Josh Donaldson: Contract talks w/Billy Beane, Toronto in October

00:00:04
Speaker 1: We've got the bringer of brain.

00:00:05
Speaker 2: Former MVP three time all start Josh Donaldson is where it's good. You could carry the combo you were doing right into this. Uh Aj thinks you should have made a billion dollars in your career.

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Speaker 3: That's exactly that, Josh think you should have made a billion. I wish you would have made a bill.

00:00:18
Speaker 4: I wish I would have.

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Speaker 5: I don't think that I should have, but it'd have been a lot cooler if we did.

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Speaker 1: Real you were paid handsomely.

00:00:24
Speaker 5: Yes, Hey, I'm very grateful for microphone just came up.

00:00:28
Speaker 3: It's just your ear piece. You don't need your crowd to ask you a question. I'll just tell you what he says.

00:00:33
Speaker 6: I have a really good question for him too. I have a really good question, Dad, because you're done playing now. When you were in the locker room in Oakland, because he did play in Oakland, not Sacramento, when your teammates told me after you'd have like a you know, a nice three for four game, two homer game, Billy Bean would walk through the locker room and you'd go, should have locked me up before. It's gonna cost you an extra million?

00:00:58
Speaker 5: Now, I mean that's like a half truth, probably embellished a little bit. It would probably be more along the lines of not necessarily after a game. We probably had that talk once or twice, like because I went up to Billy a couple of times. Whenever I first h was kind of breaking into the big leagues. I was like, Hey, right now, I'll sign a five year deal for five million dollars. He's like, now, oh, Josh, he goes, I wouldn't do that to you. I'm like, well, why not, Like I gotta.

00:01:32
Speaker 4: More than that, Josh.

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Speaker 5: And then then it turned into like five years, Hey, I'll do five for twenty five and now Josh, I wouldn't do that to you. So then when I actually started playing really well, when there was some talks happened, I was like, you just cost yourself some money.

00:01:48
Speaker 1: Why wouldn't they want to do that?

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Speaker 5: You know? I mean, I think Billy at the end of the day, he you know, he had his he had his intentions in his plans. But I don't think he probably took me as being too serious.

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Speaker 4: No, not you.

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Speaker 3: You would never say anything that was somebody couldn't take too serious.

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Speaker 2: Salvi did a deal like that, you remember, sal like a really really small one and then eventually they get more extensions to kind of balance it out.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, but Longo signed before you even made it the big Lees.

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Speaker 5: Yeah. Yeah, they're doing that these days.

00:02:15
Speaker 4: That's cool. I wish that would have been cool if they would have done that with me. It was cool. Cool.

00:02:20
Speaker 2: Hey, are you following what the Blue Jays are up too lately? They're trying to bring the mojo back.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: I mean, it looks like they're playing pretty well. I mean, I've been pretty busy with two kids and playing golf a lot, so I don't get to watch it that often. But they're playing really well from what I what I can see. And uh, you know, obviously I cheer for those guys in that organization. It meant a lot to me. So it's all anytime they're doing well is a good thing in my book.

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Speaker 2: What would your advice be for a superstar on the Blue Jays right now on what to expect for the postseason environment. They're not that they haven't made the playoffs, but this is different right now, they're probably gonna win the division.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, And I mean I think, you know, for the last few years, I think they've kind of had those expectations to probably try to take that next step and win a division right and then do some damage in the postseason, and that kind of hasn't went to fruition. But this year it looks like things are in their favor from what I hear, at least in what I have seen, And I just know how on fire that city gets for Toronto baseball, and really the entire country of Canada is just massive Blue Jays fans. And I'm excited for them and excited for the players because it makes it very fun to come to the ballpark each and every day when you have that type of support from your fan base.

00:03:36
Speaker 6: All Right, Game one is obviously going to be Joe Carter that's throwing out the first pitch, then probably Pat Hankin, but they're asking Josh Donaldson to come out to throw the first pitch for Game three? Do you do it? And how electric would that stadium be if you come out there?

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Speaker 5: I haven't I haven't even thought about that. That's a great question. I mean, I would definitely, first of all, Bautista be ahead of you.

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Speaker 4: No offense. Yeah, I mean I think Bautista be ahead of Himkratz.

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Speaker 3: I don't mean that rudely, but Bautista that he could just walk out there, he just flipped.

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Speaker 4: The bat and then the catcher would have to catch the bat.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean I definitely think is up there for sure. I mean Bautista, you know, obviously amazing player, great teammate of mine and have huge years. I wouldn't I wouldn't step on his toes of saying one way or the other.

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Speaker 4: All right, I want to know this.

00:04:27
Speaker 3: You people don't know this about You played third base obviously, but you were a catcher. Yeah, how different is your life if you don't get out from behind the plate.

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Speaker 5: I definitely wouldn't have had the career that I had for as long as that I did. And you know, not having to deal with pitchers all the time, I mean, I mean nobody wants to do that. I mean it's like having thirteen plus wives on the staff that you're just constantly having a deal with emotions all the time. Uh So, Yeah, the mental stress of that is enough to probably keep you down, know, or to kind of keep you humble to say, but you know, for me to be able to move off to third base, it was I was always an infielder growing up. I kind of moved to catcher when I was in college out of the necessity for our team because we lost two catchers to the draft, and our coach came back because I was messing around right before I went to the summer ball and I was our catchers were throwing like down to second base. I was like, that's it, Like I would let me show you how to throw it down the site, you know, just talking craft. And I was throwing like one ace down the second base. And I came back from playing short stop in the Alaska League and our coaches said, hey, what do you think about catching?

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Speaker 4: And I was like, cratchy. He need me to cratchy.

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Speaker 3: He's like the kid on certain websites that are throwing one sevens out of nowhere. You know, there's no gear on in front of home plate. They're like, watch me go, Well.

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Speaker 5: You can actually check my h you could check my footage and you could check my statistics. I threw it like base runner.

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Speaker 4: Oh here we go, here we go. Yeah.

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Speaker 6: Look, you moved to third base, You got better hair, you lost weight because you were fat when you first came into the big leagues, and you got faster, Like it worked out. You didn't throw one eight You weren't. You were thrown out minor league dudes that had to run like stop.

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Speaker 5: Actually, Elvis, Elvis Andrews, I threw him out in the big leagues, and I threw all Ian Kinsler in the big leagues. Who's counting? I don't know, but I think you can actually go and check those pop times. They're pretty low. Go check him out. It would do you some good to get a little bit of education because the kid could sling it. Okay, they could sling it. Wasn't always on target, but I could sling it down there like.

00:06:42
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00:07:36
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00:07:42
Speaker 2: Hey, it's been a minute, not too long, right since you called it a career. Yes, when you think about the career now, best decision you made like one where you look back to like that was the move? And is there any decision you made that you regret? It could be in any front a team you chose to sign on with, a decision you made in a game, anything.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I think the best decision that I probably made, h was whatever I went in twenty eleven. I was kind of on the front of being like what they quote unquote in baseball for a player, and I played the last month of the season out of necessity at third base because we had three catchers in the minor leagues and Triple A and Triple A rosters are normally pretty tight. You don't have that many position players. I was like, hey, I'll go to third and go play over there. And I played third for the last month, played well, and then I thought that I was going to get taken off the forty man roster just because I was. It was I was already I've already burned two what do they call them options? I burned two options. I was like, look, I need to go show some NL teams that I have some versatility. So I went and played in the Dominican Republic and played third base the entire time in for Esquhito and first day of Major league camp, you know, unfortunately for Scott Sizemore, but he blew out his knee and I was able to kind of take that, you know, get an opportunity to go over to third base. So that was probably the best decision that I made, and the worst decision. I mean, I'd probably be here all day. I mean yeah, I mean I probably one of my worst of like where I felt terrible moments. I remember we were actually in Toronto, was with the A's and Darren Oliver had he was pitching. I think he's like when he pitched like twenty years yeah, and it was kind of like at the end for him, and he took me a little cutter in and I missed it. It was a hot day in the dome, and you know how he used the glue sticks and I went to slay my bat down and it flew out towards the picture and I almost hit him. And I felt terrible about that nice guy, I know, and that's what everybody had told I felt even worse about it. So I mean, hopefully if you're watching this, I'm sorry. Still to this day.

00:10:04
Speaker 3: You mentioned the a you brought up to as day's are no longer in Oakland. You played in Sacramento, Yes, but they were Triple A and now they're still Triple A.

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Speaker 4: But they're just the Giants, right, What was what?

00:10:13
Speaker 3: What do you feel about Oakland leaving Oakland and then also playing in Sacramento where everyone said, oh, it's gonna be so hot, they're gonna die on the field and they're playing all night games and now they're like, oh, it's been cool, so now we need to move to day games more. What are your thoughts on the Oakland Sacramento situation.

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Speaker 5: I mean Oakland, I mean it was obviously that was my roots coming up in the big League, so I knew how passionate that fan base was about their team and still probably are to this day. But you know, at the end of the day, I mean, there is it's a huge market and this thing is killing it. Yeah, and so it is.

00:10:49
Speaker 4: It is.

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Speaker 5: Kind of you feel like you're missing out on a team who's just Oakland has so much history in the game of baseball. But at the same time, sense like the game's a business, right, so they're trying to make better decisions for the organization. I don't necessarily agree with them, but that's just kind of what it comes down to. And in Sacramento when I was there, you know, they've I've watched a few games there, they've made some big upgrades. We had no batter's eye when I was there in Sacramento, so guys that were throwing left handed to eighty four miles an hour blowing it past you. So I was kind of interested. Then I saw the batters. Oh cool, when here comes you finally put a batter's eye, and now guys are just hitting bombs everywhere. So when I played there was very fair to slightly unfair. Now it seems like it's a good hitters.

00:11:38
Speaker 4: Place, Yeah, for sure, for sure. And then.

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Speaker 3: You played for the Twins, they went through the selling everybody, you played for the Braves, You played for all these different teams, which stop was your favorite? So I mean you can't say Toronto, I'm taking Toronto.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, Toronto would would be it. But I mean I had a great time in Atlanta.

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Speaker 4: People forgot who played for Cleveland.

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Speaker 5: Cleveland was but I was there for a month and they had already kind of wrapped up the division by that time, and they were kind of easing me back into it because I'd missed one hundred games for a calf injury that year, and so I mean Cleveland was fun. I mean I didn't kind of go into Cleveland feeling like I was like a had a part for that team winning. So it's kind of like, hey, I'm here for the postseason and then we got Blitz three and oh and it's like, well that didn't work out.

00:12:27
Speaker 1: That's great.

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Speaker 5: So I would say probably Atlanta would probably be probably the And I got to I grew up watching the Braves, you know, being from the South and watching them play pretty much every day. So I mean that was a big of joy for me to be able to put that uniform on everything.

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Speaker 4: Same for me, I grew up a Braves fan.

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Speaker 3: And now you had a famous incident one time about sticky stuff and you hit a home run and yelled at a picture about sticky stuff. Now they've been sticky stuff. Do you think you'd be a better hitter now without sticky stuff?

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Speaker 5: I don't know. These guys are, they're pretty electric.

00:13:01
Speaker 4: I mean from some of.

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Speaker 5: You know, I'm not like sitting here, I'm definitely not the guy that sitting here like, oh man, hitting is way easier now and before when I was playing. I'm like, no, these guys are. It's electric. I mean I saw a guy, just a clip of a guy who's pitching the fifth inning for the Reds relievers two with like a ninety hour slider. It's like the game's changed, guys. And I'm sure if he went in that ten over there with some of the older players, they say, oh man, they can't hit today. Well, there's a reason why these guys aren't hitting three hundred anymore is because the stuff that is being thrown in there is exploding, and uh, you don't really have. You have even less of a margin today than what you did even.

00:13:44
Speaker 4: Ten years ago.

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Speaker 5: I remember when I was still playing, and I'm looking at clips five years previous, and I'm like, I can't even watch those videos anymore because the stuff's not the same.

00:13:54
Speaker 4: True.

00:13:55
Speaker 2: I got one for you on the Yankees. So this has been an up and down year for them. We talk about them a lot on this show. Specifically related to Iron Boone, I would say our show supports him more than most do.

00:14:05
Speaker 1: What was your.

00:14:06
Speaker 2: Experience like there, do you feel like it's incredibly different to play in that environment versus anywhere else that that you played right?

00:14:14
Speaker 5: Because yeah, I mean New York is extremely difficult to play in, especially you know, especially for myself, Like I didn't really play that well. So whenever you don't play well in New York, you know, you know that you're not playing well. You know, Yeah, they let you know it, and you know it's it's playing for the Yankees. I'll just say this, Every team hates the Yankees that you play against, right, and so versus other teams, like when else with the Blue Jays, like we'd go into town and it wasn't like people hated I mean, well, we were really good. People probably didn't like this because we came in and played really well against them and they were ready for us to leave. But the Yankees, they just have such a history in the game of bay. Well, they have the most fans in baseball. I mean, everybody wants to talk about the Yankees, and rightfully so. I mean they've They've have great players there and like the history of itself, a big part of why baseball is what it is today.

00:15:14
Speaker 4: All right, let's go. Let's let's go golf.

00:15:16
Speaker 3: First of all, do you win the best outfit or the worst out because your matching match it's.

00:15:21
Speaker 5: All opinion, right, I mean I went for it.

00:15:24
Speaker 4: You did go for it.

00:15:24
Speaker 5: I went for it.

00:15:25
Speaker 1: I think it's work is working, thank you.

00:15:27
Speaker 5: So well, then there you go that I maybe maybe it landed and my wife helped me pick it out, so I can't take that's right, So you know, I can't take full credit for but I wore it today, and you know I didn't play I played okay today, but I at least felt like I looked somewhat decently. Thank you.

00:15:46
Speaker 3: All right, By the way, your home course here, you should win. You have home course advantage. Yes, the Clipper beat Clipper beat you.

00:15:53
Speaker 2: A games going on, there's a game inside. John Smolt's commissioner, and we've spoken him on this show multiple time. He set not only am I trying to win the pro but he goes, I'm trying to beat Josh Donnerson here first.

00:16:06
Speaker 5: Yeah he lost here today.

00:16:07
Speaker 4: You smashed him today.

00:16:08
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean he had twenty nine points. I had thirty four today. I'm not like I'm counting or anything, but uh, you know, it's all fun.

00:16:16
Speaker 4: Though.

00:16:16
Speaker 5: The biggest thing in probably eight could attest to this as well. When you're out of the game, what you missed the most is being in the clubhouse and the banter with the boys and you know, you know, telling stories and you know, just kind of being in the boys club with all the guys. And then now this a great event. Now you get to kind of intermingle all the sports together, and you know, you get to hear stories from their perspective, they get to hear our kind of perspective on the stories. So it makes it very entertainment. My head was literally hurting this morning because I was we had a little meeting last night. Mccannon had me laughing so hard my head was still. I woke up this morning with I had a.

00:16:57
Speaker 1: Headache, still a laughter headache.

00:16:59
Speaker 4: Oh my.

00:17:00
Speaker 5: I mean, he just cracks me up. Favorite teammates of all time.

00:17:03
Speaker 2: He's amazing, all right, he's got a clubhouse vibe to this whole event and experience.

00:17:08
Speaker 1: Cool, awesome, Well, great to have you on.

00:17:10
Speaker 2: Good luck both in the tournament and against multi personally, Like, what what is it so you beat him in day one?

00:17:16
Speaker 1: Are you doing total points against him?

00:17:18
Speaker 5: You have like a three individual every day?

00:17:21
Speaker 1: Got it?

00:17:22
Speaker 5: Okay, you five today?

00:17:25
Speaker 1: Boom, there you go.

00:17:26
Speaker 4: Well JD.

00:17:27
Speaker 1: Good to see him. I appreciate, good to see Thank you.