

00:01:24
Speaker 4: You know, the guys are great, and you know, I'm ready to get to work.

00:01:28
Speaker 3: Yeah. The org is pro, they're pro. They take care of your family, all that stuff. The Brewers they were pro too, So I think you're you know, you're lucky you're going from from one to another. But we just had to Jake magnem one the other day. Two guys, both of you made your big lead debuts older than the mainstream media shows, the guys who you know, come up at twenty one or twenty two years old. How like, were you like, why am I getting traded? Like I just got here? Uh?

00:01:59
Speaker 4: I mean us to know, you know that that outfield room in Milwaukee was crowded. You know, there's some there's a ton of talent there. And uh, like you said, you know with those older guys that that debut later, you know, not necessarily a first round pick or you know, not much invested in I kind of knew I was expendable, I guess.

00:02:20
Speaker 2: And that's just kind of the big the business side of baseball.

00:02:23
Speaker 4: And you know, I'm I'm blessed to go to an organization that you know values me. And that's that's really what it comes down to. And you know, I just I just want an opportunity. You know, I've I've I've.

00:02:36
Speaker 2: Worked so hard throughout the minor leagues.

00:02:38
Speaker 4: You know, I've dealt with uh, you know, just doubt and you know, wondering like is this really gonna work out? Do I need to start, you know, think about something else, but uh, you know, finally break through and see success and then you know, started with this new organization and and you know that I have an extremely good opportunity in front of me. You know, that's that's all I can really ask for as a baseball player. And so it's it's it's extremely exciting.

00:03:06
Speaker 3: How do you know they value? What did they say? Like obviously it traded for you, but you know there's been times where people get traded and it's like, well it's because you have options or you have you know this thing like you had a legit year last year. What did the Royals tell you, to tell you that you're valued.

00:03:25
Speaker 4: Uh, they just they liked my game and they said that they think he would play extremely well in Cofferince Stadium and just my.

00:03:32
Speaker 2: On base ability and.

00:03:36
Speaker 4: You know, table setter type of guy, and they just they made it clear that hey, you know, we need some help and we think you're the guy that can help us.

00:03:44
Speaker 2: So that's that just feels great to hear because it seems.

00:03:49
Speaker 4: Like my entire career, dating back to when I was drafted, it was always like trying to prove what type of player I am and prove to people that I can, you know, be a big lead, and you know, to get that validation of you know, you're you're here to help us. Is it's almost like a weightlift off my shoulders and now I can just go out there and be myself and just be the best version of me and and the helpless win each night.

00:04:17
Speaker 3: Does it change your game that they're moving the fences in because Kaufman, when I played there, it was like, you know, you had Alex Gordon platinum glove, you had you had Lorenzo Caine gold glove. Gerrod Dyson was sitting on the bench gold glove like now they're moving it in. Does that mean they're gonna say, hey, Isaac, we need to put on thirty pounds and hit forty dangers.

00:04:39
Speaker 5: They haven't.

00:04:39
Speaker 2: They haven't said that to me yet.

00:04:41
Speaker 4: But uh, well, I mean they're bringing the fences in the gaps, so you know, I know the corners are pretty big. I haven't played at Coffin yet, so I'm not I'm not even quite sure how exactly it plays. But I know there's a lot of grass out there, and uh, you know, I love it on the outfield, and so I mean, we'll see, we'll see how it plays. I'm not I'm not quite sure how it's gonna affect us. I don't know if you know those leaders are gonna get caught more or you know that triples, alleys just it's it's gonna be, you know, tough to get to third. But uh, you know, we'll see. I don't plan on changing my game. I'm just gonna be me and uh if that ends up with a few more home runs, and that'd be great.

00:05:26
Speaker 3: Isaac.

00:05:27
Speaker 6: You left Milwaukee, which has been a special place, and do you guys want to you want a ton of games, including last year the best record in baseball? What what the fans loved you? It seemed like, because there's a lot of nice messages when you got traded. What's it like leaving a place like Milwaukee for another great baseball town like Kansas City?

00:05:45
Speaker 3: And what did Murph say to you?

00:05:46
Speaker 4: Like?

00:05:46
Speaker 6: What what's so special about Pat Murphy? Besides that he has a nickname for everybody? And what was your nickname?

00:05:54
Speaker 2: Uh?

00:05:55
Speaker 4: Milwaukee always start first question. Milwaukee is a great city. I mean, uh, it's kind of one of those like Midwest cities. It's like a little forgotten, you know, a little It's like an underdog city, which kind of just perfectly describes a type of player I am and the type of team that we had. So and and the city really got behind us, you know, through through those July August months when we got super hot, and by the end of the year, it was just it was crazy, you know, like getting recognized in public and stuff like it was just like, is this is this real life? Like what's what's going on? This is this is an unbelievable run we're going on. And and yeah, I mean murk he set the tone in the clubhouse. He set the culture of what it was all about, and it was ultimately just you know, we're taking this thing one pitch at a time, and we're gonna be you know, relentless every single pitch of every single night throughout the entire season. And that's what's gonna take us over the edge. That's what's gonna you know, get us to win the division and beat these bigger market teams whenever you want to call it. But again, like I feel that exact same you know, vibe coming to KC as well, Like it's another smaller market team that just has some grit to it and some competitiveness, and you know, we've got the pieces to make a run, and it's ultimately just going to come down to executing you know, every single pitch every single night. And again, like I'm ready to get to work. Like I said, we got all the pieces to do it. It's just you know, putting it on paper.

00:07:28
Speaker 3: A right Rookie of the Year voting, did you feel like you should have ended at least before in front of in front of Durban And does he hold that over you as your teammate, because I mean you look at some of the numbers, and some of the numbers can be manipulated. You had a little bit of a better year. So do you say that should have been me?

00:07:50
Speaker 2: I don't know. Durban and I are actually really good friends.

00:07:53
Speaker 4: We shared a fantasy football team this past offseason and did really well, So I didn't give them any any crap for you. I actually congratulated him when I saw that he finished third, So I mean third fourth, like it, what's the difference? Like neither of us want So it's like I can't. I can't give him, you know, too much crap for that. But uh, yeah, he did.

00:08:16
Speaker 2: A great year.

00:08:17
Speaker 4: And you know, to know that there's another rookie on the team with me like fighting to you know, stay up and just help the team win. And you know he's he's a little scrapper and overlooks guy just like me, and uh, you know, we we create a good relationship and we're still still friends, still keeping in touch, and you know, I'm gonna fall along and hopefully he has another solid year.

00:08:39
Speaker 3: Wait wait, wait, there's no difference. Isn't there a bonus for the top the top three and Rookie of the Year voting?

00:08:45
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean yeah, I guess there's there's a little bit of a difference.

00:08:49
Speaker 2: But uh, you know, well it doesn't matter.

00:08:53
Speaker 3: No. Now, well, all that time, next time you guys are on the same fantasy team or this year, he should have paid for the whole fantasy team because.

00:09:02
Speaker 2: He had exact votes.

00:09:04
Speaker 3: And every dinner that you guys go out when Casey plays Milwaukee once a year, he's got to pay.

00:09:11
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's all I was gonna say. He'll be down here in Arizona soon, so I'll make sure he picks up the tab.

00:09:17
Speaker 2: Perfect. Now, you just answered my question.

00:09:18
Speaker 1: I was wondering where you work. The weather looks amazing. You're in Arizona, all right. Who's the best athlete in your family, Isaac? Because your dad played football at West Virginia, your brother was drafted by the Royals. I don't know if your mom was a professional athlete in any capacity, But who's the best athlete in the Collins plan?

00:09:38
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go with me. I have to my dad.

00:09:41
Speaker 4: He was a really good football player, but he wasn't the best at baseball. Roman my older brother, he was an extremely good baseball player. But I have more rushing yards than him our senior year. So I'm gonna have to go with myself. On that one.

00:09:57
Speaker 1: Now, you wanted to play football at West virgin and you also kind of following in your dad's footsteps, how'd you end up really sticking to the baseball up?

00:10:07
Speaker 4: Once I saw my brother get drafted, I was a junior in high school. He actually got drafted by the Can't See Royals, which is full circle moment for us. But he got drafted my junior year high school. He was a fifth round pick. So when I saw him do that, that was kind of you know, I can do it too. If Broman can do it, I can do it.

00:10:28
Speaker 3: Who's one guy? Who's one guy in probably a layup when I asked this that you want to see day in and day out for one hundred and sixty two games? And where's that bar set from? Who that guy was with with the Brewers? So who you want to see with the Royals play one hundred and sixty two games? Probably have an idea who it is, But who was that bar set right now? Where you're like, WHOA? I watched that dude in Milwaukee every single day and I was impressed, you.

00:10:59
Speaker 4: Know, I mean Bobby with you know, I mean I'm excited to play with him, Like he's uh, you know, the best shortstop and base right now, you know, only twenty five years old. Like it's it's gonna be so cool to see him play every single day. And and just like the the vibes of the of the clubhouse, you know, with Bobby being kind of the leader and coming from Milwaukee where it was Yelich who you know, tail ended his career, you know, m v P, it's a little different like you know with Milwaukee, Uh, Yelich, he was he was kind of like a mentor, you know to all of us, and because he just had so much experience and he was like like like master Splinter and we were the little teenage mutant ninja turtles, just like keeping us in check and and letting us know like what what to look for and when when we can take a step back and when we could be a little aggressive. And you know, with Bobby, you know, he's young, like he's you know, he's been in the Leaf for a few years now, and he's extremely talented, but it's he's at a totally different stage of his career years compared to Yelich. So it's I can just tell from that, like the vibes of the clubhouse are you know, a little more just young and a lot of excitement, you know, not that we didn't have that in Milwaukee, but it's it's different, you know, when your best players twenty five is compared to you know, thirty three or thirty four over old yell, chhiit is. So it'll be fun though. I'm excited. You know, he's such a good talent, and you know he sets the tone. He plays hard all one hundred and sixty two games.

00:12:30
Speaker 3: I love that, master Splinter. I feel like I feel like, yeah, I'm gonna text Yelly that he was a master Splinter. I like that. Postseason, Yeah, postseason. You guys won the most games in baseball. You guys beat the Cubs in an awesome anytime the Brewers get to play the Cubs, it's an awesome rivalry. If you've never been a part of it, it's awesome. So good for that. But then the Dodgers came in and really just stomped you guys. Is there a feeling that it was like, Wow, how did this happen? Happened? We had Pat, we had murph On and it was like, hey, you know this, this little this, I forget what instance he said, but if this goes a different way, you know it's a one to one series or you know, the series changes. Did you see that happening in the sense of like the way that it happened, like it happened so quick or did you look up and go, WHOA four games? That was quick?

00:13:24
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, and uh it was. It was quick, but it also wasn't at the same time. I mean that game one, you know, we had a we had a shot there to win in I think if we we take that one, it totally changed the series. But it was just like a gradual just like a you know, snowball rolling down the hill. Like you know that game one was close. You know, Game two we competed well, and then you know three that kind of you know, handled us a little bit, and in game four was just the the Otani show.

00:13:54
Speaker 2: So, yeah, it happened. I'm not gonna lie.

00:13:59
Speaker 4: It happened quick, but I mean, murce try like you know, baseball is one of those games like one pitch or one ball just kind of bounces your way.

00:14:10
Speaker 2: It totally changes.

00:14:12
Speaker 4: The the momentum of the game. And they yeah, we just we ran into you know, a buzz saw like they just they they played really good baseball for four games, and we just didn't play to our best ability.

00:14:30
Speaker 1: Cheese curds or Kansas City Barbecue Bros Or barbecue? What are you doing?

00:14:38
Speaker 4: I'm gonna go barbecue over cheese curds. But Ross, that's that's a tough one. I'm a big fan of Ross. I might have to go the beer brock.

00:14:47
Speaker 1: All right, are the tough questions that I ask you, Isaac Collins. Best of luck man. We look forward to watching you play for the Royals. Stay healthy, stay happy. Thanks for taking a few minutes of your day to come on Foul Territory Day. We appreciate you very much.

00:15:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, no problem, Thanks for having me on.

00:15:13
Speaker 7: Here comes JP Sears of the Padres joining us right now in FTJP. Great to have you on the show. We really appreciate the time. How's the off season for you?

00:15:22
Speaker 5: Hey, what's up guys? Yeah? Thanks for having me. Yeah, everything's been great.

00:15:26
Speaker 8: Just been here down here in Charleston, South Carolina, working out with some guys here that live here as well, and you know, getting geared up to go out west here soon.

00:15:35
Speaker 7: Question for you, just because it's the hot topic, I mean, you just came on when this happened. I'm sure you heard us chatting about it. Did you follow this Trek Scoogle arbitration case at all? I know, for you, I think, yeah, you guys settled you and the padres before, so you didn't have to deal with an arbitration case. But just for all the players out there, Schooble, I'm sure was getting texts and people were just following it almost like it's a sporting event in the off season, because it was such a discrepancy, so get to take a look at what happened there.

00:16:02
Speaker 8: Yeah, I actually found out the news from you guys from like hopping on right here, obviously with it being so recent, but yeah, going through the process a little bit myself for the first time this year obviously piqued my interest a little bit more and so definitely followed it song and you know, you were, you know, everybody was kind of excited to hear the news on one side or the other. So yeah, I'm super happy for him, obviously, very well deserved. He's been a treat to watch him. Afar as a left handed pitcher.

00:16:29
Speaker 3: How did that process go for you? Because people, yes, we have baseball fans that listen, but it's hard. Like Scoobles and his third arbitration case. He's a cy Young Award winner. You're in your you said you're first correct correct?

00:16:42
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, first time?

00:16:44
Speaker 3: And how and kind of explain a little bit. Did you feel like, Okay, I moved over to the Padres. Had I stayed with Sacramento and I stayed with the A's, you know, would have been a little different. They know me. Did you feel like they pressured you to sign, you know, the contractor did you feel like everything was above board and you were happy with it?

00:17:05
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean I was really happy with the whole process. The Padres handled it really well. I feel like my agent handled it really well. And you know, I was just going through it trying to learn as much as I could during the process of it.

00:17:16
Speaker 5: Obviously, as a player, you you strived.

00:17:18
Speaker 8: To get to the big leagues, and then as you kind of slowly get more and more years, you know, you get closer to it and started to learn a little bit more about the process. And so for me, it was really educating just getting to know it, you know, getting to learn the.

00:17:29
Speaker 5: Details of it all.

00:17:30
Speaker 8: And obviously asked my agent a million questions about it, but you know, just overall, yeah, I was.

00:17:35
Speaker 5: I was happy with the process of.

00:17:37
Speaker 8: It, and yeah, and happy how it turned out.

00:17:41
Speaker 6: JP did they did when you signed that deal, when they made the offer, was your agent and I don't know who your agent is, so excuse me, but was your agent say, hey, man, I really think this is a good number for you, So like, let's do this because you don't really want to go through arbitration, Like you don't want to go through the process.

00:17:56
Speaker 3: This is a good number. And listen, that's a nice numb.

00:18:01
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I think that.

00:18:02
Speaker 8: You know, it's obviously really humbly just getting paid that to play baseball in general. And as a player, you know you're competitive, and you know you obviously wan want to be you know, you want you want to get what you're worth, but also I want to make my value more than that this year. And yeah, so like, yeah, our conversations were just about me wanting to get what I felt like I was happy and what I should earn and and I feel like that that's what I got.

00:18:27
Speaker 3: That trade when you got thrown when when they threw Mason Miller into the JP Sears trade, did you feel did you feel good for because I mean, Mason pitches like he pitches an inning, like you're a starting pitcher, like you are the marquee part of that trade. Did you see it coming? I've asked this to so many guys. You know, you're a controllable player. It's a young team with in Sacramento, and it's like, well, why would they why would they trade both of us? Like we're both good, we're both part of this team that they're building.

00:19:02
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean, I mean, like, there's so many emotions when you get traded. Obviously it was it was fun to get traded with someone like that caliber. Obviously Mason's one of my one of my great friends too, Like we've become really close over the last couple of years, So getting to move over there with him was something that made me and I'm sure him feel a little bit more comfortable, just because you know, get this is I guess third time getting traded, but second time in the big leagues. I feel like, so those days can be kind of crazy. You know, it's a lot of mixed emotions of you know, you're around a lot of the same guys for two or three years, and you become close to them, so it's tough to leave. But also there's so much ahead in baseball, and you know, as you guys know this, it's a long career and you know it's your own career. So being on a team like the Padres is going to be a blessing. I'm you know, I'm super excited to compete with these guys and to learn more about them. We just had a camp last week. Joe had us out for a little like a week long camp out in San Diego, so that, you know, it really was big about like getting getting to know everybody more, even like even though I got some time there last year, just makes spring train I feel quite as fresh.

00:20:04
Speaker 6: JP when you were talking about this trade. But what I want to know is you went from Sacramento basically not basically it's a Triple A ballpark right to San Diego, which is unbelievable ballpark, forty thousand, every game screaming, yelling, they could be you guys could be playing the Mets and they're yelling bat la right, Like it's just an atmosphere every game, right. What was that like? Because you literally you went from Oakland where they didn't draw anybody. Then you went to Sacramento, which is a minor league ballpark, to San Diego, which is one of the great ballparks in the league.

00:20:36
Speaker 5: Right, Yeah, it was the first time I went there in twenty twenty three.

00:20:39
Speaker 2: I was.

00:20:40
Speaker 8: I was wowed by it from the beginning of you know, the support that the fans have, and and just like the obviously the city and the atmosphere of the stadium and how just you know, how how much it comes to life every night. So yeah, that was a big exciting part about the trade was known that I will get to play in front of those fans and got to go out to Fan Fastest past week and meet some of the people, and yeah, it's definitely gives you a little bit more of a boost and energy having a lot of fans in there yelling, and obviously they do a great job in San Diego too of just like pulling for the guys, like being really positive. It seems like that they're really supportive fan base. So I'm excited about that part of this year for sure.

00:21:15
Speaker 3: One of the things you kind of glazed over, you said, Joe ran a camp. You mean Joe Musgrove.

00:21:20
Speaker 8: Musgrove, Yeah, like I mean he wasn't the one obviously, like you know, running the whole thing, but Joe put it on Joe. You know, it took us out a lot of guys out to dinner some nights, He set up some things and you know, just I think you guys know in baseball is just so much going on in the first couple of weeks of spring training. So getting that comfortability of each other and starting to grow that bond of you know, becoming good teammates is really big and you know, developing a winning atmosphere.

00:21:43
Speaker 3: Who who all was out there? And what the what a kind of activities did you guys do? Like did you guys like do balloon tosses? And did you guys go to the park together?

00:21:51
Speaker 8: And some some close some stuff close to that. There were some videos on Instagram of us at the beach one day. Yeah Joe, Uh yeah, he set up some dinner some night. You know, we went we went on a boat one night Wednesday. He does a lot of working out. Uh, he goes to the beach. Obviously, living in San Diego, you're able to go out to the beach all the time. So we did a little bit of like a dynamic cardio work out there and did some competitive stuff out on the beach that was fun.

00:22:16
Speaker 5: And yeah, and.

00:22:17
Speaker 8: Then obviously we had and did some community community relations things. Were able to go visit some animal shelters and go visit some elderly homes and went to the Air Force base and the Naval base.

00:22:28
Speaker 5: And all that. So just a little bit of mix of everything.

00:22:31
Speaker 8: I feel like it just kind of brings out, you know, the different size of all the players, and you're able to become a closer teammates because of that.

00:22:38
Speaker 6: JP did he make you guys all go to his coffee shop, his parents' coffee shop.

00:22:42
Speaker 5: No, I've heard about it though, And I know Joe's big on coffee.

00:22:45
Speaker 8: He's got he's got his he's got his little step in the clubhouse and yeah, and so no, I didn't go there, but I'll obviously be checking that out very early in this season.

00:22:54
Speaker 6: And and then the other thing is is like Joe's was San Diego native. He couldn't get you guys to go seal training, couldn't get you guys to run the obstacle course out.

00:23:02
Speaker 3: I don't know what.

00:23:03
Speaker 8: I don't know if he could have convinced anybody to do that if they had. I mean, I don't know about y'all. I mean, I don't really want to do any of that stuff. I got there and I watched some of you've seen videos of some of those guys, and it's unreal. But yeah, Joe's been a great leader so far, and it's been great to get to know him and obviously a lot of the other guys that have been there for a little bit.

00:23:23
Speaker 3: JP.

00:23:23
Speaker 6: Come on, you know you wanted to make is a sugar cookie, because they'll take you out there and they'll let you run out there in the boats and then run in and I'm a little sugar cookie in the sand, and then they make your run out. Trust me, I've seen it, and I've been offered it, and I've said no. I've been out there a few times, but I've never actually done it. And no, I'm not climbing the obstacle course because there's a good chance on the ball and hurt something.

00:23:42
Speaker 5: So no, Yeah, I mean I'm a little bit crazy to her.

00:23:45
Speaker 8: I would probably have a hard time saying no, just because it's a unique opportunity and I'd want to try and see what everybody around me's got and see if I can last longer than some guys in around me. But at the end of the day, I think that there's nothing compared to what those guys do.

00:23:59
Speaker 5: We all know that, and we actually get to got to hear some of them speak. They came and spoke to us too. That was another thing that they set up.

00:24:04
Speaker 8: And so just hearing the different perspective of those guys and how you know, how our jobs relate in so many different ways.

00:24:12
Speaker 3: You get out there and be competitive against your other starting pitchers, you at least wouldn't you wouldn't you wouldn't find you wouldn't come in last behind Randy Basquets. You have to beat. That would be the biggest thing the Randy.

00:24:24
Speaker 8: Randy and I knew each other with the Yankees and we've been good friends.

00:24:27
Speaker 5: Randy is the best. Yeah, I think that would definitely be one.

00:24:29
Speaker 8: I can't let Randy beat me, but uh yeah, or Nick or any of those guys. Michael, Michael King and I are good friends too, so it would be a very competitive group for sure.

00:24:39
Speaker 3: Oh I forgot that Kinger and you played with the Yankees. Yeah, yeah, that's my bad. That's my bad.

00:24:45
Speaker 8: I forgot that my last My last video of KRATS was you when you catch called Davy in the playoff game.

00:24:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was another another one of your guys. Yeah, you guys were all you guys are all the studs coming up through the Yankees.

00:24:59
Speaker 5: Yeah. So yeah, King, here's a man.

00:25:02
Speaker 3: Let's talk about Sacramento. Talk about Sacramento. Obviously, things came out that Luis Severino said you can look at his numbers. How much did that come into maybe more of your psyche than actually physically the field affecting pictures? And how bad was it early and were they able to get it a little bit better? Obviously you left before the end of this season because this is really like, this isn't like to me. I love Louis Severino as a teammate, as a man, and he's a competitor, and for him to come out and say it, some people got on him because, oh, you're soft, You're not doing good, You're like, this is real, and I think the show shows that, like players can have real opinions of playing in a triple A ballpark. So what was your what was your interaction with that?

00:25:49
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean obviously Sevi was, you know, the leader of our staff there last year, and you know, seeing those struggles is hard to watch, you know, just seeing the difference in the games at home and away, and it's kind of hard to have really to too much of any excuse in my look in my eyes, and not not a knock on sev because it really is a big difference from maybe where he had pitched the last couple of years and last six seven years in the big League, So like, I can definitely see a big difference in some of those aspects.

00:26:15
Speaker 5: But you know, for me, it's just I get out there.

00:26:18
Speaker 3: Man.

00:26:19
Speaker 8: It's just hard to really ever get past the fact that, like what my job is, it doesn't really matter where I'm at. It doesn't really matter the team you're facing, or the conditions or really the fan base or the stadium or any of the outside things. Is like, you know, if I got beat that day, it was my fault, you know. And if I and if I and if I won that day, it was because I did my job. So it's just hard to really, uh, in my eyes, making an excuse because I couldn't really look it like that when I was in the moment, because it's then you before you know it, it's it's well past gone and it's way worse than it could have been. So I think a big part of that is just a mentality. And but yeah, it was definitely adjustment for Sev and I think that you see with the A's and like how they how they handle the last two months six weeks of the season. The pitching staff was did a really good job. So you can see you'll be able to see a probably a big difference in last year and this year.

00:27:08
Speaker 5: I'd imagine j P.

00:27:11
Speaker 6: You mentioned King and a bunch of guys that you've played with before, but miguel Aanduhar just signed over there too. Is it like everyone has to follow you wherever you go? These guys have to go and follow you.

00:27:23
Speaker 5: I don't I think I don't have phone me or more so King, I don't.

00:27:26
Speaker 8: Know, but yeah, but yeah, he Meggi is the man. He was the nicest guy to me when I first made the big leads with the Yankees and and then it was great to see him come and play with him the last two years with the A's and Meggie is just a great guy.

00:27:42
Speaker 5: It's a great personality.

00:27:43
Speaker 8: He works hard and you know, he's a great teammate, so being able to have him around again, and he'll fit in so well with the group of guys that they have, the you know that the position players have there and just a group in general. And so yeah, anytime you can get good people, I think that's a big part of you guys, know how small is is, Like getting a great player is awesome, but also getting great people as well as a big part of being good.

00:28:07
Speaker 3: All Right, So you've had Boom, you've had Cats, you've had Shilt, and now you get a freaking relief pitcher as your manager. Unbelievable. How different do you think it's going to be?

00:28:20
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean I'm excited about it.

00:28:23
Speaker 8: You know, Craig's been you know, I got to meet him last year towards the end of the season when we were in Chicago for the for the wild Card, and every single person that's spoken about him or had any type of relations with him says that he's just, you know, he's a head, head down, knows you know, grinder guy, and you know, and someone that you just don't want to let down and that you know, just handles everything he does so gracefully. So it's been great to get to know him a little bit, and obviously I'll get to know him a lot more the next couple of weeks. But uh yeah, and then obviously having the relation of just being a pitcher. And that's one of the first things he said to us this past week when we saw him, was, you know, I think that it'll be fun to get to you know, have a little bit more to relate to and just be able to know kind of what some guys are going through.

00:29:05
Speaker 3: All right, Last one for me, what are your personal goals? Because obviously you guys talk, You went to the you know, you had coffee with Joe and you guys had some nice you know, patty cake everything, team, team bonding. What are your goals? Because it's a it's a team game played by individuals. So what do you want to see out of yourself for this year?

00:29:27
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's hard to always you know, goals are such a finicky thing because you know, you want to have such high goals and so like, yeah, every year, I try and really focus on the things that I can control, right, you know. Number one is just outside of competing, is just having a great attitude and being a good teammate and making myself available for the team every day, just being healthy, doing my job, and so that's like a big part of just the outside things that I feel like I can't control. It's just my attitude every day and that. And then you know, being a starter in the big leagues, you want to be to throw a lot of innings. So I think, you know, throwing at least one hundred and eighty one hundred and ninety innings this year would be awesome.

00:30:05
Speaker 5: And you know.

00:30:07
Speaker 8: In pitching to a and pitching to a good era, I think that it's just going out there and I think that if you at end of the day, you know you have a quality start every time, and your team wins and you do your job, so you know, just racking up the wins as well. And I think just in general, I really try and focus on week to week and month to month and just have those smaller goals and like such a lofty full goal of the whole season, just because you know, I'm out there every five days and hopefully you know most of them are better than not. But like there's gonna be bumps in the road, and you can't really worry too much about what's happened at the end.

00:30:37
Speaker 5: And you know, just focused on day to day.

00:30:40
Speaker 8: But uh yeah, just you know there's in you know, just having good quality innings being available, you know, pitching every five days or are big goals of mine?

00:30:49
Speaker 6: All right, JP, you weren't there very long, but you Darvish, is he retiring? Was he at Joe musk Grove's fantasy camp?

00:30:56
Speaker 5: You guys have because he's saying, oh yeah, he was there, tiring?

00:31:00
Speaker 6: Is he retiring because some people say he's retiring. Some people say he's not retiring. He doesn't know what he's doing. Like, what is happening with.

00:31:05
Speaker 2: You, Darvish?

00:31:08
Speaker 5: And that's a tough question answer. I really don't know.

00:31:10
Speaker 8: I know that he's he's working hard to get healthy right now, and I did see him and got to speak to him.

00:31:14
Speaker 5: But yeah, obviously that's a good question to ask you.

00:31:19
Speaker 3: All right, last thing, what's the most what's the thing that you miss the most about the off season? Something that you're like, man, I love doing that in the off season. Now seasons right around the corner here, you got to give that up.

00:31:34
Speaker 5: I would say, I.

00:31:37
Speaker 8: Got I get to go hunting a good bit with my dad and brother. That's something that you know, obviously takes a lot of time and there's a lot of fun and you can really only do in you know, colder months, and obviously you don't get to do it at all during the baseball season. But you know, my hobbies are you know, hunting and playing golf, So obviously you're able to get golf in some during the season and spring training, but just family time of being able to you know, hang out with my parents and my brother and some of my friends run here, and a lot of times we'll you know, go hunting together, and so those are one of the big things we do in the all season.

00:32:07
Speaker 5: Well, you can hunt during the season, Shipper. Shipper used to do it.

00:32:14
Speaker 8: I heard the old story of Chipper, like hunting before the World Series or something like that. And I don't know if I'm quite there yet, you know, I think I'm going to be. You know, I'll kind of focus on one thing at a time, but yeah, maybe.

00:32:25
Speaker 6: When I was with the White Sox, we used to go hunting with Tomy and Burley and Jermaine and Die.

00:32:29
Speaker 5: We used to we used to go.

00:32:30
Speaker 6: So it is possible to do it.

00:32:32
Speaker 3: You just have to pick the right.

00:32:33
Speaker 8: Time right right, and it's I don't know if it's a long hunting in San Diego, but we'll see.

00:32:39
Speaker 6: Call clus called Ryan Cluster used to.

00:32:41
Speaker 8: Do it, Okay, I will, yes, fishing. Fishing is great, It's definitely gonna that's definitely.

00:32:46
Speaker 5: Gonna be something I'll check out.

00:32:48
Speaker 8: Not don't fish as much, but like living here in Charleston obviously and having the the beach right here do inlet fish on, so definitely be fun to do that out west some too.

00:32:58
Speaker 7: All Right, well, we'll catch you out there and really appreciate the time enjoyed the beginning of spring training.

00:33:02
Speaker 5: Thanks for joining us. Yeah, I appreciate you guys having me.

00:33:05
Speaker 8: We'll see, We'll see you out in Arizona.

00:33:09
Speaker 2: H