FT Live @ Winter Meetings: Terry Francona, Oli Marmol, Stephen Vogt

00:00:02
Speaker 1: Terry Francona is here, manager of the Reds, a legend in our sports. I've been told we have like sevenish minutes.

00:00:10
Speaker 2: I am by that, right, Let's not forget playoff Reds.

00:00:13
Speaker 1: Playoff Reds. That's right, first season at the Helm playoff team. Okay, well, I'm gonna hit him with the hard question right away, like what's your pitch to a free agent like Kyles Forber about why.

00:00:23
Speaker 3: They should join your little set of really talented players.

00:00:28
Speaker 4: You know what, I I don't want to talk about any player specifically, because I don't think that's respectful. I tell anybody that wants to listen, though, the truth. I love our guys. You know, people talk about leadership and all this stuff. The guys in that room know the difference between right and wrong, and they choose to try to do right.

00:00:52
Speaker 2: I mean, AJ knows this.

00:00:54
Speaker 4: You know, every manager stands up there the first day and says, hey, we can't be late. We're gonna hustle. Our guys were never late, never. I appreciate that. You know, was is it perfect?

00:01:05
Speaker 2: Some days?

00:01:06
Speaker 4: No, It's never gonna be. But it's a group that I love trying to see how good we can get.

00:01:13
Speaker 3: And there were some guys late in prior tenures with other teams.

00:01:18
Speaker 2: Did some Reds games. I did some Reds games down the stretch, and he said the same thing to me. He's like, these guys get it. Yeah, they work, they do. They really do.

00:01:28
Speaker 4: Like you ask them to do something, they look at you and they try, and their competitive as hell. And I think because of our age, you know, I think I hope our trajectory is still going this way because you know, our goal isn't to win eighty three games kind of sneak into the playoffs. You know, we want to be better than that. But our guys got to feel getting downs to a champagne and then three days later they got to feel how much it hurts when you get sent home early. And I told them to remember both feelings.

00:02:01
Speaker 1: Hey, for a free agent that might ask this question, Amcrats is not on with us the second. But he's got this conspiracy theory that the ballpark there actually is playing like a little more a little less great American small park.

00:02:13
Speaker 3: Do you think that's the case or is the pitching just so much better?

00:02:16
Speaker 4: I think we did hit home runs, okay, that's fair, But I think being serious. I think it's hard to hit now. I mean, god, dang man, guys. You know some of these guys they don't command, but they're throwing a hundred when you're facing them once in the sixth inning. That's no day at the beach. Hitting is really hard. They're just pitching has evolved so much and it's changed, and it's just hard for hitters.

00:02:47
Speaker 1: My favorite player to watch is Ellie de la Cruz. No secret there. And we heard that there was some injury issues down the stretch. What did you experience being with him every day? Because I know it was important for him to play every day, but did that hold him back?

00:02:59
Speaker 4: And I I was just telling some of the other guys I needed to own up to that I probably didn't do him any favors. I mean, I love the fact that how much he wanted to play every day, and I respect that a ton. I do think I need to probably step in occasionally and go, hey, hey, get off your legs today, and and I think that will help him in the future. He'll hate it, but I think it'll be good for him.

00:03:21
Speaker 3: You have experience with that. Jose Ramirez battled you, didn't he do.

00:03:24
Speaker 4: You want to piss him off, tell him he's not playing now. Josey in his would would d H and he is. He got a little older. Ellie fights me to the nail and and like I said, I really respect it, but I still need to probably step in and go, hey, I need to explain it better to him why it will help him.

00:03:45
Speaker 2: You love that though. As a manager, you want guys that want to love the same thing.

00:03:48
Speaker 5: You much rather have guys that say I want to play a guys are like, oh thanks, I'll take the week off.

00:03:53
Speaker 4: Like people ask you all the time, like when you go to take a picture out and they're mad, I hope they're mad.

00:03:58
Speaker 2: The ball Now that's a little too far.

00:04:01
Speaker 4: But I don't want somebody looking in the dugout after the fifth and like hey, come get me. You know, I'll figure it out. But I like the fact guys that want to stay out there.

00:04:10
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:04:11
Speaker 1: One more on the transaction front, Hunter Green's name came up like early this offseason, and I was like, why the heck would the Reds do that? So I know that's not your job, but if you see a rumor like that come out, do you make a phone call like, hey, I think we should hold on to this guy, no.

00:04:25
Speaker 4: Because I actually remember when it did because I was with I was with Nick, and I go where he goes.

00:04:33
Speaker 2: I don't know.

00:04:34
Speaker 4: You know, sometimes things in today's world with internet and everything, as we all know, if it's on the internet, it has to be true, of course. But that got legs for some reason. And we can't go get those guys in our market, so for us to trade them, somebody better give us their whole team. And actually we love our starting pitching. So I don't know where that got legs and it shouldn't have.

00:05:01
Speaker 3: You got last.

00:05:02
Speaker 5: I love Nick by the way. Oh he's unbelieved, he's been on He's unbelievable.

00:05:06
Speaker 4: Yeah, and bad there, I'm telling you, man, I've never been accused of being the smartest person, and I know that. But I came here for the right reasons. And when you're with people every day, because it's challenging man sometimes, and I love going through with guys like that that I respect and they care about me.

00:05:23
Speaker 2: And look out for me.

00:05:24
Speaker 5: He lost one of your guys though, Yeah, Millsey he retired. Yeah what are you going to do without Milsey? Because he's been with you for how long?

00:05:32
Speaker 4: Well, since our first year together was nineteen seventy eight. Think about that, I mean cribbage games, you think about that. But we're so close that. I was so happy that he was able to be in a situation where he could handle it coming back family wise, and then so for him to say he did it, not to be able to go home and be with his family. Everybody's happy for him. I mean, it's just that guy is He's everybody's either uncle or grandpa or brother. He's just the salt of the earth and that will never change.

00:06:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it was good.

00:06:05
Speaker 1: That's a good final question there for May say we'll see you at reds Fast. We're going to be there for our show.

00:06:13
Speaker 3: We are.

00:06:13
Speaker 1: I don't think he is, but I'm going to be there with Todd Fraser and Danny Green. We're gonna get That was the promise. Five with now ten with him when we see him at reds Fast, appreciate you be right back.

00:06:24
Speaker 3: How's life with him? Bloom?

00:06:27
Speaker 2: It's been good.

00:06:28
Speaker 6: The transition has been seamless, man, because he was around quite a bit the last couple of years, specifically last year having Mo and him, it was as smooth as I could have ever anticipated the the way they handled everything from just Mo really focused on the big league team. Him was kind of implementing a lot of different systems of the process down the minor leagues and hiring down there in order to set us up for success. So as we got past the trade deadline, a lot more communication and meeting with him a lot more often.

00:06:59
Speaker 3: The off season has been great. Man.

00:07:01
Speaker 6: I love the way he thinks, he cares about people, loves the game, So that part of it's been really really good.

00:07:07
Speaker 7: Should it be seamless? Like I mean, you when you have a new guy come in, do you kind of like, hey, how's he gonna like? How's he gonna mix this up? Because it hasn't gone the way we wanted it the last two years. Or is it like I'd rather have it seamless and then we figure it out.

00:07:22
Speaker 6: No, I mean when I say seamless, all those conversations have been taking place for months now, even spring training this past year, so there's no surprises as far as how he thinks and what he's looking to implement, and he's done exactly what he said he was gonna do. So from from that standpoint, that's what I mean by seamless. Is there's been no surprises in how he communicates and what we're trying to accomplish.

00:07:45
Speaker 5: Yeah, is there anything different he's brought to the table already, meaning terminology things he looked for was there forever I played with no doubt?

00:07:55
Speaker 2: Right, So is there is he?

00:07:57
Speaker 5: Is he changing terminology? Is he changing what they look for? Is he changed how you guys go about you know, the off season?

00:08:02
Speaker 6: A combination of all those things, right, He definitely wants to do things a little bit different and change things up from the way we've done it in the past. There's obviously a lot of history and things that have been sustainable here that he will keep. But there is an element of changing how we look at player acquisition in the draft and how we look at even development minor leagues. A lot more horsepower and resources be important to that how we develop guys at the big league level, adding staff members that could aid in that as well.

00:08:30
Speaker 3: So that's been a positive.

00:08:33
Speaker 6: And he communicates well with me, But he does a really nice job of communicating with our staff as well, so that everybody's on the same page and understand that there's one common language and here's what we're headed towards.

00:08:42
Speaker 7: Yeah, I worked with him or worked for him for like two months when I was with the Red.

00:08:47
Speaker 2: Sox and he was he was a Red Sox.

00:08:50
Speaker 7: He does an incredible job of communicating well with everybody, but he also here's your input. What's the one thing that you can tell us that you're like, hey, I really need more of this since he's come on board, Like, hey, you know, I enjoyed this from MO, but we lacked some of this that I would like a little bit more of as managers of the big league team that I want to win.

00:09:14
Speaker 6: Yeah, the thing that comes to mind is when you look at some of the resources that have been important to the minor leagues, that was a big part of it is not being spread too thin down there and guys trying to do several different jobs. So I think the process that has been put in place, the hiring process and the people that have been brought on man is already seeing the benefit of that, and we're going to continue to being able to add a couple guys at the big league level as well. So I think that more than anything, is just being able to have more manpower behind what we're trying to do.

00:09:46
Speaker 5: Before we go on. You know, your answer should have been to that money to get players. That should have been your answers time you gave it to give us money? Do you get players?

00:09:57
Speaker 2: What do you mean money? It's good players.

00:10:01
Speaker 3: I hear you, yes.

00:10:02
Speaker 2: But I mean I'm just saying. It's my opinion.

00:10:04
Speaker 6: You like things that you know, things that you can say.

00:10:08
Speaker 3: You know. That's why you have that seat. That's perfect, the best role in the world where you're just like money for players. Can we spend money? Yes? Okay, great, well all right, let's get it money. Of course that is true. All right, let's get to some specific players.

00:10:27
Speaker 1: I want to start with Sonny Gray, who obviously is not with the team now, but your thoughts on that move and you're.

00:10:34
Speaker 3: Always looking for some storyline at the winter meetings.

00:10:37
Speaker 1: The sexy storyline to start things off is did he want to.

00:10:41
Speaker 2: Be a Yankee?

00:10:41
Speaker 3: And his agents are.

00:10:43
Speaker 1: Plaguing and all that, And you just spent a lot of time with Sonny, So.

00:10:46
Speaker 3: What are your thoughts.

00:10:48
Speaker 6: I love Sonny, I love the way he competes, the way he prepares its next level, and guy's feet off of that man even when he came in first spring training. The way he goes about his bullpens and just the days in between. You want your young guys to notice a lot of that and and try to mimic it. I hate seeing him go, but when you look at I mean him was pretty clear on what the objectives are and what we're trying to do. Like he said, we're not going to concede anything for this upcoming year. We're gonna compete and keep the standard high, but at the same time set ourselves up for success in the futures where we show up and you know you're gonna win and having that type of club that's extremely competitive and that's part of the Sunny trade, and there's going to be more down the road here shortly.

00:11:27
Speaker 2: So wait what what it's wait what?

00:11:31
Speaker 6: So it's it's it's it's unfortunate to see those type of guys go. But at the same time, you know you're setting yourself up for success and everybody's on the same page as to what that needs to look like.

00:11:39
Speaker 2: He snuck it in.

00:11:40
Speaker 5: I got, I got, I heard that. But who's going to take over the leadership role? Sonny was kind of the leader of the of the starting rotation and kind of the pitching staff. Who's going to take over that role on your team?

00:11:50
Speaker 3: Now, I think you have to grow that.

00:11:52
Speaker 6: It's hard to sit here and say this guy is the guy, but you do have guys that are young that have leadership qualities. In a liberatore in am agreevy that you you're wanting them to take that next step. Doesn't mean they have to be the guy because usually it's a guy that's been in the league, that's has ups and downs at the big leagues already that can speak to that. But these guys couldn't take that next step together and collectively grow into that type of role.

00:12:14
Speaker 3: So I look forward to that.

00:12:15
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean when you look at each one of those guys are very different in how they go about their business. But Deliberator, he does have the leadership qualities to be able to do it like Libby's.

00:12:27
Speaker 3: He's a dude man.

00:12:28
Speaker 6: The way he thinks about the game, the way he prepares you can he gets punched in the face and there's not a whole lot of emotion, which is something you want to see in that type of role.

00:12:36
Speaker 3: So he's someone that can definitely grow into it.

00:12:38
Speaker 7: Yeah, had Sonny accepted the trade before last season. How much different would this season this past season have been for you guys in the sense of like scrambling during spring training to try to find somebody. Is it better that it happened now and then you have the off season to figure it out, because if he had accepted the trade from last year, how different would it have been for you guys throughout this this season that you have you still on michaelas.

00:13:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, we did.

00:13:07
Speaker 6: We still had guys that can take the ball, and thankfully all of our starters took the ball every every time out. But it did give an opportunity for like a Libertore to be in the rotation this year, and it gives us an opportunity to see what a Kyle lay he comes into spring training built up, and give him an opportunity to start as well. So you have enough time and and him's been clear he'd like to add another one before we get the spring training, So that'll be interesting to see kind of how that pans out as well.

00:13:34
Speaker 5: Since your whole coaching still well not all of them, but most of your coaching staff his ex cardinals, great, can we fire descalso and hire me as the bench coach?

00:13:44
Speaker 1: No chance change every day, right, every day, every day you imagine my life.

00:13:51
Speaker 3: You're a saint, You're a saint. No chance?

00:13:55
Speaker 2: What about Controllers? Yeah, I mean that's kind of the next big name, right.

00:13:58
Speaker 5: It has a no trade in Nolan, So it's it's kind of Wilson and Nolan are the next two that have no trades.

00:14:04
Speaker 6: And Wilson's been clear about he loves being here in Saint Louis and he loves the group and being a part of building this group up to get to where we want to get to. But at the same time, it's gonna have to make sense more so for not on him but his family.

00:14:17
Speaker 3: And he's the type of guy you can have these conversations with. He's very upfront.

00:14:21
Speaker 6: He loves where he's at, he loves the situation in Saint Louis, he feels at home. But at the same time, if it makes sense, then it's a conversation. So we'll see kind of where that leads. But the other one with with Nolan, Yeah, I mean, we've got a couple of months, we'll see kind of how this song plays out.

00:14:40
Speaker 7: This might be super idiot question. Any chance Contraires can still catch did he put a mid on his hand at all last year. As far as like Cardinals trade value, it's tougher to trade just a first baseman who had a catcher would be way different.

00:14:56
Speaker 6: He has a passion for it and if needed I I wouldn't put it past them to be able to go back there and still do it. He took the first a lot better than I anticipated, Like I thought he would be good over there, Like he did a really nice job man. Footwork around the bag was good, and his dedication to it was awesome. So I think there's some versatility there.

00:15:15
Speaker 5: What will it take And I know you don't have all the answers to this question for you guys to compete with the Milwaukee with the with the Cubs, right, because for the years and years and years it was always the Cardinals dungeon right, and then the last few years, obviously Milwaukee's taking off the Cubs made the playoffs. What will it take for you guys to give back to the Cardinal way, which for me was always man, they win and they compete every year.

00:15:39
Speaker 6: That's when you talk about the sunny Gray move and something. It's setting yourself, setting us ourselves up for success down the road, and that doesn't mean a ways away like that can be pretty soon. But it's a combination of some of these young guys taking the next step in their career and being able to do what we think they're capable of doing and doing what they know they're capable of doing, but also strengthening the pitching side and getting some guys that can miss some bats and and and compete in that kind of top of the rotation type of guys. So that's something that we've we've lacked, we've lacked death and at the moment we do have some young guys that are coming through that we're pretty talking about.

00:16:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh wait, sorry, go ahead, crauch.

00:16:23
Speaker 7: Oh no, How surprised were you with how Hellsley did when he went to New York? And if like, what did you see? What did you see from him? Did you see anything in his mannerisms? Did you see anything in his pitch usage? I know you're not You're you're managing your own team, but I'm sure you kept.

00:16:40
Speaker 2: You know, Oh.

00:16:44
Speaker 6: Yeah, you do keep track because you want to see how these guys do once they leave. And it's something he battled with even with us, and he was in and out of it. Obviously there's a ton of noise around the pitch tipping, which is a real thing for him that he falls in and out of, and at times there's there's several things that he does that that can give it away that he's well aware of. But in the heat of the moment, game speeds up on you and you fall into it. So there's some things there, man, but this is a real competitor. I enjoyed having Healsley Man. We went through times where it was just keeping him healthy and there was times where man, he wanted the ball all the time, like last year. So I enjoyed having him. I think, I think he'll bounce. That can be just fine.

00:17:24
Speaker 5: When you when you say pitch tipping, Yeah, did you guys know he was doing that? And did you guys work with him on that? And then so it was a constant because once a tip, are always a tipper. And so I don't know what it was. I'm not going to get into all that, but you guys identified that in the Cardinals.

00:17:38
Speaker 1: It was documented too though, I mean there's articles about it right. It's it was a pre pitch delivery for fastball and slider where it's like a little.

00:17:45
Speaker 3: Bit of a bend and you can tell.

00:17:46
Speaker 6: So there's a combination of things there, and we'd have to get two into the nitty gritty, but he would fall into it, and then the correction for it would kind of lead to a different type of tipping. Right, So there's this back and forth of just trying to mask it so that he didn't fall into it.

00:18:04
Speaker 5: But somebody the Ryan Dempster, where you just did everything, all the crazies.

00:18:07
Speaker 6: It is hard, man like creature of habit, and sometimes you fall, especially in the heat of the moment. Man, you're fifteen pitches into an outing and you're just trying to and you fall back into it and the next thing you know, it snowballs on you. So it's not the easiest thing. He's definitely aware of it, and I think we'll be fine. Pressure rams up your your weaknesses come out big time.

00:18:24
Speaker 2: Right like you know those cratch.

00:18:25
Speaker 5: The more pressure there is, the more your weaknesses appear. Whether it's tipping, whether it's you know, hitting, whatever it is. That's when you're like, oh, everything gets exposed. And so that's why with pictures it's so hard for them to stop doing it all right, before we let you go. Since you're a hometown guy like me, what's your favorite restaurant?

00:18:41
Speaker 2: Orlando?

00:18:41
Speaker 3: Dude, I haven't been here and so like you were living here. That was back in like two thousand and four.

00:18:47
Speaker 2: So okay, what was your favorite restaurant?

00:18:48
Speaker 3: You can't say like somebody I got nothing?

00:18:52
Speaker 2: You got nothing?

00:18:53
Speaker 3: No, not Christine, I'm not just like favorite thing to do? Like did you go? Were you a Parks guy? Did you go?

00:18:59
Speaker 2: Like?

00:18:59
Speaker 3: What did you do in here? I was in high school?

00:19:02
Speaker 5: So I have lived here high school. I haven't been No, you haven't been here sin high school school?

00:19:06
Speaker 3: Because then I want to treat.

00:19:07
Speaker 2: You because when I was a DV we had skipped in.

00:19:09
Speaker 6: We all went to Universal for sure, Like I can see the roller coaster form the my math class. Yeah yeah, yeah, okay, but I have to live here since high school we burn Jupiter for twelve years.

00:19:18
Speaker 2: Can he have the year defensively? Yeah, dude, he had one of the greatest years of all time.

00:19:22
Speaker 6: This dude, when I say, he's an absolute like savage when it comes to wanting to be that guy, every year he cares and he wants several of those gold gloves. He's passionate about it, and I think the bat's going to be a real thing for him.

00:19:38
Speaker 3: He can spray it all over the place.

00:19:39
Speaker 6: He's got some pop, and I think as he continues to get older, we're going to see a really good version of that side of him. But defensively, man, he cares and he wants to be the best to ever do it, and it'll be fun to watch him.

00:19:49
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:19:49
Speaker 5: By the way, DP alumni game is December nineteen. Are you in you going? No, I'm out of town, but.

00:19:54
Speaker 3: You can don't ask me, dude. Good to see you, Good to see you, brother. Hey, we're back, Stephen. Vote is here. You should do the intro.

00:20:03
Speaker 5: Here, turn back to back, back to back, manager the back. Did you I mean, did you think it was coming? Because I didn't think they would. I thought they would have vote tired to vote, tired of Murph and then both of you guys won.

00:20:16
Speaker 8: Yeah, it was pretty cool. I mean, Uhpe.

00:20:19
Speaker 2: Written this year. We'll see, we'll see.

00:20:22
Speaker 8: I mean, honestly, it means so much, right, It's like it's an organizational award. It really is recognizing what our guys did. And it was a unique year, to say the least for us, but so really honored to get that happy for Murf and but you know, I was not expecting it at all.

00:20:38
Speaker 1: So part of it is there's always a narrative with these awards, right, whether it's the team had lower public perception of expectations. I feel like this one had just had to do with the fact that during the season the team had essentially no shot of winning the division and then they storm back. So where was a point where you looked and you were like, this is cute. It's just not gonna happen this year.

00:21:01
Speaker 8: You know, you try not to go there, right because as soon as you go there, you make up your mind that you can't. And I think the beauty of our game is we play one hundred and sixty two of these things and until you have an E next to your name, you're not out of it.

00:21:13
Speaker 2: And that was really the rhetoric we used.

00:21:16
Speaker 8: And then to try and get the guys, it's, hey, we're here to win today. We can't control what happened yesterday, and we can't worry about tomorrow.

00:21:22
Speaker 2: Yet, so you gotta you gotta at Tito.

00:21:27
Speaker 8: So you you have to you have to keep your head down and you have to focus on today and our guys did a phenomenal job of that and they were able to come back.

00:21:33
Speaker 5: I remember we had I did a game of yours. It was in submit September ish, and you guys are right there, and I never forget You're in your office and he pulls up his chair you know, you know most managers kind of stay by on their desk. He literally pulls up his chair like dis closed. He's like, what do you got? And I was like, oh man, this guy's locked.

00:21:50
Speaker 2: In and I asked him.

00:21:51
Speaker 5: I literally I literally looked at you and go, how are you guys doing this right? Because you look at their lineup? But then I watch you guys play and I was like, oh, every piece fits, every guy knows what they're doing.

00:22:02
Speaker 2: And to me, that goes to the manager.

00:22:04
Speaker 5: You having good communication skills and saying, hey, you're this, I need you to do this, You're this, You're this OZI, You're the star.

00:22:10
Speaker 2: Go be the star. Boom boom boom boom boom.

00:22:13
Speaker 5: So yes, you won Manager of the Year again, But I was just so impressed when I talked to you and you're like, what do you got?

00:22:18
Speaker 2: It was.

00:22:19
Speaker 5: It was one of the coolest things ever and then to see you guys make it. And obviously the playoffs didn't go as well as you wanted. But with all the things you lost, you know, losing nail or losing Class A, losing all the things you lost along the way, and here you are that that is all credit to you well in the organization.

00:22:34
Speaker 8: No, and I and I appreciate it, and I think, really what it comes down to, and our coaches do a phenomenal job of this, it's every one of our guys.

00:22:41
Speaker 2: We have to play perfect baseball.

00:22:43
Speaker 8: We we have to make plays, we have to throw strikes, and we have to take advantage of things when we when we get opportunities. And to our guys credit, they did that the last two months of the season especially. I mean, this was a team that you know, like you said, we could have easily folded and no one would have cared, No one would have thought twice. And but that wasn't enough for our guys, and they wanted to keep going. And man did they play some really good baseball down the stretch. Wait, but now I'm going to spin it forward. Okay, we're at the winter meetings. We want to figure out what the Guardians are going to do. So it was a great story, but it didn't go where you wanted it to go. Ultimately, what do you think the team needs to do?

00:23:18
Speaker 1: Like, try and give me, if you can, something really tangible, like I really need more pop, I really need you know, give me something that you really want when you have a discussion with your front office.

00:23:28
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean, you know it's been this way in Cleveland but since before I got here. But you know the majority of our success is going to be with the group we have. We need to continue to develop these guys. We need to continue to push them and help them grow up. We're still super young, right, and it's exciting. You look at our offense in September. We're we're the thirteenth best offense in September with all young guys. There's a lot to be excited about. And those guys have another year under their belt. So what we have to do, the tangible thing is we have to help our guys figure out who they are individually as hitters, because if we get our entire group to get better individually, we're going to have more offense. So whether it's more pop, whether it's better to strike, hitting more execution, whatever, those things are, That's what we're going.

00:24:08
Speaker 2: To continue to coach, and that's what our guys are working on. This winner.

00:24:10
Speaker 8: So to say we need this, I don't think you can put your finger on on one thing.

00:24:15
Speaker 2: And I really like our group that we have. How do you do that?

00:24:20
Speaker 5: Are you or your hitting coach or someone calling these guys all winter? Are you flying around the country to see guys? How do you have them call video? How do you how do you work with guys even though because you.

00:24:31
Speaker 2: Live in Seattle? Right? Yeah?

00:24:32
Speaker 5: So how do you how do you work with these guys?

00:24:36
Speaker 2: A lot of it is conversations.

00:24:37
Speaker 8: A lot of it is just talking, and it's helping guys understand Hey, what were your reflections?

00:24:41
Speaker 2: We're you know, our coaching staff.

00:24:42
Speaker 8: There's no off season now there isn't, right, I mean players don't stop training, we don't stop coaching at Yeah.

00:24:50
Speaker 7: No.

00:24:50
Speaker 2: I used to take a few weeks off.

00:24:52
Speaker 8: You know, I didn't touch a bat for three months because I didn't want to think about hitting.

00:24:55
Speaker 2: Right. So, but it's changed, the game has changed.

00:24:58
Speaker 8: I think there's some good and bad with that, right, But our hitting coaches are diving in with these guys. They're sharing video our hitting coaches will fly around to work with guys from time time, but it's also their career and their time, so we try to leave them alone as much as possible, but also we want to support them throughout the year, and I feel like we do a pretty good job of that.

00:25:16
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you about Sorry and this never happens, but the name is escaping me postseason rookie the latter. Yeah, right, I just wanted I didn't want to Butcher that it's been a long.

00:25:26
Speaker 2: Day his first game.

00:25:28
Speaker 3: That's what I wanted to aspects we haven't told.

00:25:30
Speaker 2: I don't remember he.

00:25:32
Speaker 3: Doesn't either, But Chase thrown into the mix like that.

00:25:36
Speaker 1: So what was that experience like for you as a manager to try and get this dude into playoff mode when he doesn't even know what big league mode is, and then what's he going to be like in the future.

00:25:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, the sky's the limit for Chase.

00:25:48
Speaker 8: Obviously with him, it's health, right, He's he's had a hard time staying on the field, regardless of the level. But when we've seen this guy healthy, he absolutely rakes. He plays a good outfield and that's why we felt thrown him in there. He had been working, he'd played in a few games in Arizona, and I mean why not. We were searching for offense, and he had great plate appearances throughout the course of the postseason. And you know, first fly ball, your first opportunity in the big leagues, and he gets a sunball the one spot that the ball could not get hit, It got hit there, and to his credit, he didn't let that shake him. He came right up his next to bat, worked in two to four to two walk through, made the play of the game that won the game for us, throwing the runner out, the lead runner making a perfect throw. I mean, he's a he's a solid player. He walked in confident, he was not big eyed, and I knew he was ready. And we felt like as a group that that was the right decision. Who's the guy you think on your team side to him? Obviously you think he can take the.

00:26:43
Speaker 5: Next ship, But who's the guy, whether that guy that's either in the minor league or a guy that was on your team that can take the next jump and help you guys the most bow Naylor Naylor.

00:26:52
Speaker 8: He made some really good adjustments with his lower half this last year and now this offseason clean up the path a little bit more to get some more consistency. But Bonnaylor is one of the best athletes in the big leagues. I mean, he can catch, he can throw, he can block, calls a great game.

00:27:05
Speaker 2: He's the leader of.

00:27:06
Speaker 8: That pitching staff along with Loston Hedges and David Frye, and but the offense is coming for Bonnaylor, and I think he's going to be a huge piece of our team next year.

00:27:13
Speaker 3: Hey, you mentioned it.

00:27:14
Speaker 1: It's no secret this team can't go big in free agent spending and all of that.

00:27:19
Speaker 3: They dropped what it was it four million bucks on Austin Hedges.

00:27:23
Speaker 1: He thank you, proud, like you're in the that was you.

00:27:27
Speaker 8: Whatever hedge he's making, it's not enough. I mean you can look at his offensive numbers. You can pick apart any player and say, oh, they're not. Austin Hedges is the leader of that clubhouse. He makes our pitchers better, he makes the position players better, he makes everyone around him better. And he's a really good catcher and a really good hitter. And the numbers may not always back it up, but he had a seven to fifty ops the last six weeks of the season.

00:27:49
Speaker 2: Like he can hit.

00:27:51
Speaker 8: He's a leader, he's elite, and the value that he brings our clubhouse and our team is invaluable.

00:27:56
Speaker 3: Does he want to be a manager one day?

00:27:57
Speaker 2: He's open to it. Okay, you know the couple of years.

00:28:00
Speaker 8: Calm down. Yeah, yeah, he's gonna have to reel it in a little bit.

00:28:04
Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean you've done that. Yeah right, Yeah, we're measured.

00:28:07
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:28:08
Speaker 8: When and when there's no cameras on, we have a good time, you know, so exactly, head, you can.

00:28:12
Speaker 2: Do whatever he wants in this game.

00:28:13
Speaker 8: He's an elite leader, he's a smart baseball person, and I think he's gonna do whatever he wants.

00:28:18
Speaker 5: Okay, who from your bullpen? How do you guys keep finding these guys? It's just like, oh, we'll throw him in the bullpen one hundred with a split and a big curveball. Who's who's the next guy for the bullpen for the Cleveland Guardians.

00:28:31
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean it's a testament to our scouting, player development or pitching group of just identifying these guys as amateurs and then bringing them in and developing them and bringing them up and getting them prepared to do it.

00:28:42
Speaker 2: And we have a really exciting guy.

00:28:44
Speaker 8: Franko Alamann six eight six', nine you, know ninety six ninety, seven good.

00:28:50
Speaker 2: Slider, uh he's.

00:28:52
Speaker 8: Coming he's had some health, issues but, uh we've got a number of pitchers we're really excited. About but that's an area we need to we need to, address is our bullpen and where we're working on.

00:29:00
Speaker 1: That i'm gonna give you one tough one just while we're on. It i'm not gonna ask you anything to do with obviously like class a ortise all, that but just from a managing, perspective you all of a sudden just got two players plucked, away, RIGHT i mean you deal with that with.

00:29:12
Speaker 3: Injuries but what was that like to deal with as a manager this?

00:29:15
Speaker 2: Year it was.

00:29:16
Speaker 8: Difficult there's no there's no playbook for that, one, right that one's not in like a handbook or you, know there's no bingo card with that one on. It so it was A and obviously the investigation is still going, on so it's it's a it's a tough situation for, us AND i couldn't be more proud of the way our guys handled. It you, know we talked about, it we made ourselves available to, you, know.

00:29:35
Speaker 2: Talk it, out whatever you need to.

00:29:36
Speaker 8: Do but we have a game tonight and we have a choice to make and we can either feel sorry for ourselves or we can go out and we can.

00:29:42
Speaker 2: Win and to.

00:29:43
Speaker 8: Credit to our, guys they they rallied with each other and it feels it felt like we didn't skip a.

00:29:48
Speaker 2: Beat and that's a testament to our.

00:29:50
Speaker 3: Players that's exactly WHAT i was thinking that the.

00:29:51
Speaker 5: BULLPEN i, mean, yeah how good Can Gavin Williams because the second half of the year he was one of the best pitchers in? Baseball big twelve to six are throwing the high heater with big.

00:30:05
Speaker 2: Rig, right, yeah a big. Rig how good can he be because he figured something? Out he can be.

00:30:09
Speaker 8: ELITE i, mean the dude made three delivery, adjustments added a pitch in. Season those are things you just not many people can. Do and the stuff is. Real he is an absolute. Bulldog he doesn't show, it but this dude's got passion And gavin can.

00:30:28
Speaker 2: Be as good as he wants to.

00:30:29
Speaker 8: Be And Carl willis and the pitching team do a tremendous job with all of our. Starters our starting pitching was really the story of our. YEAR i mean all of these guys stepped up in a huge. Way we saw huge strides from From gavin And Joey, Cantillo Slade, Seconi Logan allen was as steady as you can be for you so really And Tanner bibe had a great second. Half so we're really excited about our starting.

00:30:51
Speaker 3: Pitching there's a big difference from this past season to the season. BEFORE i felt.

00:30:55
Speaker 1: Like there was a lot more solidified right with the starting, rotation because even when we're trying to, look, hey who's going to pitch playoff? Games and if they keep going, further probably had a little more comfort in what was there.

00:31:07
Speaker 2: No, DOUBT i mean that was our biggest, growth right was our starting.

00:31:10
Speaker 8: Pitching and these guys stepped up when when we did Lose CLASS, a the starters picked up the sixth.

00:31:15
Speaker 2: Inning the starters Took Kate smith's sixth.

00:31:17
Speaker 8: Inning so That kate could be in the ninth and all the credit goes to our starting pitching for what we.

00:31:21
Speaker 2: Accomplished, hey last, one But.

00:31:26
Speaker 5: Kate smith took over the ninth, inning, Right Hunter gaddis took over the eighth. Inning you move out a lot of these guys, back did you think at the, end they got a little bit tired because.

00:31:36
Speaker 2: You use them a lot and you relied on.

00:31:40
Speaker 5: Them, basically this is the second year in a row where you really relied on these guys are. Studs did you think a little bit they had to HAVE i, know you try to stay away from but and, yes you're starting pitching was.

00:31:49
Speaker 2: Better but still you're, like we're In we're trying to win every.

00:31:52
Speaker 8: Game it's, hard, RIGHT i, mean we play a ton of one run, games one and two run games a, week and these guys stepped up and they were damn near per ficked again for two years in a. Row and there's always a little bit an element of. Fatigue AND i think each one of these guys is learning more and more about their, bodies learning more and more aout. Themselves and you, know we throttled back their workload a little bit this year that compared to the year before when they all through seventy eight eighty games the year.

00:32:15
Speaker 2: Before so it's definitely something we're aware. Of we talk with.

00:32:19
Speaker 8: Them they're they're having great offseasons right now to prepare their bodies to do it. Again and you, know anytime you can give those guys a night. Off it's a good, thing but, uh we don't get too many of those. OPPORTUNITIES i love that.

00:32:28
Speaker 5: LOVE i just like When cleveland's good at, baseballs someone that played in that division for a long.

00:32:32
Speaker 2: Time Like i'm, like one of my first big league road.

00:32:35
Speaker 5: Trips was jacob when it Was Jacobs field and they were and it was Just and when you go back there and like you turn on the playoffs and there's forty thirty five, Thousand like to, me that Is, yeah they get behind.

00:32:45
Speaker 2: You it's an unbelievable sports. Town and we our fans are.

00:32:49
Speaker 8: Incredible they support us all year whether we were doing well or, not and we CAN'T i can't be more thankful for.

00:32:55
Speaker 1: Them we were the warm. Up he's got to do, press, confidence all that. Stuff see changed much that.

00:33:00
Speaker 2: The full jacket on the. Style we'll see about the award.

00:33:04
Speaker 3: Show h

00:33:10
Speaker 8: M hm