Yanks slump, J.D. Martinez calls out 2016 Astros, Weekend Matchups

00:00:02
Speaker 1: It's Friday, people, it is Friday, aft Fraisier Friday and krats dancing and umpires getting better. When we talked to Ken Rosenthal will go through his in depth story that covers umpires that are happy and some umpires that are not happy about the way the ABS Challenge system has played out. I'm going to give you a very happy example to start the show. This occurred last night, and I'm going to have our two lucky panelists guess if this was called a ball or a strike? Yes, Kratz and Todd check this pitch out and tell me if that was a ball or a strike in San Diego.

00:00:46
Speaker 2: That was a miss call right there.

00:00:48
Speaker 1: That was a strike down the pipe.

00:00:51
Speaker 3: I think the check swing sometimes it gets a mumpire sometimes, but that ball should never ever be messed.

00:00:59
Speaker 1: That was right down the punt, and that, folks, is why the ABS Challenge system has been implemented. Kratz, is it perfect? No? Is there a two D verse three D situation? Is there a median variance where things can be off and there's calls overturned by fractions of an inch?

00:01:19
Speaker 4: Doesn't change? Why is it bad that something is a yes or no? Look, it's a yes or no, it's there or it's not there. And this is the one that before you set up in and they go, you know, they miss it out over the place. Oh yo, you were set up in. I didn't get a good look at that. And I'm like, I just made the last six of them look tremendous and you didn't seem to get a good look at them either. So this is what it's for, abs challenge system. But before we get into it, do I get to have one challenge? That's something that came up in the show yesterday that we didn't even get to discuss more of.

00:01:53
Speaker 5: Can I get one challenge.

00:01:55
Speaker 2: That you can challenge?

00:01:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can get one. You get one and then we'll give you this. You'll keep it if we like it, If not, we take it away, right.

00:02:02
Speaker 2: We'll review it.

00:02:03
Speaker 5: So here's my challenge.

00:02:05
Speaker 4: Early in the show, Todd said something that was very concerning to me about the New Jersey education system. You went to a ten Am high school baseball game during a school day.

00:02:16
Speaker 3: Explain more so, very good question. But our easter break is this week. Easter breaks are different for each county, each town, or spring break or you know, spring break. I still call it easter break. So our spring break is this Monday through Friday, while others were last week. I've heard on the news too, they're trying to make it one official week so everybody in New Jersey can have it. I think it's all weird. Just make make it one week in New Jersey the same. Everybody has it differently. So you live on this side of the track, it's this week. If you live on the other, it's last week was spring break, so.

00:02:52
Speaker 4: You had to play a team that also had spring break at.

00:02:56
Speaker 5: The same time.

00:02:57
Speaker 2: I all they could have made it twelve o'clock.

00:03:00
Speaker 4: Yeah that there should be no game at ten o'clock.

00:03:04
Speaker 5: Education system does not.

00:03:06
Speaker 4: Let's make sure it's student athletes in New Jersey and not athletes students.

00:03:10
Speaker 2: That's that's my only Your challenge is negative.

00:03:14
Speaker 6: You're over one right now, so yeah, exactly, good try you lost the challenge.

00:03:19
Speaker 2: Spring break is now, it's a valid excuse. Just the last day of spring. Well, Sunday is the last day.

00:03:24
Speaker 5: Of spring, not a ten am game. There's no excuse for a ten am game.

00:03:28
Speaker 4: And I'm talking to you, Diamondation, okay, nothing or eleven please?

00:03:32
Speaker 5: Yeah?

00:03:34
Speaker 3: Oh listen, they have those eight am or big big oh those those hit, those hit hard. We have these eight am games sometimes even in all tournaments, we have them, and it's just depending on where you live.

00:03:48
Speaker 2: It's tough. It's tough.

00:03:50
Speaker 1: Eight am is the start of the game start.

00:03:53
Speaker 3: I have an eight am game tomorrow. Actually, I'm driving down to Belmore, New Jersey hour and a half away. I'm staying overnight tonight and I have an eight am game tomorrow, Room eight U tournament eight am.

00:04:11
Speaker 5: It's not I had another challenge.

00:04:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's not cool. We don't like that.

00:04:16
Speaker 1: Whoever's doing that, stop it. All of them are yeah, all of them are trying to get Yeah, the games and the kashish and then pay the ni L for all those high school stars. I dting about the last part, but only a little bit. Okay, let's charge charge amount is presented by Game Changer. More on how Game Changer can change everything for you and watching your kids play a little ball. There you go. Oh that's a future I'm gonna ask you about. First, I'm gonna ask you about some weekend matchups that people should think about. Let's start with the Yankees in the race. Since you know the Yanks pretty well. A series didn't work out too well for them. Some decent pitching the last couple of days for the Yanks, but yeah, the A's really shut them down. As not known for their pitching, Jeffrey Springs was able to shine. Is there a potential problem with the Yankees offense? Names like Caballero, McMahon, Bellinger hasn't done much yet. It's probably easier to go to reverse. Wow, Ben Rice is looking good.

00:05:25
Speaker 2: Ben Rice is looking good. Judge, Judge is still doing his thing.

00:05:29
Speaker 6: Power wise, It like two, he usually is like a three. It's early, Yeah, it's early. Yeah, I think there's you know, I'm not a panic button. But at the same time, maybe a little worrisome. You know, you're playing against a team where you should win the series every single time, and twice on Tuesday, like one hit and it barely got through the whole.

00:05:49
Speaker 3: If they shifted just a little bit more over, it could have been an easy ground ball out. They're not getting it done in situational hitting, and then when they go up, they're not stepping on the guy his throat to you know, lack for better words, to win these games. You know, Jazz got to get going a little bit. The pitching has been fine. I mean Weather's had an outstanding yesterday, he got it outstanding outing. I think he went seven plus, only gave up one run, you know, stant and he started off good. He's you know, he's slowly but surely. He's one of the guys that have been doing well. It's just the bottom of the lineup has been a big struggle right now. Austin Wells, McMahon, Ca Baerra and In Rosario with the two big home runs, so they decided to put him back in. They moved Trent Grisham down to the eight hole. So it's a plethora of a guys that they got to really figure out and get going. I said it before the season, like with all the injuries they had, I said, listen, if they're you know, within the next two months the start of the year, if they're five hundred a little bit over, I think I would take that, known what the injuries they have. But now, you know, the hitting's got to start coming through, and that's the biggest concern and I have right now people are like, oh wait, it's earlier in the year. Well, guess what, these these games count Yeah, they got to they got to figure out and they got to go down to tamp And and do what they do.

00:07:08
Speaker 1: BYT Todd, father knows you're looking for a good deal. If you're going to a game this weekend and you haven't used the SEK code territory ten at this point, man, you just don't like say you don't want to. I've actually been auto when I'm going to hitting the game, and I actually will. I mean, we had the NBA MLB debate the other day, but I'll look. Sometimes they hit an Orlando Magic game down in the home in Orlando, right and I'm auto Sea geek. So it in the code and whatever the ticket price is, I just took ten percent off of the ticket price. Also, they help us with the green and the red dots to figure out where the good seats are. Over thirty five million downloads for the app.

00:07:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think, honestly, it's something where they make it very simple for you.

00:07:56
Speaker 2: They understand you know what you're looking for.

00:07:58
Speaker 3: It's very you know, affordable wherever you want to go and watch the game too as well. So for that, get up on there, get the discount and go enjoy a game wherever. You feel and wherever you are, the money that you have that you can afford, and they do a great.

00:08:13
Speaker 2: Job they do.

00:08:14
Speaker 1: So the code for you Territory one zero, ten percent off your next set of tickets at seat Geeks. So check out what the weekends late looks like. I think we went over this the other day. If you're looking for premier pitching matchups, Sunday is the data circle on the calendar. There were a number of either number one starters or some big names that you want to watch, big stuff pitchers that are out there. Click the link in the description to download the app and then you have the code that we're talking about automatically added to your account so that you can use it now or you can use it later. You can't use it forever, though, so make sure you check it out. Territory one zero. Yeah, and you know the Rays always play them tough, Kratz. I saw some excuses getting thrown out there. Not from the team unless I miss something postgame, but oh it's cold in New York. Derek Lewandowski, our Pinstripe Territory host, brought up a nice point, Yeah it's cold in New York. When we got towards the end of the season into October as well. So the Diamondbacks played in New York last night. They scored seven runs. They weren't cold.

00:09:17
Speaker 5: Look like you.

00:09:18
Speaker 4: Can glean whatever you want from the beginning of the season. But I said it yesterday and I'll keep saying it. This offense is gonna do fine. They're going to create runs. Are they going to hit three hundred as a team.

00:09:31
Speaker 5: No? Is there team batting average going to be where fans want it to be. No? Are they going to strike out too much?

00:09:37
Speaker 2: Yes?

00:09:37
Speaker 4: Are they going to go through slumps? Yes, this is just a little blip in the radar. This is a good lineup. I don't think Trent Grisham is going to have a year he had last year. That's just me picking one guy out of the lineup. I think he's going to be able to hit homers. I think if they keep him at eight, I think there's a lot of value with him hitting in front of judge. So they moved him down there. He needs to get a few hits and then they can rightfully so move him up or a right left combination, whoever's on the mound.

00:10:09
Speaker 5: Blah blah blah.

00:10:10
Speaker 4: All that to say, this is great for the Yankees because they're going to hit. Their pitching is holding not just holding their own. They're pitching starting rotation is dominating. The bullpen not so much, but their starting rotation is dominating when they're losing two of their top three guys.

00:10:30
Speaker 5: In the rotation.

00:10:31
Speaker 4: And I know Cam Schlitler would say I should be one of the top three guys. But with those two guys out, Rodin and Cole out, you just hope you're staying around.

00:10:40
Speaker 5: Like Todd said, so.

00:10:42
Speaker 4: To me, I think this is a good situation because that means the pitching is going to come a little bit back down to earth and the hitting is going to start carrying more of the load. But now you're getting in, like a lot of the American League East teams, you're starting to get into inner division play here, and this is when it comes a grind. This is when it becomes you got to put better at bats together, make adjustments that I think sometimes you don't see the Yankees do necessarily. And I love the fact that everybody's freaking out about how guys batting averages are where they are through forty at bats. I can go through like four or five times in my career where I had forty at bats and they were like, you're not hitting good enough. I know it's a small sample size, but see so I love anytime that you guys can say, wow, Eric, it's okay, you could have gotten more.

00:11:33
Speaker 5: Of a chance.

00:11:36
Speaker 1: Fine, then I'll do it. On the other end. Chandler Simpsons hitting three ninety one.

00:11:41
Speaker 2: You know the Rays, it can flock.

00:11:43
Speaker 1: They look okay, but I think they could give the Yanks a lot of trouble this weekend done in their home park. Yondi Diaz and Jonathan Rondolph to nice starts, but yeah, Chandler Simpson's been the story. They We's got eighteen hits in twelve games, and I feel like the industry wants him to succeed too, because he's not a power guy. He's not a V louy exitvlow guy. But you're like, if he can get on base enough, this is the Billy Hamilton story from years back.

00:12:08
Speaker 2: You played with Billy Bills.

00:12:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, remember it's like, hey, Billy gets on base, this is trouble, trouble, and that's what Chandler Simpson is.

00:12:17
Speaker 3: And he'll get on base, not even squaring the ball up, and I think that's the thing. He puts it in the right spot on the infield, he's going to beat that ball out. He's going to hit a blooper and he's going to be on second base. And then if he gets on on a walk, watch out, it might be basically a triple when he's steals, So he's actually a runner. Billy Hamilton was fast, was quick, all that above. He never even did track in high school so that he had to kind of learn how to steal bases. But once he got going, he would definitely get there. But you know, this guy Simpson is incredible. He's very good. He's going to give Yankees a tough time. And unless he doesn't put the ball in play yep.

00:12:55
Speaker 1: And also one more in this series, Luis, he'll making his debut perfect for the Yanks.

00:13:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's in Tampa, right, Yeah, you know what I mean.

00:13:03
Speaker 1: Right, that's an easy one. Yeah, But pitching hasn't been the problem, especially starting pitching. Let's move on to the Astros and the Mariners. That's the big heavyweight tilt out in the American League West. What do you have for us on this one? Kratz both teams kind of reeling right now. Again, we're gonna I'm not gonna say it anymore. I'm gonna say it one more time and then I'm gonna stop. It's early, but the Astros are coming off being swept by the Rockies. The Mariners are what four nine right now to start the year. This is a chance for either of them to build up a little momentum.

00:13:35
Speaker 4: Worst record in baseball for the Mariners. Here's where I see it. Here's where I see it is two completely different stories. The Mariners are healthy and doing this. The Astros have lost some dudes that were key parts of their organization. I mean, it's parts of their starting lineup. With the fact that Christian Javier just went out, Jake Myers just went out. So they're both coming in struggling. Yes, but the Mariners get to put their lineup back out there. JP Crawford didn't start the season healthy. Now he's in the lineup, like they're able to sit out there and go, Okay, either our lineup sucks and we're gonna hit one. What does it say right there, one eighty four the whole year, or the ball's gonna start rolling here. The Astros they've been killing it and they just got killed by, in my opinion, one of the worst, the worst team in baseball in the Rockies. But you can that can happen. You can get swept by teams that like that totally happens. The issue for the Astros is they lost two key pieces to their team. Did they lose their superstars? No, Jordan Alvarez is still gonna hit whatever three point fifteen with forty and one hundred when he stays on the field. Uh, Jeremy Paanea has been dealing with stuff all year. Is Carlos Korea one hundred percent healthy? Josel Tuove started out really hot here, so you're getting the most out of two of your best hitters. But when you lose Jake Myers roam in the outfield, who's gonna fill in? Cam Smith is a younger player. It's not like they have all the depth that they need, but Jake Myers was giving them a lot out there, and it's just like, how do we okay, this is the time when we need our ace to come around, and this is the biggest injury. This is we need our guy, our number one guy to come around and give us that first victory in Seattle are in the Mariners series.

00:15:34
Speaker 5: Hunter Brown's not there, so.

00:15:36
Speaker 4: All the other injuries, hunter Brown not being there, that is a huge loss for this team. And that's why I feel like they're both struggling. But I feel like the Mariners have a chance to pull out of this more than the Astros.

00:15:50
Speaker 1: Then let me bring you into one other Als team while we're at it. We'll finish our preview with the Rangers and the Dodgers. Todd Father Rangers swept by the Reds, then they just swept the Mariners. A lot of the scores are seeing in these games pretty low. It seems to be a similar story with Texas since they won the World Series. Is there enough punch in this lineup to be a consistent threat? There's some really good arms. They added Mackenzie Gore. He looked really good in his last start, and now they have the Corey Seeger Bowl out in LA against the Dodgers.

00:16:25
Speaker 2: I do and I don't.

00:16:26
Speaker 3: I feel like they've kind of just fizzled a little bit, you know, with every little thing.

00:16:31
Speaker 2: You know.

00:16:31
Speaker 3: I know they've picked up Brandon Nemo. He's doing fantastic. We knew he was gonna be you know, a two eighty plus hitter. You know you think about you know, the gram lighter. Well, i mean, where where is this to me? Where is the offense gonna come from? And I'm not seeing it, honestly, But I do see, you know, at the end of the day, like them making a push, but ultimately it's just not there right now. It's just not there. So if I'm a Texas Ranger fan, I'm very, very worried. I'm trying to understand, you know, with the off season moves that they got and the acquisitions, like, where's this going to come from? I know they play in a big ballpark. I've played there. I was there the first time they've had it, But that should be actually helpful to hitters to hit more gaps, more doubles, more triples.

00:17:13
Speaker 2: And I'm just not I'm not seeing it right now.

00:17:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot of guys have struggled with that park. And you look at the names on paper, You're like, Okay, Nimo, like you mentioned great addition, why at Langford should keep getting better? I don't you know, he definitely hasn't progressed into a star. Nope, by any means. Corey Seeger Is Corey, Seeger. Jake Berger's off to a nice start this year. There's concern really after that, Josh Peterson, Evan Carter, etcetera. So we'll see what that looks like. Dodgers are obviously feeling themselves. They're off to a nice start. They just went up to Toronto and basically celebrated their World Series victory again with a series win. They did drop the last one, but things are pretty right now for the Dodgers, aside from no Mookie Bets, there's a lot to like for Dodger fans, and we've been talking about them a ton. We'll do a lot more previewing throughout the rest of the show, but a shout out to Game Changer, the number one youth sports app coach Smarter connect Livey played the action and Todd Father goes to GC dot com.

00:18:07
Speaker 2: You just say your lineup.

00:18:09
Speaker 3: I'm trying to I'm in between one or two guys, but it's very simple, it's very easy. I think it's the best one out there, to be honest. There's a couple others, but this one right here. It gives you perfect stats about everything, like it gets in depth. If you really wanted to. Like, you know, you got people asking, hey, how's my son doing here? And there boom, I go right on, I check the stats, I let them know and it's it's simple. The messaging part is my favorite part. I put a message out there and pe oh I didn't see it. Well, I told you, look at my game changer app. That's our biggest thing. And then they eventually do. So, Yes, very good, use it for all. I even have some of the tools and video stuff I put on the back of the fence so we can watch great videos and you can scroll back and see awesome videos that they have too. And it's a good keepsake for kids, you know, eventually get their first home run.

00:18:56
Speaker 5: Yeah, second base play Johnny at second base?

00:19:00
Speaker 3: Johnny is a first basement. Actually, good call, you were close. That's your second challenge.

00:19:06
Speaker 2: Mess there you go.

00:19:07
Speaker 1: GC dot com. Did you know that with the MLB No Sweat home run token, you do not have to worry if your bet didn't clear the fences. You can activate that token when you bet on any player to hit a homer in any MLB game. If that player fails to go yard, you get your stake back in bonus bets.

00:19:23
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's what he said.

00:19:24
Speaker 2: That's what he said.

00:19:26
Speaker 5: That's what he said.

00:19:28
Speaker 7: That's what he said.

00:19:32
Speaker 1: We're going to start with JD Martinez. So JD is done playing and now he's going to work for the Mets. And he was a guy who made a major impact in our sport beyond his individual statistics. You would hear it from many other players, and I think there is reasoning for this that goes beyond him just being a smart guy. He eventually, now out of his playing days, was able to share more about why he feels like it is so much on him to be able to share that knowledge and make people comfortable listening to him and also talking back and forth with him. So I'll let JD run point here. That's why we're doing That's what he said, and then we'll add to the story here.

00:20:14
Speaker 7: When I was at the Astros, I remember I was in a bad spot. I was, you know, an up and down guy, guy that barely played. I would reach out to the vettering guys, and at that time it was a little different. You know, the veteran guys were they weren't very nice.

00:20:30
Speaker 5: You would say that this SE's not nice.

00:20:33
Speaker 7: It was a good term. But I remember seeing that and asking questions and then kind of never answering it, and they kind of blowing me off, and you know, just making my life a nightmare. I remember saying, I was like, you know what, if God ever blesses me where I'm in that position, I'm never going to treat a young guy like that, and I'll always answer any questions and help them out any which way, because I remember how helpless that feeling was, and you know, going through that whole process. So you know, when things change for me, and you know, I kind of grew as a player and the same situation happened, I didn't I lean towards the other's side.

00:21:07
Speaker 1: One Chandler Rome tweeted from the Athletic and also, of course crush shitty territory. Against my better judgment, I will wade into this shady Martinez Astro's discourse. This is from my last job, like his last beat reporter job in the twenty twenty two ALCSA Yankee Stadium. He said, what Martinez said is nothing new. This was a quote from Lance mccullors junior. A few years ago. We didn't have the greatest culture in twenty sixteen, we got guys like Brian McCann, Carlos Beltron. They came in and they let us know we're here to win, We're here to create a family in this clubhouse. It's not about hazing guys. It's not about giving guys a hard time or making guys are in their stripes. If you're wearing this uniform, you're one of us. If you've been here one day, been here twenty years, We're going to laugh, be happy, smile, and we're going to show up every day ready to play. And I think we need to have that mindset that makes everyone equals. It doesn't matter how much money you make. And I think it's worked here.

00:21:59
Speaker 2: Kratz. What are we need to know?

00:22:01
Speaker 4: I was on the team in twenty sixteen at the beginning of the season, and I see what Lance was saying.

00:22:07
Speaker 5: There.

00:22:08
Speaker 4: There was some guys and this is about how you build a team. And I think they clearly made the change going with McCann going, you know, bringing McCann in, bringing in Carlos Beltron, guys that had histories of being the exact opposite of what JD. Martinez was talking about. He experienced with the veteran guys but you also have to go back to what JD Martinez experienced in twenty eleven. This was a brutes mcgoots team. This was Jose Altuve and Hunter Pence who ended up getting traded at the end of that year to the Phillies at the trade deadline. But then you're talking about the veteran guys that were on that team. I mean, you had Olmberto Quintero, you had a guy like Jason Michaels, you had a guy like Carlos Lee. I don't know, I'm just naming off the veterans that were on that team. And if you don't make a guy who JD Martinez was kind of a touted prospect and then had to figure some things out, revamped his swing and then became.

00:23:13
Speaker 5: The superstar that he was.

00:23:15
Speaker 4: So if you have a tauted's prospect, if you have young guys coming into your organization and you have veterans that don't make it very nice for the young guys to come in. I'm not saying you don't give them a hard time. I'm saying you don't make them feel like they're part.

00:23:32
Speaker 5: Of the team. They're not going to succeed.

00:23:35
Speaker 4: Now, people would say, well Al Tuove succeeded, or Carlos Correa succeeded, or Lance mccullors succeeded. But I saw some of the things that Lance mccullors went through. I wasn't there when JD. Martinez went through what he went through, Like they called Lance mccullor's wagu because he was in the training room getting a massage at twenty or twenty one years old. We mentioned it when he came on the show. So there's ribbing that goes on. But then it's also like, at what point do you make sure that this dude is ready to go out on the field and win every single day for your team. I think that's some things that when I first got called up in twenty ten eleven that time period, some guys were like, well, I have to make sure I treat this rookie the same way I was treated.

00:24:25
Speaker 5: And my question was always did you like how you were treated?

00:24:29
Speaker 2: Oh?

00:24:29
Speaker 4: No, I hated it. Why would you do that to somebody else? Then that seems just an asinine thing to do.

00:24:37
Speaker 5: I would get on dudes.

00:24:39
Speaker 4: I would get on dudes for the betterment of their career, and maybe some of the guys didn't see it that way, but I would get on guys so that in the moment when you have a big spot in a game late in a season, when you're trying to make a playoff push, you've already been through the fire of people getting on you for this and that, and like, now you're on the team and you are part of it. But if it's ever affecting the way somebody plays, you've totally crossed the line.

00:25:06
Speaker 5: Like three steps ago.

00:25:08
Speaker 1: Krats, I want to spin it forward. You explained the twenty sixteen astros and why it fueled JD. Martinez to not just become who he was, it actually fueled him to become the teammate that he was and now the team official or whatever you want to call his job with the Mets, and why it's so important to him. He wants people to be mentors, he wants people to listen, and the game has changed a lot. I feel like you hear these stories less these stories were the norm fifteen.

00:25:41
Speaker 2: Plus years ago.

00:25:43
Speaker 1: I'll let you describe all of this and then kick it to Todd father to see if anybody was given him the heisman when he tried to get advice.

00:25:52
Speaker 5: I mean, so.

00:25:54
Speaker 4: It's not exact specific to JD. Martinez. My story was my buddy was drafted fourth overall. I think made it up to the big leagues pretty quick, like big time prospect coming out of high school, coming out of college, and then he makes it to the big leagues. And he told me in his rookie year and he didn't have a very good big league career. Injuries, yes, but he said he despised going to the ballpark. He couldn't wait until the game started because he would get to the ballpark and veteran relievers. I'll never forget the guy's names were all over him. And this guy was not a guy who Alec was just talking about. He's alluding to, like some guy say some things and.

00:26:38
Speaker 5: You're like, bro, are you serious?

00:26:40
Speaker 2: Come on?

00:26:41
Speaker 5: But this was not the case with my buddy.

00:26:44
Speaker 4: And I won't say his name because you could pick out the veterans who made his life a living hell. And he was like, the three hours that the game took were great because we were on the field, but he said around that it was just wearing them out and essentially warm out. And he wasn't making excuses for how he did in the big leagues. He was just saying it was something that was completely unnecessary and there's different ways to handle it. And I think certain guys back in the day felt like that was the way you had to handle it because that was how they were treated. And like I said before, if you're treated poorly and you don't like it, why on earth would you do it to somebody else? Like that is so sophomoric, it's so it's so just immature in any walk of life, not just baseball.

00:27:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I mean along those lines, I came up with a really good organization with the Reds there. You know, my mentor right away was Johnny Goms and he could he could have made my life a living hell too, but he didn't.

00:27:48
Speaker 2: He was fantastic.

00:27:50
Speaker 3: I had some interistans during some things, but you know, I was I was around it even at a younger age. You know, when you were a freshman. I was a freshman playing you know, varsity baseball. You had some guys go get the water, go do this. That's just part of the whole, you know, growing up and that kind of stuff. But there was never anything where I felt like, you know, man, I don't this guy was a jerk. You know, it was part of the whole situation. It was part of how Kratzy and I were brought up. I mean, look at you, Kratzy, You're an absolute moose, Like, who's gonna mess with you?

00:28:23
Speaker 2: So that kind of stuff.

00:28:25
Speaker 3: I'm sure you had some sort of stuff going on, but you know, it depends on who the person was, if you had a personality this or that. But for me, Scott Rowland was awesome. You know, Brandon, Philip Vado, all those guys, you know, Skip Schumacher's they were fantastic. And I wanted to pass that along to everybody else too as well, and make sure when they came up, take them out to dinner, get them a suit, whatever it was, make sure they were part of the team and felt comfortable.

00:28:51
Speaker 2: Because I wanted to win.

00:28:52
Speaker 3: I wanted the guys to be as much comfortable as possible, knowing that they had nothing else to worry about but the game itself. So yeah, stinks to hear something like that, but that's how it was for a lot of teams coming up. You're the young buck, carry the bag, give me a drink, do all this kind of stuff. So yeah, well, now it's a different ballgame. Not that many veteran players, so it's a totally different game.

00:29:16
Speaker 4: But Todd, there's you can explain the difference between bro Todd. Make sure I always have coffee when I get here to the park, Like you better beat me to the park. There's times when guys, when guys now, they call their agent and they'll be like he told me, I had to get to the park before them, Like I like to watch my shows at one point thirty. And that's something that like I never for me, I never felt comfortable sitting on the couches in the big leagues. I know that sounds stupid. I know that sounds ridiculous. I would sit when we had team meetings. I would sit on the arm rest of the couch because there was always somebody that was a better player than me. There was always somebody that had more service time than me. But that was like something that I learned early. And so when I would see rookies that there was guys that would come up to big lead to the big league camp game and sitting in a minor league spring or sitting in the big league spring training clubhouse, and they got.

00:30:17
Speaker 5: Their like feed up. They got there.

00:30:19
Speaker 4: You know they're leaning back on the couch. I would go into the lunch room and I would make them a peanut butter and jelly, all three of the guys, and I'd be like, here, guys, is there anything else that you guys need?

00:30:28
Speaker 5: They'd be like what?

00:30:29
Speaker 2: Like what?

00:30:30
Speaker 4: And so if nobody tells them, then you're never understanding that to be in the big leagues is a privilege to be have an opportunity to put a big lead uniform on, whether it's in big league camp or it's in Game seven of the World Series. You got to respect people that have done it before, and you got to be like, Wow, I'm part of a team that's something bigger than me, and I think those little things help grow that and help grow the team camaraderie through all things.

00:31:00
Speaker 2: YEP.

00:31:01
Speaker 3: I tell everybody before I came out, I wish there was like a book, a manual in a show, like hey, how to dress, how to tip?

00:31:07
Speaker 2: Uh? What to do in these situations? There is? I think, what's that the Cardinal way?

00:31:12
Speaker 5: But no guys always talk about.

00:31:13
Speaker 2: It, you know what I mean?

00:31:16
Speaker 3: Simple things of how to act and be professional and what to do and.

00:31:22
Speaker 2: All these types of things.

00:31:23
Speaker 3: What to do in a hotel, how to act, where to eat, if somebody's doing this, you need to be here, uh tipping, you know the lady that cleans your room in the hotel, stuff like that, And I'm sure, yeah, go ahead.

00:31:36
Speaker 4: No, no, that's that's what But that's what veterans do. So it's like, if there's a book, then teams would be like, we don't need veterans, just like you and I both think you need veterans in the clubhouse. Like another story, Brett Gardner and I would Now Brett Gardner's you know, a fringe Hall of Fame player, All Star silver, all that stuff, and I'm just a you know, barely in the big leagues kind of guy. But we would get on the rookies in big league camp in spring training to the point where he would do some pranks that people were like, oh, how could he treat me like that? How could he put mustard in my smoothie that the strength coach made me? And it wasn't about ruining your smoothie. It was about the fact that you have zero to one year of service in the big leagues and you're going to somebody else to make have them make your smoothie.

00:32:30
Speaker 5: Like, go earn it, go earn it.

00:32:32
Speaker 4: Not that you have to be in the big leagues to get a smoothie, just the fact that you need to let you need to make sure you're doing these things on your own and taking ownership of your career and not being like, oh, great, I'm in the big leagues.

00:32:46
Speaker 5: Here, everybody massaged me. Here, somebody put my uniform on.

00:32:50
Speaker 4: No, it's like it's I don't want to say it's hardening players, but it's definitely something that it's fun because then it's like, oh crap, yeah, maybe I shouldn't have just put my feet up on somebody else's locker room chair or asked for a smoothie and then like not said thank you. Like it's all that stuff that's fun part of being in a clubhouse.