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Speaker 1: Fish Bites is back again. This is Eli Sussman, managing

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Speaker 1: editor of Fish Stripes, guiding you through the beginning of

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Speaker 1: the Miami Marlins off season. We're going through a bit

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Speaker 1: of a transition here on the pod. Danny Martinez is

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Speaker 1: away for an extended period. No doubt, he's been the

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Speaker 1: leading voice of this fish Stripes podcast network in twenty nineteen.

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Speaker 1: I hope to get him back on the airwaves and

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Speaker 1: the website at some point in the future, but in

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Speaker 1: the meantime, we need a plan accordingly, so you will

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Speaker 1: hear a lot of myself and some of the other

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Speaker 1: staff members handling the hosting duties. Danny stepped up and

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Speaker 1: he made Fish Bites a truly weekly programmed for the

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Speaker 1: first time ever, one that consistently waged on topics that

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Speaker 1: fans were passionate about. He was so proud of his coverage.

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Speaker 1: That's why we're going to find a way to continue

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Speaker 1: doing it in the same spirit that he did, so

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Speaker 1: that you guys still enjoy the pod and recommend others

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Speaker 1: to subscribe on whatever podcast platform they prefer, as well

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Speaker 1: as on fishtrips dot Com. You can find every episode

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Speaker 1: up there. Coming up on this episode, an exclusive interview

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Speaker 1: with Adam Jones, chief revenue officer of the Marlins. Jones

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Speaker 1: was hired as soon as new ownership came in two

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Speaker 1: years ago, and since then he's been extremely influential in

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Speaker 1: the process of rebranding the franchise's image and restoring relationships

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Speaker 1: with fans and local business partners. The changes you've already

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Speaker 1: noticed from the ballpark to the uniforms, to the ticket

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Speaker 1: and concession pricing, and those that will be coming to

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Speaker 1: the ballpark in the near future, that's Adam Jones, so

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Speaker 1: please stay tuned for that. Here what differentiates him from

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Speaker 1: many other Adam Joneses in the baseball world and otherwise,

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Speaker 1: he really is a unique talent and leading minds in

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Speaker 1: terms of innovating sports franchises, and we're pretty fortunate to

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Speaker 1: have him. But before all that, there's still work to

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Speaker 1: be done. Reflecting on the twenty nineteen Marline season and

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Speaker 1: what we've learned from following this team, I've picked out

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Speaker 1: a dozen stats, half of them positive and half negative,

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Speaker 1: a mix of team and individual stats from the past

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Speaker 1: season that are especially insightful. Some of these you've already

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Speaker 1: seen mentioned maybe on Twitter at fish Stripes or my

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Speaker 1: personal account incorporated into articles that were on the website

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Speaker 1: at some point, but for the most part, these ought

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Speaker 1: to be unique and new to you. Next level analysis

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Speaker 1: that will encapsulate what we've learned from following the team

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Speaker 1: this season. One that they came in with low expectations

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Speaker 1: of finishing the last place, and true to that expectation,

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Speaker 1: they did finish in the last place. A lot of

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Speaker 1: lows along the way and not all that many highs

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Speaker 1: to keep us really entertained. So if you were following

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Speaker 1: that regular season all the way through, this is something

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Speaker 1: that will reinforce what you may have noticed, and even

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Speaker 1: more importantly, if you had checked out at some point

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Speaker 1: for understandable reasons for different entertainment and you didn't necessarily

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Speaker 1: see everything that went into this season, I think this

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Speaker 1: will be very helpful and pointing out the key takeaways

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Speaker 1: that actually matter in twenty twenty and then moving forward

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Speaker 1: beyond that. I'm eternally grateful to Fangrafts, Baseball Savants, and

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Speaker 1: Baseball Reference for the research assistance both in this case

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Speaker 1: and for a lot of the other stuff we do

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Speaker 1: with fish stripes. All those tools highly recommended, and they

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Speaker 1: helped me identify these twelve takeaways from the twenty nineteen

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Speaker 1: Miami Marlins season. Sandy al contra game score of fifty

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Speaker 1: or better and ten of his final eleven starts of

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Speaker 1: the season. That's where we're going to start with Sandy

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Speaker 1: the alstar representative of the Marlins this year. I wasn't

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Speaker 1: shy of pointing out that Sandy was somewhat of a

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Speaker 1: depressing representative for the team because he honestly did not

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Speaker 1: pitch all that well in the first half. He had

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Speaker 1: those couple high moments won in his first start of

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Speaker 1: the year and then unforgettably against the Mets, a complete

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Speaker 1: game shoutout and one that took only about two hours

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Speaker 1: to complete. But aside from that, he was very inconsistent

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Speaker 1: in the first half, especially on the road, and it

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Speaker 1: raised some concerns about what exactly he would become here

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Speaker 1: in his rookie season. And he put all those concerns

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Speaker 1: to bed during the second half of the season, which

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Speaker 1: was really by far superior half of the year. Now,

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Speaker 1: there were some luck involved with this one. Batting average

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Speaker 1: on balls in play during these final two months of

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Speaker 1: the year. On August and September, opponents hit barely two

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Speaker 1: hundred against him when they actually made contact and put

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Speaker 1: it in play. That's abnormally low, even for a guy

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Speaker 1: that manages contact the way he does. That being said,

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Speaker 1: the results are just terrific in those eleven starts, combining

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Speaker 1: for two seven to eight ERA down the stretch. And

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Speaker 1: for those not familiar with game score, what it does

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Speaker 1: is items to assign a single number to evaluate the

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Speaker 1: performance and the results that a pitcher had in a

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Speaker 1: given outing, and fifty is right about average. The maximum

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Speaker 1: score is actually over one hundred, and it is possible

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Speaker 1: to get below zero if things really blow up on

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Speaker 1: you early in the game. But it combines the length

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Speaker 1: of the start, the base runners you allowed, the strikeouts,

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Speaker 1: and how deep you pitched into the game. It's traditional

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Speaker 1: more to just point out quality starts when you go

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Speaker 1: more than six innings or allow three earned runs or fewer,

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Speaker 1: but I find those to be pretty arbitrary those milestones.

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Speaker 1: Game score itself is a little bit more specific because

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Speaker 1: it accounts for the base runners and it prioritizes the

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Speaker 1: depth that you go into the game. And that's what

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Speaker 1: made Sandy so valuable this year to the Marlins, making

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Speaker 1: every scheduled start and in so many of those starts

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Speaker 1: working three times through the order, and even a couple

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Speaker 1: times was beginning the fourth time through an order, and

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Speaker 1: that's something that is such increasingly rare in Major League

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Speaker 1: Baseball today, even by ace pitchers and CYI young candidates.

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Speaker 1: The fact that he was able to do that was

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Speaker 1: so impressive. The innings that he racked up were a

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Speaker 1: franchise record for a pitcher in his rookie season, and

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Speaker 1: he's not abnormally old for a rookie. This was just

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Speaker 1: his age twenty three season, celebrating his twenty twenty fourth

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Speaker 1: birthday just a month ago. But anyway you sliced, it

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Speaker 1: was impressive bottom line results, especially down the stretch. So

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Speaker 1: the adjustments that I saw him make use his sinker

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Speaker 1: more often. That's a pitch that across baseball is becoming

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Speaker 1: less popular and for the most pitchers it's just not

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Speaker 1: very effective. This was such an encouraging stretch for Sandy

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Speaker 1: considering how polarizing he was as a prospect. Was some

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Speaker 1: evaluators convinced that he's best utilized in the bullpen and

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Speaker 1: working minimal endings, and others seeing that high ceiling that

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Speaker 1: he had based on the velocity and the movement that

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Speaker 1: he generates and other pitches aside from his sinker. That

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Speaker 1: compliment it based on this stretch that he had in

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Speaker 1: August and September that definitely swung the conversation to the

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Speaker 1: latter and seeing that future where he could have a

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Speaker 1: very significant role starting on a contending team. That's what

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Speaker 1: the Marlins are hoping on, and it couldn't happen to

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Speaker 1: a better guy. Moving on to the Marlins offense, twenty

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Speaker 1: times this year, they were held scoreless, the most enfranchised history,

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Speaker 1: and you could see it coming. I mean, they didn't

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Speaker 1: invest all that much in improving it over the offseason.

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Speaker 1: Their big free agent act was positions, and I say

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Speaker 1: that very sarcastically. Neil Walker and Curtis Granderson. You put

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Speaker 1: those guys combined, and they weren't anything close to a

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Speaker 1: league average hitter this year for the Marlins. By the

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Speaker 1: end of the year, Granderson was entirely buried on the bench,

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Speaker 1: and so they were relying on some of these young

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Speaker 1: guys to take a step forward. Brian Anderson did, Garrett

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Speaker 1: Cooper did, now that he was finally healthy, and there

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Speaker 1: weren't a whole lot of super encouraging stories Jorgel Farrow

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Speaker 1: to a lesser extent, and we're gonna talk about him later,

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Speaker 1: but twenty two times held scoreless. That made up almost

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Speaker 1: once a week throughout the entire season. The big concern

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Speaker 1: with that is that this was a consistent issue throughout

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Speaker 1: the year. Their longest streak of having games where they

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Speaker 1: actually scored consecutive games with at least one run was

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Speaker 1: fifteen straight games. They had won those streaks from mid

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Speaker 1: June to early July, and then again for the final

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Speaker 1: fifteen games of the season. Something that a lot of

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Speaker 1: the industry can agree on is that those games at

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Speaker 1: the very end of the year the least meaningful statistically.

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Speaker 1: So I'm just gonna throw that one out and say that, really,

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Speaker 1: the only encouraging stretch for this offense came right in

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Speaker 1: the middle of the year, before that All Star break.

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Speaker 1: That's when Starlind Castro started to wake up a guy

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Speaker 1: that's probably not gonna be with the team this year.

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Speaker 1: That was when Garrek Cooper had returned from one of

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Speaker 1: his several injuries and was at his absolute hottest stretch,

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Speaker 1: really barreling the ball consistently, and it just was a

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Speaker 1: really incomplete offense. The whole year. You were just guys

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Speaker 1: had their hot streaks come and go. Brian Anderson after

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Speaker 1: the All Star break, and the run support wasn't there.

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Speaker 1: Guys like we talked about already. Sandy Alcntra, for all

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Speaker 1: his big strides he took this year, he had a

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Speaker 1: six and fourteen record because he had won the worst

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Speaker 1: run support in Major League Baseball. Trevor Richards had I

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Speaker 1: think even worst run support than Sandy did before they

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Speaker 1: traded him to the Rays in the middle of the year.

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Speaker 1: One of the factors that contributed to this, aside from

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Speaker 1: just a simple lack of impact talent, was the highest

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Speaker 1: team ground ball rate in Major League Baseball. That was

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Speaker 1: something that was also twenty eighteen, but taken to a

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Speaker 1: new level this year in twenty nineteen, where even the

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Speaker 1: field good stories the breakouts. Like Harold Ramirez, he is

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Speaker 1: extremely reliant on ground balls, something that helped him beat

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Speaker 1: out a lot of infield singles, but also makes him

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Speaker 1: more vulnerable to double plays. Marlins. I believe hidt one

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Speaker 1: of the highest double play totals in the league, maybe

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Speaker 1: not the highest, because they simply didn't have a lot

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Speaker 1: of base runners on first to be doubled off, But nonetheless,

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Speaker 1: you understand the issue here. The fewest home runs in

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Speaker 1: Major League Baseball. That's a big part of it in

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Speaker 1: this era where it's a lot of all or nothing.

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Speaker 1: You can blame the ballpark for part of it, but honestly,

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Speaker 1: the lion's share of the blame just comes down to

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Speaker 1: the players and the front office for putting these players together,

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Speaker 1: some of whom simply didn't show up as expected. The

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Speaker 1: silver lining to all this is there's really nowhere to

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Speaker 1: go but up for the Marlins offense. A lot of

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Speaker 1: the players that could potentially leave via free agency did

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Speaker 1: not have strong years offensively. A guy that they would

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Speaker 1: have had a toughness, Miguel Rojas signed his contract extension

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Speaker 1: a few weeks ago, very well deserved, someone who for

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Speaker 1: the time being is in an everyday roll near the

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Speaker 1: top of the lineup based on a variety of improvements

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Speaker 1: he's made to his offensive game. That's not necessarily what

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Speaker 1: he'll be doing if this team turns the corner and

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Speaker 1: becomes very competitive for a playoff spot, but nonetheless he'll

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Speaker 1: have a role. Bottom line is they're gonna have to

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Speaker 1: wind up spending some money in free agency to add

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Speaker 1: to their current crop of offensive players, because it's really

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Speaker 1: not much that they have in place already. There's still

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Speaker 1: room to improve, whether it's in the outfield or at

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Speaker 1: first base, and they have plenty of room in their

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Speaker 1: payroll to look into that. And there will be a

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Speaker 1: number of interesting guys that should fit into their spending

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Speaker 1: comfort level this offseason. But they're gonna have to bid

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Speaker 1: against other teams and win that bidding, something that we

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Speaker 1: really haven't seen them do at all since new ownership

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Speaker 1: took over heating into year three. That's going to be

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Speaker 1: a step that they need to take is actually invest

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Speaker 1: invest in the most direct level in improving some of

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Speaker 1: these weaknesses that the team currently has and put it

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Speaker 1: all together, and this is an offense that would be

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Speaker 1: much more consistent. Let's talk base running runs. That's a

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Speaker 1: stat from Fangraphs that combine stolen bases, taking extra bases

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Speaker 1: on balls and play, how you avoid grounding into double plays,

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Speaker 1: and etc. More on that, just these different factors that

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Speaker 1: contribute to what you do as a base runner and

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Speaker 1: how that compares to the rest of the league. In particular,

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Speaker 1: we're starting with John Birdie, who in his rookie season

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Speaker 1: was worth six point four base running rounds above average.

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Speaker 1: That's essentially the same as a twenty ten version in

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Speaker 1: the twenty twelve version of Ameilio Bonifacio and twenty sixteen

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Speaker 1: d Gordon, those guys, says comparable playing time to Birdie

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Speaker 1: about half a major league season in a regular role,

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Speaker 1: and they were so valuable just with their legs alone.

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Speaker 1: For Bertie, nearly as many stolen bases as any of

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Speaker 1: his teammates this year. That's despite time spent at Triple A.

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Speaker 1: He missed some time with injury and a bleakue issue,

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Speaker 1: and yet seventeen seals. Constantly he's going from second home

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Speaker 1: on singles, from first to home on doubles. As he said,

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Speaker 1: base running runs. It factors all that into play. John Birdy,

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Speaker 1: in particular, what stuck out was his maximum running speed

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Speaker 1: is sprint speed of twenty nine point eight feet per second.

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Speaker 1: That's from Baseball Savant. That's elite. That bud. You really

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Speaker 1: in the top few percent of the entire Major League

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Speaker 1: baseball in terms of how fast he's moving at his

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Speaker 1: very best and how often it is that he reaches

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Speaker 1: that sprint speed when he's on the bases. No matter

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Speaker 1: his physical condition or exactly where he has to run.

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Speaker 1: He's the guy that is a big not a I'm

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Speaker 1: not going to say a breakout star. He's a breakout

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Speaker 1: player for the Marlins. He's a breakout contributor, a big

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Speaker 1: piece said they're gonna need in twenty twenty because he's

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Speaker 1: on the short list of their most valuable players. Definitely

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Speaker 1: during the second half of the season. That's why he

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Speaker 1: started starting on a consistent basis, either at third base

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Speaker 1: or center field, and a little bit shortstop in between

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Speaker 1: when Rojas and Brian Anderson were injured. There's good reason

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Speaker 1: to be skeptical about Bertie's bat. He did still strike

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Speaker 1: out a little bit more than the typical hitter. The

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Speaker 1: power he showed up surprisingly Some of that has to

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Speaker 1: do with the juice ball, I guess, and maybe you

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Speaker 1: could roll it over, but I'm not sure. He's a

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Speaker 1: guy that necessarily will hit double digit home runs consistently

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Speaker 1: year in year out. He is someone that will find

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Speaker 1: the gaps, and even if he doesn't find the gap again,

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Speaker 1: it's his legs that allow him to turn routine looking

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Speaker 1: hits into doubles or routine looking outs in the infield

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Speaker 1: into hits just a really big surprise for a guy

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Speaker 1: that's in his late twenties. For whatever reason, he didn't

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Speaker 1: quite get a significant opportunity at the major league level

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Speaker 1: until now, and some of that has justified if you

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Speaker 1: look back at his stats. He was a poor performer

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Speaker 1: at TRIPA for most of his career. The power was

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Speaker 1: non existent back then, and even just getting on base

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Speaker 1: was a challenge for him against lesser competition, and all

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Speaker 1: of a sudden, just something clicked for him. And it's

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Speaker 1: been a really good story and it's been very useful

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Speaker 1: for the Marlins. As we've already covered, their offense was awful,

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Speaker 1: and one of the bright spots was John Birdie, a

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Speaker 1: guy that just individually, he did a lot of interesting

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Speaker 1: things once he got on base, and you could see

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Speaker 1: how that affects subsequent batters. When the pitcher has to

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Speaker 1: worry about a guy potentially stealing not just second base,

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Speaker 1: but third base, as Bertie did on a couple of occasions,

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Speaker 1: it really gets inside your head and it changes the

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Speaker 1: way that the defense has to play, knowing that those

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Speaker 1: extra bases are coming if a hit finds grass in

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Speaker 1: front of him. He's a really interesting player, someone that

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Speaker 1: they snagged on really a no risk, minor league deal,

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Speaker 1: and now they can just retain him as a controllable

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Speaker 1: player for the next handful of years a league minimum

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Speaker 1: next year and then the year after that. Eventually he'll

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Speaker 1: come up on arbitration. We'll just take it one year

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Speaker 1: at a time, and for now he looks like one

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Speaker 1: of the ultimate utility men that Major League Baseball has

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Speaker 1: to offer, in one that the Marlins have not had

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Speaker 1: at this quality in recent memory. Nice find by the

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Speaker 1: front office a year ago and a big part of

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Speaker 1: what they're going to be doing in twenty twenty, no doubt.

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Speaker 1: Speaking of base running runs, John Verdi was one of

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Speaker 1: the lone bright spots for the Marlins in that aspect.

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Speaker 1: As a team, twenty three point nine base running runs

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Speaker 1: below average. Negative twenty three point nine base running runs

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Speaker 1: above average was their team score this year as an

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Speaker 1: entire roster. Remember Birdie was at a positive six point four.

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Speaker 1: The team as a whole negative twenty three point nine.

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Speaker 1: You take out Birdie, they would have been worse than

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Speaker 1: negative thirty either way. It's one of the worst marks

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Speaker 1: the National League has ever seen. It was the worst

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Speaker 1: mark in all of MLB in twenty nineteen the worst

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Speaker 1: for the Marlins in their franchise history again and the

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Speaker 1: status is coming from Fangrafts in their database, and it's

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Speaker 1: the third worst for a National League team over the

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Speaker 1: last one hundred seasons. I look back on it comparing

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Speaker 1: it to National League teams because of the obvious difference

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Speaker 1: DH or no DH, and how base running is a

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Speaker 1: more significant factor in the National League when you know

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Speaker 1: there's gonna be more bunting coming in play from the

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Speaker 1: pitcher spot, and the way that batters have to adjust

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Speaker 1: around the pitcher spot, and the differences in the game

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Speaker 1: made it easier to compare to other National League teams.

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Speaker 1: There have been some other bad American League teams either way,

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Speaker 1: this was ugly for the Marlins in twenty nineteen and

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Speaker 1: it was very disappointing. I'd say, about as disappointing as

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Speaker 1: any other aspect of the team is that they did

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Speaker 1: not try to make themselves better on the bases and

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Speaker 1: do what they can that way. And that's something that

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Speaker 1: I believe they spoke about definitely coming up on the

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Speaker 1: twenty nineteen season, is they acknowledged that the power hitters

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Speaker 1: weren't going to be there. They had guys that had

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Speaker 1: questionable on bass skills and that in the opportunities that

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Speaker 1: they got on base it would try to force the

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Speaker 1: issue and be aggressive, and to some extent, that aggressiveness

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Speaker 1: hurt them in this category and in a lot of

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Speaker 1: other instances had hurt him because they weren't aggressive at all.

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Speaker 1: They did not follow through on that promise. A big

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Speaker 1: issue was grinding into double plays. As much as we

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Speaker 1: like what rojast died overall as a player this year,

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Speaker 1: he grounded into too many starblind castro especially during the

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Speaker 1: first half, but even during the second half when he

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Speaker 1: caught fire, he was a guy that did it all

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Speaker 1: too much. Harold Ramirez couldn't keep the ball off the grounds.

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Speaker 1: They had so many of these different players that did

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Speaker 1: not like buy in all that much to the launch

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Speaker 1: angle revolution and that so often just bury the ball

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Speaker 1: into the grounds and didn't give the base runners an

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Speaker 1: opportunity to do much. But even when they did, the

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Speaker 1: Marlins were pretty passive in terms of sending runners. John

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Speaker 1: Birdie had the green light and very few other run did.

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Speaker 1: Rojas was a guy in particularly that had a low

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Speaker 1: stolen based success rate, and as a team they were

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Speaker 1: picked off one of the higher totals of any team

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Speaker 1: in the league, just being picked off bases, not necessarily

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Speaker 1: trying to steal the way that they utilize pictures being

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Speaker 1: at the plate. That's been an issue going back a

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Speaker 1: few years under Don Mattingly, is how these pitchers have

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Speaker 1: really struggled to hit and to get down bunts effective

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Speaker 1: sacrifice bunts, and how base runners have worked off of

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Speaker 1: that situation knowing that the bunt was coming. It's been

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Speaker 1: pretty disappointing over the past one hundred seasons. Only the

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Speaker 1: two thousand and two and two thousand and three Brewers

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Speaker 1: among National League teams rated worse than the Marlins in

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Speaker 1: this category. There's some internal improvement coming from let's say

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Speaker 1: Magnari Sierra, who's out of options next year. He'll very

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Speaker 1: likely be on the roster. He's a guy that shows

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Speaker 1: a lot of promise here, John Birdy coming back, Starling Castro,

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Speaker 1: Martine Prado going away, Mia Walker going away. It's going

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Speaker 1: to depend on who they spend that free agency money

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Speaker 1: on and which of these young major one of these

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Speaker 1: young top prospects actually sticking the majors in what they do.

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Speaker 1: Monte Harrison is a guy that profiles is a really

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Speaker 1: valuable based runner. So we'll see where that goes. It

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Speaker 1: needs to improve because in this ballpark they keep the

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Speaker 1: dimensions the way they are, then, yeah, it's gonna be

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Speaker 1: difficult to build a power hitting team here, but you

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Speaker 1: can take advantage of the dimensions in other ways. The

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Speaker 1: Marlins failed miserably to take advantage of their surroundings. Brian Anderson,

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Speaker 1: You know that has to be a positive stat, right

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Speaker 1: anyway you slice it. The most valuable player on this

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Speaker 1: Marlins team, especially defensively, eight defensive runs saved at third base,

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Speaker 1: five defensive run saved at right field. That playing time

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Speaker 1: split between those two positions, third base in red field,

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Speaker 1: and to be legit, great with the glove at those

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Speaker 1: two positions. It has no precedent in Marlin's history. There's

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Speaker 1: not been anybody quite like that used in those spots

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Speaker 1: and so successful in those two spots. If you look

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Speaker 1: across all Major League baseball history, it's really hard to

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Speaker 1: find a guy in one season who played those two

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Speaker 1: positions and played them so well. We got a taste

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Speaker 1: of that, of course, in his rookie year of twenty eighteen,

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Speaker 1: where he was maybe a little bit disappointing as a

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Speaker 1: defensive third baseman. They didn't shift in to write for

385
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Speaker 1: that reason. It was only because by necessity they were

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Speaker 1: low on outfielders and moved him to right for the

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Speaker 1: majority of his rookie year, and he really found his

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Speaker 1: footing there. The one constant across both years was the

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Speaker 1: throwing arm that was very accurate and very precise. I

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Speaker 1: think he took that to a new level this year

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Speaker 1: with some amazing highlights that we've shared with you on

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Speaker 1: Fish Stripes, and I'll probably upload one with this podcast

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Speaker 1: when it goes up as well. In the attached article

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Speaker 1: version of it, he is, Yeah, he's really been impressive.

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Speaker 1: The fact that he didn't have any experience whatsoever in

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Speaker 1: right field earlier in his pro career, even in his

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Speaker 1: amateur career, I don't think there was much of many

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Speaker 1: ripes for him at that position. So the way that

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Speaker 1: he's been able to adjust to it has been a

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Speaker 1: big boost and something that has serious long term implications

401
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Speaker 1: for the Marlins. The fact that he could play either position.

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Speaker 1: He was always thought of as a third base prospect

403
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Speaker 1: coming up, and this year he took big strides at

404
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Speaker 1: that position. His reaction time looked better, his hands were better,

405
00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:22,760
Speaker 1: his accuracy on his throws across the diamond were a

406
00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:26,720
Speaker 1: lot more consistent. The athleticism that he has is something

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00:21:26,760 --> 00:21:29,960
Speaker 1: that you don't necessarily expect he just looking at him

408
00:21:30,119 --> 00:21:34,040
Speaker 1: walking around, you may see him as a little awkward

409
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Speaker 1: or stiff, and that's just not the case at all

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Speaker 1: when he's between the lines. So he turned a lot

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Speaker 1: of really great highlight plays this year in addition to

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Speaker 1: all of the routine ones. And it's interesting to project

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Speaker 1: what exactly his role will be with his team moving forward,

414
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Speaker 1: because the pipeline for future third base prospects looks really dry.

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Speaker 1: You expect him to stick there, but the way that

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Speaker 1: he's played in right field this year as well as

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Speaker 1: last year, is it's such a big asset to this team.

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Speaker 1: And the reality in the way that baseball is trending

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Speaker 1: is that you won't see as many players necessarily fixed

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Speaker 1: to one position. The versatility over the course of the

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Speaker 1: season is what wins games, and if that is what

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Speaker 1: it takes, then Anderson looks to be up for that challenge,

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Speaker 1: and the Marlins should consider him still utilizing him in

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Speaker 1: that position even when the competition isn't there. At third base,

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Speaker 1: and even if they have a plethora of options in

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Speaker 1: the outfield, it's going to depend exactly on what the

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Speaker 1: rest of the roster is comprised of. But he's going

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Speaker 1: to be a fit no matter what. That's the fun

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Speaker 1: part about it. We've been very vocal about him in

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Speaker 1: recent months as an extension candidate. No word on how

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Speaker 1: that is progressing or whether it will regardless, he is

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Speaker 1: under team control for another four years, and it's going

433
00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:50,919
Speaker 1: to be fun four years for Marlins fans because at

434
00:22:50,920 --> 00:22:55,000
Speaker 1: the very least, he is a very good, everyday major

435
00:22:55,080 --> 00:23:00,320
Speaker 1: league player who still has the ceiling to be even better. He'd,

436
00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:03,240
Speaker 1: in my opinion, he'd be the easiest guy to project

437
00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:06,960
Speaker 1: as an All Star for the Marlins in twenty twenty.

438
00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:13,480
Speaker 1: Always inside the park, Lewis Brinston failed to hit a

439
00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:16,800
Speaker 1: home run in all two hundred and forty eight played

440
00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:20,320
Speaker 1: appearances for the Marlins. Only Billy Hamilton came to bat

441
00:23:20,359 --> 00:23:23,119
Speaker 1: more often in the Majors this season without going deep.

442
00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:25,800
Speaker 1: Now that we have the juice ball, everybody's supposed to

443
00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:29,440
Speaker 1: have these occasions where if you put a solid swing

444
00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:32,359
Speaker 1: on it, it will carry further than you expect and to

445
00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:35,080
Speaker 1: Brinston's credit may maybe give him credit for half a

446
00:23:35,119 --> 00:23:38,359
Speaker 1: home run because he hit one in Colorado. This was

447
00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:41,080
Speaker 1: shortly after being recalled from Triple A in August to

448
00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:44,760
Speaker 1: dead center field, projected at about four hundred and twenty

449
00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:47,080
Speaker 1: eight feet if memory serves me right, four hundred and

450
00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:50,280
Speaker 1: twenty eight feet, and it didn't get out because Raymel

451
00:23:50,359 --> 00:23:52,760
Speaker 1: Tapio leaped over the wall to bring it back and rob.

452
00:23:52,600 --> 00:24:00,800
Speaker 2: Him center field, deep topia, going back and stunt, think

453
00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:01,480
Speaker 2: he's too.

454
00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:10,320
Speaker 1: Dead, shut up fielder. But another was Prince It can't

455
00:24:10,359 --> 00:24:10,840
Speaker 1: believe it?

456
00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:17,439
Speaker 2: How about that chat used to be on the highlight

457
00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:18,879
Speaker 2: reels for a long time.

458
00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:22,919
Speaker 1: Wow, that was the closest that he came at any point.

459
00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:26,320
Speaker 1: Not a whole lot of warning track power to speak of.

460
00:24:27,119 --> 00:24:30,280
Speaker 1: And there's not a lot to be encouraged about with Princeton,

461
00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:34,879
Speaker 1: where at worst you expected, well, his rookie year was

462
00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:36,800
Speaker 1: what it was. There's no way he could take a

463
00:24:36,840 --> 00:24:42,320
Speaker 1: step backwards, and he did. The strikeout rate remained pretty consistent.

464
00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:46,000
Speaker 1: This issue was when he made contact, it was worse contact.

465
00:24:46,320 --> 00:24:49,199
Speaker 1: He didn't have those occasions where he ran into a

466
00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:52,040
Speaker 1: ball and hit it ten rows deep down the left

467
00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:54,879
Speaker 1: field line, didn't have that pull power, didn't have that

468
00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:57,560
Speaker 1: opposite field power either. He came back from TRIPAA with

469
00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:01,199
Speaker 1: willingness to use more of right field, but not with

470
00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:03,960
Speaker 1: any authority that he was hitting the ball overall in

471
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:06,920
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, his average exit velocity, it was down three

472
00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:10,280
Speaker 1: miles per hour from twenty eighteen. Across all his major

473
00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:13,919
Speaker 1: league time, he barreled the baseball. That's, as defined by

474
00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:17,240
Speaker 1: Baseball Reference, six total times that he got it on

475
00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:18,800
Speaker 1: the barrel of the bat and put it in play.

476
00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:23,119
Speaker 1: Christian Yelich, who he'll always be linked to no matter what.

477
00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:26,680
Speaker 1: If you look at his twenty nineteen season a good

478
00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:29,480
Speaker 1: week and he was hitting six barrels a good week

479
00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:33,800
Speaker 1: compared to Brinson's nightmare of a season, there's still this

480
00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:37,080
Speaker 1: unusual split between his weighted on basis average and is

481
00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:40,040
Speaker 1: expected weighted on base average. Now, this is usually a

482
00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:42,959
Speaker 1: tool that we use to identify lucky or unlucky hitters

483
00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:46,200
Speaker 1: because it looks at all their quality of contact and

484
00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:49,320
Speaker 1: it compares it to historical averages. It just sees whether

485
00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:50,719
Speaker 1: or not it felt for a hit or not, and

486
00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:54,360
Speaker 1: whether it should have. If you compare his splits each

487
00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:56,920
Speaker 1: year in his major league career, even including his cup

488
00:25:56,920 --> 00:25:59,679
Speaker 1: of coffee in twenty seventeen, he's been unlucky in this regard.

489
00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:03,480
Speaker 1: The problem is, even if you factor in normal luck

490
00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:05,480
Speaker 1: in this situation, he's still one of the worst hitters

491
00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:07,440
Speaker 1: in the league and a guy that you don't really

492
00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:11,120
Speaker 1: see having everyday playing time as a starting outfielder, which

493
00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:14,680
Speaker 1: would be yeah, which would be pretty ugly turn of

494
00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:17,919
Speaker 1: events considering what the Marlins originally build him to be.

495
00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:22,240
Speaker 1: To this Marlins team, it wouldn't be all that shocking

496
00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:24,440
Speaker 1: if they found a way to part tize with him

497
00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:29,240
Speaker 1: over the offseason because historically, I looked into the numbers,

498
00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:31,320
Speaker 1: he's going to be entering his age twenty six season

499
00:26:31,359 --> 00:26:36,520
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty, and nobody as an outfielder in baseball

500
00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:39,960
Speaker 1: history has hit as poorly as he has in as

501
00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:43,000
Speaker 1: many opportunities and played appearances that he's had entering his

502
00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:46,720
Speaker 1: age twenty six season and gone on to any sort

503
00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:50,120
Speaker 1: of significant career. For the most part, there's no one

504
00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:53,480
Speaker 1: even it's been on his level of incompetence to this

505
00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:56,040
Speaker 1: point in his career, at these ages of his career.

506
00:26:56,600 --> 00:26:58,520
Speaker 1: Trying to compare apples to apples, the best way we

507
00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:03,239
Speaker 1: can when adjusted for average, it's been a nightmare and

508
00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:07,320
Speaker 1: no sugarcoating that. Thankfully, the Marlins have a lot of

509
00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:14,680
Speaker 1: outfield alternatives because they're going to be needing them. Jeff

510
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:18,520
Speaker 1: Brigham's improved stuff. Brigham allowed a one seventy eight expected

511
00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:21,360
Speaker 1: weighted on bass average on his slider in twenty nineteen.

512
00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:24,480
Speaker 1: Just putting that in perspective, it's right in between renowned

513
00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:28,639
Speaker 1: closers Roberto Osuna of the Astros and Carlos Martinez of

514
00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:31,840
Speaker 1: the Cardinals and what they allowed on their slider. The

515
00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:34,280
Speaker 1: dominance of that pitch is pretty critical for Brigham moving

516
00:27:34,320 --> 00:27:37,960
Speaker 1: forward because he made that transition from being middling starting

517
00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:41,040
Speaker 1: pitching prospect to one who has an interesting potential as

518
00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:44,240
Speaker 1: a reliever. That decision was made entering twenty nineteen when

519
00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:47,040
Speaker 1: he was still in TRIPAA, and what he made an

520
00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:51,720
Speaker 1: adjustment was cutting out his change up almost entirely, making

521
00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:54,840
Speaker 1: him a two pitch pitcher fastball and slider. And he

522
00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:57,639
Speaker 1: actually throws the slider at an extremely high rate, one

523
00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:00,760
Speaker 1: of the highest rates in baseball on amost fifty percent

524
00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:03,000
Speaker 1: of the time. So he's going back and forth between

525
00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:06,040
Speaker 1: the two pitches and almost any count. Although the sliders

526
00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:09,760
Speaker 1: frequently used as a putaway pitch with two strikes. What

527
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:13,240
Speaker 1: happens also is that probably helping the slider be so

528
00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:16,439
Speaker 1: effective is that his fastball velocity has played up. He

529
00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:19,040
Speaker 1: got his call up with the Marlins in September twenty

530
00:28:19,119 --> 00:28:22,760
Speaker 1: eighteen and made a few starts, a few uninspiring starts.

531
00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:24,879
Speaker 1: It was at the end of the season, and it

532
00:28:24,960 --> 00:28:28,320
Speaker 1: was for this guy that has a history of some injuries,

533
00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:31,119
Speaker 1: so you always wonder exactly what his body was feeling like.

534
00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:33,320
Speaker 1: In September of twenty eighteen, when he got that call

535
00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:36,440
Speaker 1: up after the minor league season, his average fastball velocity

536
00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:39,920
Speaker 1: was at ninety two point nine miles per hour, less

537
00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:43,200
Speaker 1: than ninety three miles per hour. Compare that to twenty nineteen,

538
00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:45,840
Speaker 1: it spiked all the way up to ninety six point six.

539
00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:48,680
Speaker 1: And I feel like this went under the radar because Brigham,

540
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:51,920
Speaker 1: although he had some good stretches with the Marlins this year,

541
00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:55,680
Speaker 1: wasn't necessarily put in that closer's role for any significant

542
00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:58,360
Speaker 1: amount of time. He was pitching a lot of low

543
00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:02,120
Speaker 1: leverage situations, even indifference to guys that were not getting

544
00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:05,160
Speaker 1: the job done. Again, that was Don Mattingly's bullpen management.

545
00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:06,760
Speaker 1: What you're gonna do? What are you gonna do? I

546
00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:09,480
Speaker 1: mean some of the choices are hard to justify in

547
00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:13,840
Speaker 1: any way. But Brigham's fastball is fastball Vila went up

548
00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:16,840
Speaker 1: nearly four miles per hour. When Adam Connelly made that

549
00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:19,280
Speaker 1: kind of jump from being a starter and reliever and

550
00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:21,200
Speaker 1: did something similar to last year, I feel like I

551
00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:24,480
Speaker 1: got a lot more attention than Brigham did. I mean,

552
00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:28,640
Speaker 1: his delivery is not as unusual as Connolly's is. He

553
00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:31,400
Speaker 1: didn't have the type of track record in the majors.

554
00:29:31,480 --> 00:29:34,120
Speaker 1: I mean, for a variety of reasons, he was considered

555
00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:37,280
Speaker 1: more of a fringy player, and I can understand in

556
00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:39,240
Speaker 1: some ways why it didn't get as much attention, but

557
00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:41,600
Speaker 1: it should have. It really matters the way that this

558
00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:44,720
Speaker 1: fastball has played up and the results they is getting

559
00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:47,560
Speaker 1: on the slider. It's not a coincidence. This improved stuff

560
00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:51,520
Speaker 1: is really valuable for him moving forward. And in my eyes,

561
00:29:51,840 --> 00:29:55,640
Speaker 1: on Marlin's bullpen, that was pretty disastrous this year. Aside

562
00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:58,600
Speaker 1: from Harlan Garcia, who we're gonna spotlight in a few minutes,

563
00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:00,960
Speaker 1: there's just not a lot of guys internally that you

564
00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:04,719
Speaker 1: definitely trust to be part of a strong bullpen moving forward.

565
00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:07,800
Speaker 1: Bring him, I feel is more likely than not to

566
00:30:07,800 --> 00:30:10,200
Speaker 1: be a keeper in this new role, and it was

567
00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:12,880
Speaker 1: a good job by the Marlins to experiment with this

568
00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:15,640
Speaker 1: rather than giving up on him entirely. He's going to

569
00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:18,720
Speaker 1: be twenty eight years old entering next year, so not

570
00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:21,600
Speaker 1: necessarily someone whose stuff will continue to improve. But if

571
00:30:21,600 --> 00:30:25,000
Speaker 1: he just stays at this level and he experiments some

572
00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:27,920
Speaker 1: more with how to rotate these two weapons that he has,

573
00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:31,560
Speaker 1: he's someone that you can see making a pretty big

574
00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:33,560
Speaker 1: leap in a short amount of time. Across all Major

575
00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:36,520
Speaker 1: League Baseball relievers do this. They come out of nowhere,

576
00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:40,680
Speaker 1: they figure out exactly how they want to maximize their

577
00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:43,800
Speaker 1: filthiest stuff and build up those swings and misses, and

578
00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:45,880
Speaker 1: then they really put it all together pretty quickly. So

579
00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:48,840
Speaker 1: he could go either way. He might be a non

580
00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:51,280
Speaker 1: factor at this time next year, or he might be

581
00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:54,520
Speaker 1: their closer at this time next year. I'm excited to

582
00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:56,479
Speaker 1: follow the storyline, and I just wanted to bring up

583
00:30:56,480 --> 00:30:59,880
Speaker 1: his name because his stuff improving the way it has,

584
00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:03,720
Speaker 1: he goes Marlins an interesting asset heading into next year.

585
00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:10,000
Speaker 1: Wouldn't you like to see the world the way that

586
00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:13,280
Speaker 1: Jorge al Faro does. To me, it's like he's playing

587
00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:16,280
Speaker 1: a different sport than everybody else. And the number we're

588
00:31:16,320 --> 00:31:19,880
Speaker 1: pointing towards here is fifty point four percent chase rate.

589
00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:22,640
Speaker 1: That's according to Fangrafts. The numbers vary a little bit

590
00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:25,440
Speaker 1: depending on the source, but about half of the pitches

591
00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:28,680
Speaker 1: thrown to him that are outside the strike zone he

592
00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:32,719
Speaker 1: swings at. And that's something that just does not have

593
00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:36,840
Speaker 1: any recent precedent at the major league level in terms

594
00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:39,200
Speaker 1: of players that actually stick at the major league level.

595
00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:42,000
Speaker 1: It's the worst on record that Fangrafts has for a

596
00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:44,720
Speaker 1: player with at least two hundred and fifty played appearances

597
00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:47,360
Speaker 1: in the season. There are some familiar names that are

598
00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:53,200
Speaker 1: close behind him relatively, Pablo Sandoval, Salvador Perez, Corey Dickerson.

599
00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:55,440
Speaker 1: These are guys that multiple times have ranked near the

600
00:31:55,440 --> 00:31:58,080
Speaker 1: top of the league in their chase rate, not in

601
00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:00,840
Speaker 1: the not fifty percent, but in the load to mid

602
00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:04,400
Speaker 1: forty percent range, and the difference being that those guys

603
00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:08,160
Speaker 1: consistently make contact well at least more reliably they make

604
00:32:08,200 --> 00:32:11,520
Speaker 1: contact on those bad pitches than Alfaro does. And there's

605
00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:15,400
Speaker 1: nothing inherently wrong of being a bad ball swinger. The

606
00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:18,880
Speaker 1: thing is you actually need to justify that by putting

607
00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:21,000
Speaker 1: those balls in play every once in a while. This

608
00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:23,400
Speaker 1: is actually an improvement in one sense. It is the

609
00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:25,680
Speaker 1: worst chase rate that Alfaro has had in the majors.

610
00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:29,160
Speaker 1: But you look at the contact percentage on these pitches

611
00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:32,000
Speaker 1: outside the strike zone. In twenty eighteen with the Phillies,

612
00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:34,960
Speaker 1: it was only fifty two point nine percent contact on

613
00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:37,440
Speaker 1: these bad pitches, and that jumps up this year about

614
00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:40,640
Speaker 1: ten percent of fifty two percent. So more than half

615
00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:42,720
Speaker 1: the time when I swing at these bad pitches is

616
00:32:42,760 --> 00:32:45,480
Speaker 1: making contact. But the rest of the league, that's that

617
00:32:45,560 --> 00:32:48,000
Speaker 1: pales in comparison. Guys that are in the seventies and

618
00:32:48,040 --> 00:32:50,400
Speaker 1: eighties at the top of the league is usually about

619
00:32:50,480 --> 00:32:54,400
Speaker 1: ninety percent on these bad pitches. It's a bit of

620
00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:57,760
Speaker 1: a red flag to me in that I mean, pitchers

621
00:32:57,760 --> 00:33:00,360
Speaker 1: stuff are only getting better. There's more in struction out

622
00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:02,120
Speaker 1: there about how to design your own pitches and how

623
00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:06,600
Speaker 1: to maximize it, how to tunnel your pitches with each other.

624
00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:08,720
Speaker 1: That's been the trend to cost their league is that

625
00:33:08,720 --> 00:33:11,320
Speaker 1: strikeouts go up and up and up because pictures more

626
00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:13,600
Speaker 1: often can throw their pitches out of the zone and

627
00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:16,320
Speaker 1: mis bats with it. Al Farrow just takes it to

628
00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:19,680
Speaker 1: an extreme. That's why he strikes out so often, one

629
00:33:19,680 --> 00:33:22,480
Speaker 1: of the highest strikeout totals in Marlon's single season history,

630
00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:25,440
Speaker 1: even though he didn't actually have a qualified season as

631
00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:27,200
Speaker 1: a catcher, and one who missed a little bit of

632
00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:29,560
Speaker 1: time with injury and who sat a little bit more

633
00:33:29,600 --> 00:33:33,320
Speaker 1: frequently than your normal primary catcher does. Yeah, he didn't

634
00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:36,840
Speaker 1: even bat five hundred times this year and he struck out, Yeah,

635
00:33:36,880 --> 00:33:39,840
Speaker 1: over one hundred and fifty times. Well, it's a bad combination.

636
00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:43,160
Speaker 1: It's one he's been able to overcome because of his

637
00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:47,160
Speaker 1: hard contact that he makes when there is contact there

638
00:33:47,600 --> 00:33:50,800
Speaker 1: and the way that he runs, especially a typical four catcher,

639
00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:52,720
Speaker 1: to get down the first base line as fast as

640
00:33:52,800 --> 00:33:55,880
Speaker 1: he does. He's really entertaining. I enjoy watching him. I'm

641
00:33:55,880 --> 00:33:59,560
Speaker 1: not fully convinced that he's everyday primary catcher on a

642
00:33:59,600 --> 00:34:03,480
Speaker 1: great team because of this issue. He's not identifying pitches

643
00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:06,320
Speaker 1: the right way. If he was consciously making that choice,

644
00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:09,440
Speaker 1: then you would see someone that is making more contact

645
00:34:09,480 --> 00:34:13,160
Speaker 1: on these pitches. But the combination of chasing and still

646
00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:17,400
Speaker 1: whipping when he's chasing is alarming, to say the least

647
00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:24,439
Speaker 1: I promised before we would give Harlan Garcia some love,

648
00:34:24,560 --> 00:34:27,000
Speaker 1: and here we are. In particular, it's with his change

649
00:34:27,040 --> 00:34:30,160
Speaker 1: up dominance. He allowed a one twenty nine weighted on

650
00:34:30,200 --> 00:34:33,120
Speaker 1: base average with that pitch, nearly one hundred points better

651
00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:36,400
Speaker 1: than in twenty eighteen. Last season. He gave me a

652
00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:39,000
Speaker 1: big scare the way that he was in the rotation

653
00:34:39,080 --> 00:34:41,759
Speaker 1: early on and then quickly faded, and then they brought

654
00:34:41,800 --> 00:34:44,080
Speaker 1: him back into the bullpen. They kept switching up with

655
00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:46,960
Speaker 1: his role, and in whatever role he was getting hit hard.

656
00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:48,960
Speaker 1: He was getting hit hard with every of his pitches,

657
00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:51,680
Speaker 1: including his change up, but especially his fastball. There was

658
00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:53,719
Speaker 1: a point last year where he was just one of

659
00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:56,960
Speaker 1: the worst pitchers in the majors. He had that gopher

660
00:34:57,040 --> 00:35:00,160
Speaker 1: idis home runs were up, not quite as up as

661
00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:03,040
Speaker 1: they are right now, but he was more susceptible to

662
00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:06,320
Speaker 1: them than anybody else. He wasn't a really bad funk

663
00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:11,040
Speaker 1: with both his stuff and perhaps even mentally emotionally, he

664
00:35:11,160 --> 00:35:13,320
Speaker 1: just was not in a good place as twenty eighteen

665
00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:15,799
Speaker 1: went on, and I was worried exactly how he's going

666
00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:19,160
Speaker 1: to bounce back. He started this year in Tripa a,

667
00:35:19,239 --> 00:35:22,239
Speaker 1: New Orleans, and he got called up, and you didn't

668
00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:24,880
Speaker 1: notice immediately anything was different. But then as the summer

669
00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:27,600
Speaker 1: war on and as other bullpen options faded, he had

670
00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:30,000
Speaker 1: increased importance. We got to the end of the year

671
00:35:30,160 --> 00:35:34,520
Speaker 1: and Harlan was I think pretty much consensus the best

672
00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:37,080
Speaker 1: reliever in the Marlins bullpen. You guys voted him that

673
00:35:37,120 --> 00:35:39,680
Speaker 1: way when he had our Fishies Award voting last month.

674
00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:43,440
Speaker 1: He's really interesting guy moving forward in the biggest factor

675
00:35:43,480 --> 00:35:45,000
Speaker 1: in that to me is going to be his changeup.

676
00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:48,879
Speaker 1: Fangrass provides estimates of weighted pitch values during the course

677
00:35:48,880 --> 00:35:52,160
Speaker 1: of the season. For Harlan Garcia, he was worth about

678
00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:54,920
Speaker 1: four runs above average for every one hundred changeups that

679
00:35:55,040 --> 00:35:57,160
Speaker 1: he threw this year. At that rate, he was one

680
00:35:57,200 --> 00:35:59,799
Speaker 1: of the very best in all of baseball, regardless of role.

681
00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:03,719
Speaker 1: It was ahead of the National League era leader jin Ryu.

682
00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:06,920
Speaker 1: It was ahead of old friend Zach Gallon, who gets

683
00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:10,120
Speaker 1: a lot of acclaim for his nasty changeup. Harlan's pitch

684
00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:13,600
Speaker 1: isn't as gifable. I mean, he doesn't with as many

685
00:36:13,800 --> 00:36:16,880
Speaker 1: batters as some of these other guys do with their changeup,

686
00:36:17,080 --> 00:36:19,720
Speaker 1: but he gets soft contact. He got slightly more ground

687
00:36:19,719 --> 00:36:22,200
Speaker 1: balls this year. In years past, it's just a really

688
00:36:22,520 --> 00:36:25,960
Speaker 1: nice weapon in his repertoire, and so unlike Brigham that

689
00:36:26,040 --> 00:36:29,520
Speaker 1: is consolidated into two pitches, Harlan has been able to

690
00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:32,200
Speaker 1: lean into this change up and he's been able to

691
00:36:32,840 --> 00:36:36,040
Speaker 1: keep batters enough off balance in interchanging it with his

692
00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:38,759
Speaker 1: fastball so that they don't know what's coming, and it

693
00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:41,000
Speaker 1: had a lot of success this year. He was stranding

694
00:36:41,080 --> 00:36:43,960
Speaker 1: runners more effectively than a year ago, and just the

695
00:36:43,960 --> 00:36:46,800
Speaker 1: bottom line run prevention with an era in the low threes.

696
00:36:47,239 --> 00:36:50,399
Speaker 1: He's gonna be an interesting piece moving forward. And it's

697
00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:52,080
Speaker 1: nice to see him go this way because this year

698
00:36:52,080 --> 00:36:54,440
Speaker 1: could have gone very different way with him falling out

699
00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:58,800
Speaker 1: of favor entirely had things carried over from twenty eighteen. Instead,

700
00:36:58,840 --> 00:37:01,839
Speaker 1: he bounced back, and it's with this changeup that you're

701
00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:08,000
Speaker 1: going to want to follow a lot moving forward. The

702
00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:12,239
Speaker 1: intentional walk discrepancy watching intentional walks isn't as painful as

703
00:37:12,239 --> 00:37:14,320
Speaker 1: it used to be now that you don't physically throw

704
00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:17,360
Speaker 1: the four pitches, just a signal from the dugout will suffice.

705
00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:21,360
Speaker 1: Still with your team, you want there'd be situations where

706
00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:25,880
Speaker 1: your pitchers are aggressive and challenging hitters and as an offense,

707
00:37:26,239 --> 00:37:29,480
Speaker 1: you want to command some respect in those situations with

708
00:37:29,840 --> 00:37:32,520
Speaker 1: runners on base. An intentional walk is a sign of

709
00:37:33,320 --> 00:37:35,920
Speaker 1: very flattering sign that they aren't certain that they can

710
00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:39,320
Speaker 1: get you out in a tough situation. For the Marlins,

711
00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:42,960
Speaker 1: it got pretty ugly in that their pitchers allowed fifty

712
00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:45,279
Speaker 1: two intentional walks during the course of the year. Their

713
00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:49,839
Speaker 1: batters only drew with sixteen, allowing over three times as

714
00:37:49,880 --> 00:37:53,880
Speaker 1: many intentional walks as you draw yourselves. Is an indictment

715
00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:57,200
Speaker 1: of how non competitive you are. The fact that teams

716
00:37:57,239 --> 00:38:00,279
Speaker 1: are never in a situation where they have to you

717
00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:03,480
Speaker 1: on usually because they're leading in the first place already,

718
00:38:03,960 --> 00:38:07,000
Speaker 1: and that a lack of trust that John Mandley had

719
00:38:07,040 --> 00:38:09,800
Speaker 1: in some of his pictures that so many times he

720
00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:13,320
Speaker 1: had them intentionally put opponents on base rather than challenging

721
00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:16,960
Speaker 1: them and giving him an opportunity to prove themselves as

722
00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:19,759
Speaker 1: young pitchers at the major league level. During the entire

723
00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:22,720
Speaker 1: first quarter of the season, as you guys remember, Marlins

724
00:38:22,760 --> 00:38:24,560
Speaker 1: got off to a ten to thirty one start, which

725
00:38:24,600 --> 00:38:27,160
Speaker 1: was the worst in franchise history. Had people talking about

726
00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:29,520
Speaker 1: this being one of the worst teams ever, and although

727
00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:32,720
Speaker 1: they rebounded a little from that since during that entire

728
00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:36,320
Speaker 1: forty one game stretch to start the year, nobody on

729
00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:40,160
Speaker 1: the Marlins was put on base intentionally, zero intentional walks

730
00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:43,200
Speaker 1: for the Marlins lineup through a full quarter of the season.

731
00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:46,960
Speaker 1: So although sixteen were drawn from that point onward, as

732
00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:49,799
Speaker 1: we got later in the year, it was Yeah, it

733
00:38:49,840 --> 00:38:52,920
Speaker 1: was pretty embarrassing the fact that you just had all

734
00:38:52,960 --> 00:38:56,719
Speaker 1: these names and all these situations and you couldn't force

735
00:38:56,760 --> 00:38:59,759
Speaker 1: the other team to feel vulnerable on your oppontent. Just

736
00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:02,560
Speaker 1: it feels comfortable against you. That's kind of the ultimate

737
00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:05,919
Speaker 1: sign of how far away you are from being where

738
00:39:05,960 --> 00:39:09,080
Speaker 1: this rebuild is supposed to take the Marlins. Now that

739
00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:13,000
Speaker 1: Mattingly is coming back against some of our expectations and

740
00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:16,319
Speaker 1: some of our wishes, just something I imploring him to do,

741
00:39:16,680 --> 00:39:19,040
Speaker 1: particularly early in twenty twenty when he still has these

742
00:39:19,080 --> 00:39:21,319
Speaker 1: young players. They're trying to figure out exactly what these

743
00:39:21,320 --> 00:39:23,840
Speaker 1: pictures can do in the majors, ones that don't have

744
00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:26,480
Speaker 1: long crack records. One in doubt, you want to have

745
00:39:26,520 --> 00:39:29,839
Speaker 1: these pictures challenging the opponents and seeing if they can

746
00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:32,840
Speaker 1: miss some bats in those tough situations with runs and

747
00:39:32,880 --> 00:39:36,440
Speaker 1: scoring position, rather than putting someone on. We don't want

748
00:39:36,480 --> 00:39:40,319
Speaker 1: them constantly facing opposing pictures and high situations rather than

749
00:39:40,640 --> 00:39:44,839
Speaker 1: real batters. I didn't like this whole philosophy that matting

750
00:39:44,880 --> 00:39:46,720
Speaker 1: Lees had because this is not a one time affair.

751
00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:49,600
Speaker 1: They may have actually allowed more intentional walks in twenty

752
00:39:49,640 --> 00:39:53,200
Speaker 1: eighteen than they did this year. It's definitely part of

753
00:39:53,239 --> 00:39:56,520
Speaker 1: his DNA as a manager to be cautious and to

754
00:39:56,560 --> 00:40:00,640
Speaker 1: try to seek out favorable matchups, WHI actually taking on

755
00:40:00,760 --> 00:40:03,840
Speaker 1: more risk in the process, because if you can't actually

756
00:40:03,840 --> 00:40:06,440
Speaker 1: retire the weaker matchup, then it's just more runners on

757
00:40:06,480 --> 00:40:09,560
Speaker 1: base to come around and score. There were numerous times

758
00:40:09,560 --> 00:40:13,239
Speaker 1: this year when Marlins walked or hit issued a hit

759
00:40:13,239 --> 00:40:15,680
Speaker 1: by pitch that brought in a run with the bases loaded.

760
00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:18,080
Speaker 1: When you have these young pitchers, that kind of volatility

761
00:40:18,160 --> 00:40:21,040
Speaker 1: is going to be there. But I'd rather see them

762
00:40:21,440 --> 00:40:24,439
Speaker 1: in I'd rather see them challenged. I'd rather see them

763
00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:29,400
Speaker 1: put up against real offensive players and let their natural

764
00:40:29,400 --> 00:40:32,160
Speaker 1: stuff take over, then trying to cop out and then

765
00:40:32,400 --> 00:40:39,960
Speaker 1: embarrassing yourself that way. The final positive stat in our

766
00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:43,920
Speaker 1: episode centers around the Hawaiian five to zero Jordan Yamamoto.

767
00:40:44,280 --> 00:40:47,560
Speaker 1: He held opponents to zero for thirty at the plate

768
00:40:47,640 --> 00:40:51,080
Speaker 1: against the slider to begin his major league career. That's

769
00:40:51,160 --> 00:40:54,320
Speaker 1: just one weapon in his arsenal, along with a four seamer,

770
00:40:54,520 --> 00:40:58,399
Speaker 1: a curveball, a cutter, a changeup, and that slider. And

771
00:40:58,840 --> 00:41:01,000
Speaker 1: those five pitches in the way that he mixes them

772
00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:04,080
Speaker 1: up made him that intriguing prospect coming up through the

773
00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:06,920
Speaker 1: Marlin system. Of course, he was on our radar as

774
00:41:06,960 --> 00:41:10,440
Speaker 1: part of the trade package along with Brentson, Monte Harrison

775
00:41:10,480 --> 00:41:13,160
Speaker 1: and Is san Diez that came here for Christian Yelich

776
00:41:13,520 --> 00:41:18,080
Speaker 1: and in twenty eighteen, through several different levels, he dominated,

777
00:41:18,400 --> 00:41:22,160
Speaker 1: which put him even more on a legitimate level as

778
00:41:22,200 --> 00:41:25,400
Speaker 1: a prospect, including in the Arizona Fall League. Started this

779
00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:28,400
Speaker 1: year at Double A Jacksonville, and really more out of

780
00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:32,719
Speaker 1: convenience than actual performance. He earned that promotion in the

781
00:41:32,719 --> 00:41:35,520
Speaker 1: middle of the year when the Marlins rotation faced some injuries.

782
00:41:35,719 --> 00:41:38,160
Speaker 1: There wasn't necessarily that expectation that he would stick in

783
00:41:38,200 --> 00:41:41,239
Speaker 1: the rotation the rest of the season, but aside from

784
00:41:41,320 --> 00:41:44,440
Speaker 1: a brief time out with a forearm strain in September,

785
00:41:44,600 --> 00:41:47,319
Speaker 1: he did stick in the rotation and it started with

786
00:41:47,440 --> 00:41:50,920
Speaker 1: that bang that people remember, the back to back scoreless starts,

787
00:41:51,280 --> 00:41:54,000
Speaker 1: and with the lader in particular, that effectiveness with that

788
00:41:54,040 --> 00:41:58,080
Speaker 1: pitch continued on for several more starts to contribute to

789
00:41:58,080 --> 00:42:01,239
Speaker 1: that for thirty streak. The whole season overall, he had

790
00:42:01,239 --> 00:42:04,720
Speaker 1: his best stats on opponents trying to hit that slider

791
00:42:04,760 --> 00:42:08,080
Speaker 1: as well, and his stats at the major league level

792
00:42:08,160 --> 00:42:09,879
Speaker 1: we're about as good as the stat at the Double

793
00:42:09,960 --> 00:42:14,239
Speaker 1: A level, which really defies convention. But his ability to

794
00:42:14,320 --> 00:42:16,440
Speaker 1: really alternate between these weapons and have a lot of

795
00:42:16,440 --> 00:42:19,760
Speaker 1: confidence in each of them, that's what makes him somewhat

796
00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:23,280
Speaker 1: of a viable rotation candidate moving forward. Even as guys

797
00:42:23,320 --> 00:42:26,000
Speaker 1: with higher potential in their arms come up through the

798
00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:28,520
Speaker 1: Marlin system and these next few waves of talent ones

799
00:42:28,520 --> 00:42:31,160
Speaker 1: that we're back and reach a higher velocity or have

800
00:42:31,280 --> 00:42:35,000
Speaker 1: more dramatic movement in their pitches. But Young Moto's slider

801
00:42:35,080 --> 00:42:38,640
Speaker 1: in particular is pretty legit, and he makes it move

802
00:42:38,680 --> 00:42:41,440
Speaker 1: in a couple of different ways depending on the situation,

803
00:42:41,760 --> 00:42:44,360
Speaker 1: using it in different counts as well. The variety that

804
00:42:44,400 --> 00:42:46,760
Speaker 1: he offers gives him a lot of hope with sticking around.

805
00:42:46,960 --> 00:42:51,600
Speaker 1: This is just his age twenty three season, and it's

806
00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:54,360
Speaker 1: pretty likely that he's gonna have some role on the

807
00:42:54,600 --> 00:42:57,399
Speaker 1: staff coming into opening Day twenty twenty as well if

808
00:42:57,400 --> 00:42:59,400
Speaker 1: he just stays healthy. So that's gonna be the big

809
00:42:59,480 --> 00:43:02,480
Speaker 1: question mark with him, as well as someone like Jeff Brigham,

810
00:43:02,480 --> 00:43:05,160
Speaker 1: though we brought up earlier, when you have a history

811
00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:07,600
Speaker 1: of injuries in your past, and if there are a

812
00:43:07,719 --> 00:43:10,319
Speaker 1: variety injuries like with Yamamoto it's been the shoulder in

813
00:43:10,400 --> 00:43:13,719
Speaker 1: the previously and now the forearm, and the build that

814
00:43:13,800 --> 00:43:16,640
Speaker 1: he has a little bit smaller than your typical major

815
00:43:16,680 --> 00:43:21,200
Speaker 1: league starting pitcher. That's that's gonna lead to the expectation

816
00:43:21,320 --> 00:43:24,279
Speaker 1: that eventually will transition into a more limited role. But

817
00:43:24,480 --> 00:43:26,720
Speaker 1: for the time being, his first time through the league

818
00:43:26,800 --> 00:43:29,440
Speaker 1: with this pitch, in particular the slider, he had a

819
00:43:29,480 --> 00:43:31,080
Speaker 1: lot of success with it, and now that he has

820
00:43:31,120 --> 00:43:33,839
Speaker 1: all these other weapons that he disguised the pitch with

821
00:43:34,280 --> 00:43:36,640
Speaker 1: and offer a lot of variety to both right handers

822
00:43:36,680 --> 00:43:39,640
Speaker 1: and left handers, he gives them some hope of sticking arounds.

823
00:43:39,920 --> 00:43:43,759
Speaker 1: And in the meantime, he's just a really fun ambassador

824
00:43:43,840 --> 00:43:45,879
Speaker 1: for the game, someone that has a lot of fun

825
00:43:45,920 --> 00:43:48,719
Speaker 1: on the mounds and isn't afraid to show some personality

826
00:43:48,719 --> 00:43:55,719
Speaker 1: and speak his mind. And unfortunately we need to wrap

827
00:43:55,800 --> 00:43:59,000
Speaker 1: up this segment with the eighty million dollar man way

828
00:43:59,120 --> 00:44:01,520
Speaker 1: in Chen, but the key number with him is not

829
00:44:01,560 --> 00:44:05,359
Speaker 1: the contract value, but the er. A six y five

830
00:44:05,640 --> 00:44:08,640
Speaker 1: nine earned run average. It was the second worst from

831
00:44:08,640 --> 00:44:11,360
Speaker 1: Marlin's left hander in a season of fifty plus innings,

832
00:44:12,120 --> 00:44:15,080
Speaker 1: only trailing the washed up Al Lighter in two thousand

833
00:44:15,120 --> 00:44:17,120
Speaker 1: and five when he was a thirty nine year old

834
00:44:17,680 --> 00:44:20,319
Speaker 1: Chen being converted into a reliever for the first time

835
00:44:20,360 --> 00:44:23,279
Speaker 1: in his career, given a very undefined role. Ha to

836
00:44:23,360 --> 00:44:26,399
Speaker 1: be fair. When you're a reliever under Die Mattingly, it's

837
00:44:26,400 --> 00:44:28,920
Speaker 1: your first time relieving. There's a lot that could go

838
00:44:28,960 --> 00:44:33,480
Speaker 1: wrong in that situation. And he bounced around pretty consistently,

839
00:44:33,520 --> 00:44:36,560
Speaker 1: pitching in low leverage situations, but not always knowing when

840
00:44:36,600 --> 00:44:38,680
Speaker 1: he was going to pitch or how long those outing

841
00:44:38,719 --> 00:44:41,799
Speaker 1: could be. And it was a disaster, he said, a

842
00:44:41,800 --> 00:44:45,280
Speaker 1: franchise record for the most home runs allowed in relief

843
00:44:45,360 --> 00:44:48,760
Speaker 1: in the single season. The problem is he got hammered

844
00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:52,000
Speaker 1: on anything that was in the zone. His stuff simply

845
00:44:52,160 --> 00:44:55,160
Speaker 1: isn't there. He didn't profile as a guy that would

846
00:44:55,239 --> 00:44:57,440
Speaker 1: see an uptick in the stuff. With a conversion to

847
00:44:57,480 --> 00:45:00,759
Speaker 1: the bullpen. He was more of a junk baller. That

848
00:45:00,920 --> 00:45:03,959
Speaker 1: tries to get soft contact, and he failed to get

849
00:45:04,080 --> 00:45:06,879
Speaker 1: soft contact all throughout the year. He had a hot

850
00:45:06,920 --> 00:45:10,120
Speaker 1: streak there in the middle where he got some help

851
00:45:10,160 --> 00:45:14,360
Speaker 1: from his defense and had more success at limiting long balls,

852
00:45:14,600 --> 00:45:16,400
Speaker 1: but that didn't last. And again at the end of

853
00:45:16,400 --> 00:45:18,840
Speaker 1: the year it looked a lot like the shoes he

854
00:45:18,840 --> 00:45:22,200
Speaker 1: had at the beginning. You seldom pitched at all in September,

855
00:45:22,280 --> 00:45:25,680
Speaker 1: once the Marlins actually had their choice of relievers to

856
00:45:25,680 --> 00:45:27,919
Speaker 1: put into the game. So clearly a low priority guy,

857
00:45:28,680 --> 00:45:32,360
Speaker 1: and his trade value is shot. Heading into twenty twenty

858
00:45:32,360 --> 00:45:35,520
Speaker 1: one more year left on that infamous contract, twenty two

859
00:45:35,719 --> 00:45:38,719
Speaker 1: million dollars guaranteed, he'll be the high plaid player on

860
00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:41,759
Speaker 1: the team by a considerable margin, one of the higher

861
00:45:41,760 --> 00:45:46,200
Speaker 1: paid relievers in Major League history at any point to

862
00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:50,400
Speaker 1: bitch in the majors in that role for that value.

863
00:45:50,840 --> 00:45:53,840
Speaker 1: And what I'm hoping is that the Marlins see the

864
00:45:53,920 --> 00:45:56,839
Speaker 1: light and just let him go his separate way and

865
00:45:56,920 --> 00:45:59,800
Speaker 1: release Chen. And now he's holding one of their valuable

866
00:45:59,800 --> 00:46:02,160
Speaker 1: four tardy man roster spots coming up on a time

867
00:46:02,200 --> 00:46:06,279
Speaker 1: of year where that's a very valuable commodity heading into

868
00:46:06,320 --> 00:46:08,799
Speaker 1: the Rule five draft in December, the Marlins hold the

869
00:46:08,880 --> 00:46:12,000
Speaker 1: number three overall pick. It's a consolation for being one

870
00:46:12,040 --> 00:46:14,240
Speaker 1: of the worst teams in baseball during the regular season,

871
00:46:14,719 --> 00:46:18,040
Speaker 1: and their reward for that is being able to pluck

872
00:46:18,120 --> 00:46:21,880
Speaker 1: a player that couldn't be protected in another organization. And

873
00:46:21,880 --> 00:46:24,799
Speaker 1: they're not going to be able to use that advantage

874
00:46:24,840 --> 00:46:26,359
Speaker 1: if they don't have an open spot on the forty

875
00:46:26,400 --> 00:46:29,200
Speaker 1: man roster. One of the easiest ways to create that

876
00:46:29,239 --> 00:46:32,080
Speaker 1: opening is get rid of a player that no longer

877
00:46:32,120 --> 00:46:35,640
Speaker 1: has value to you. You tried, and by all accounts,

878
00:46:35,680 --> 00:46:38,560
Speaker 1: he's been a good citizen for this team. Nothing for

879
00:46:38,680 --> 00:46:41,560
Speaker 1: him to personally feel responsible for. He was given a

880
00:46:41,600 --> 00:46:45,359
Speaker 1: lot of money, just as anybody would be coming off

881
00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:47,279
Speaker 1: of the kind of years that he had earlier in

882
00:46:47,320 --> 00:46:50,000
Speaker 1: his career, and it just didn't work out a combination

883
00:46:50,080 --> 00:46:53,239
Speaker 1: of injury and transition to a new role, and this

884
00:46:53,360 --> 00:46:56,920
Speaker 1: role treated him very poorly, and the Marlins didn't exactly

885
00:46:57,040 --> 00:46:59,000
Speaker 1: find clever ways to get the most out of him.

886
00:46:59,040 --> 00:47:01,200
Speaker 1: If they're not going to do that, this money is

887
00:47:01,239 --> 00:47:04,640
Speaker 1: guaranteed to him either way, and he might be more

888
00:47:04,680 --> 00:47:09,560
Speaker 1: valuable someplace else. My recommendation to the front office decision

889
00:47:09,560 --> 00:47:13,040
Speaker 1: makers and the best interest of everybody involved is to

890
00:47:13,080 --> 00:47:20,880
Speaker 1: simply release him, transitioning from somebody who has no specific

891
00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:23,279
Speaker 1: role in the Marlins future to one that has a

892
00:47:23,440 --> 00:47:26,279
Speaker 1: pivotal role in making these big decisions about what they're

893
00:47:26,280 --> 00:47:30,080
Speaker 1: doing off the field. I present an exclusive interview with

894
00:47:30,280 --> 00:47:54,440
Speaker 1: Marlin's Chief Revenue Officer, Adam Jones. On this episode of

895
00:47:54,480 --> 00:47:57,399
Speaker 1: Fish Bites. We are joined by a special guest. Many

896
00:47:57,400 --> 00:48:01,040
Speaker 1: of you already recognize his name, but everybody organizes his work.

897
00:48:01,120 --> 00:48:03,480
Speaker 1: He is quite simply one of the most influential people

898
00:48:03,560 --> 00:48:06,920
Speaker 1: in the Miami Marlins organization right now. Originally hired by

899
00:48:07,000 --> 00:48:10,600
Speaker 1: new ownership as Senior VP of Strategy and Development, now

900
00:48:10,640 --> 00:48:14,320
Speaker 1: serving as the Chief Revenue Officer. Please welcome Adam Jones.

901
00:48:14,560 --> 00:48:16,600
Speaker 1: We've been looking forward to this for a while. Adam,

902
00:48:16,840 --> 00:48:18,600
Speaker 1: thank you for taking the time to join the show.

903
00:48:19,680 --> 00:48:22,960
Speaker 2: My pleasure, ELI grateful for the opportunity.

904
00:48:23,600 --> 00:48:27,040
Speaker 1: Of course, let's begin just with how you joined the

905
00:48:27,080 --> 00:48:29,960
Speaker 1: Marlins in the first place, because you had spent practically

906
00:48:30,040 --> 00:48:33,319
Speaker 1: all of your professional career with Price Waterhouse consulting with

907
00:48:33,360 --> 00:48:36,319
Speaker 1: franchises across several different sports, being able to have a

908
00:48:36,360 --> 00:48:39,840
Speaker 1: major impact across the industry. So what were your motivations

909
00:48:39,840 --> 00:48:43,640
Speaker 1: for deciding you'd rather commit to a single organization and frankly,

910
00:48:43,680 --> 00:48:46,040
Speaker 1: an organization that was in such a vulnerable position at

911
00:48:46,080 --> 00:48:47,680
Speaker 1: the time of your hiring two years ago.

912
00:48:49,760 --> 00:48:53,520
Speaker 2: Well, you're very grateful for the industry perspective I was

913
00:48:53,560 --> 00:48:58,319
Speaker 2: able to build through my career with PwC, leading the

914
00:48:58,360 --> 00:49:01,920
Speaker 2: sport practice working across the industry is as you said,

915
00:49:03,000 --> 00:49:06,680
Speaker 2: But with the Miami Marlins and the opportunity I had

916
00:49:06,719 --> 00:49:12,319
Speaker 2: to advise ownership on the acquisition of of the franchise. Uh,

917
00:49:12,400 --> 00:49:14,200
Speaker 2: you know, there was an opportunity to take what I

918
00:49:14,239 --> 00:49:18,879
Speaker 2: did across the industry, all of the lessons learned, all

919
00:49:18,920 --> 00:49:23,200
Speaker 2: of the leading practices observed, and and drive those into

920
00:49:23,960 --> 00:49:29,200
Speaker 2: a single organization. Uh. That that truly has an opportunity

921
00:49:29,320 --> 00:49:36,920
Speaker 2: to evolve and grow into a best in class brand,

922
00:49:37,600 --> 00:49:41,960
Speaker 2: a world class sport and entertainment enterprise. Uh. And there

923
00:49:41,960 --> 00:49:45,560
Speaker 2: are a lot of challenges that we we accepted in

924
00:49:45,760 --> 00:49:49,080
Speaker 2: day one of this journey. But that's what makes it

925
00:49:49,120 --> 00:49:54,440
Speaker 2: as h as exciting of an opportunity you that that

926
00:49:54,560 --> 00:49:58,239
Speaker 2: we we accepted at day one. Yeah.

927
00:49:58,239 --> 00:50:00,720
Speaker 1: Well, well you were one of the first high really

928
00:50:00,800 --> 00:50:03,680
Speaker 1: when the ownership transition happens a couple of years ago

929
00:50:03,800 --> 00:50:06,200
Speaker 1: and Wells. Dusenberry. The Sun Sentinel put out a great

930
00:50:06,200 --> 00:50:09,200
Speaker 1: feature on you prior to the season where Derek Teacher

931
00:50:09,400 --> 00:50:12,719
Speaker 1: largely credits you for creating the dm low campaign, which

932
00:50:12,760 --> 00:50:16,680
Speaker 1: compiles fan feedback both online and in person at Marlin's Park.

933
00:50:17,000 --> 00:50:19,759
Speaker 1: So that seems to be one of the signature differences

934
00:50:19,760 --> 00:50:22,160
Speaker 1: that you've made in this organization already. Where did that

935
00:50:22,280 --> 00:50:25,640
Speaker 1: idea originate from? Were there other franchises across the industry

936
00:50:25,640 --> 00:50:27,800
Speaker 1: that had already been doing that to the same extent?

937
00:50:27,920 --> 00:50:29,279
Speaker 1: Who inspired you in any way?

938
00:50:30,960 --> 00:50:33,600
Speaker 2: Well, I think the credit is, you know, shared with

939
00:50:33,640 --> 00:50:37,680
Speaker 2: what Derek Bruce, our ownership and you know, largely the

940
00:50:37,840 --> 00:50:41,919
Speaker 2: entire organization, and that we understood you know day one

941
00:50:42,840 --> 00:50:45,880
Speaker 2: are our primary objective is we need to build trust.

942
00:50:46,560 --> 00:50:50,439
Speaker 2: And in order to build trust, we truly understand where

943
00:50:50,480 --> 00:50:54,120
Speaker 2: the organization has been before we can take it forward.

944
00:50:54,600 --> 00:50:57,160
Speaker 2: And the best way for us to develop that direct

945
00:50:57,239 --> 00:51:01,600
Speaker 2: understanding is to have the conversation or in the case

946
00:51:01,680 --> 00:51:05,640
Speaker 2: of of d Melo, for us to listen and uh,

947
00:51:05,800 --> 00:51:09,040
Speaker 2: you know, we were able to launch that campaign initially

948
00:51:09,200 --> 00:51:14,279
Speaker 2: envisioned as a year one initiative to capture as much

949
00:51:14,320 --> 00:51:18,719
Speaker 2: perspective and insight and feedback as we could and use

950
00:51:18,840 --> 00:51:24,279
Speaker 2: all of that feedback to inform our decisions are our plans,

951
00:51:24,880 --> 00:51:29,040
Speaker 2: whether that's validating some perceptions we had coming in, or

952
00:51:29,400 --> 00:51:33,440
Speaker 2: refining or or or pivoting on some of that direction

953
00:51:33,600 --> 00:51:37,400
Speaker 2: based on on that feedback. And and what we received

954
00:51:37,600 --> 00:51:42,520
Speaker 2: was overwhelming engagement from a first generation of a fan

955
00:51:42,680 --> 00:51:48,120
Speaker 2: as well as the broader community among residents and businesses. UH.

956
00:51:48,280 --> 00:51:52,440
Speaker 2: And we welcoming welcoming us with with open arms, with

957
00:51:52,480 --> 00:51:57,600
Speaker 2: their perspectives. UH. And what became was initially a one

958
00:51:57,680 --> 00:52:02,000
Speaker 2: year initiative really has been driven into the core of

959
00:52:02,600 --> 00:52:06,279
Speaker 2: of our organization. UH. And how we're going to authentically

960
00:52:06,360 --> 00:52:08,080
Speaker 2: engage with with the marketplace.

961
00:52:09,680 --> 00:52:13,719
Speaker 1: Can you try to quantify approximately just how many responses

962
00:52:13,800 --> 00:52:16,760
Speaker 1: the Marlins get from d MILO online or in the ballpark,

963
00:52:17,160 --> 00:52:20,200
Speaker 1: either in terms of I guess, hours of footage or

964
00:52:20,239 --> 00:52:23,120
Speaker 1: just number of responses that you're sorting through in order to,

965
00:52:23,400 --> 00:52:25,480
Speaker 1: you know, find some of these solutions that you think

966
00:52:25,520 --> 00:52:26,400
Speaker 1: work for the franchise.

967
00:52:27,960 --> 00:52:29,880
Speaker 2: So there are a number of different channels under the

968
00:52:30,360 --> 00:52:35,840
Speaker 2: campaign or or feedback loops. On the survey side, we

969
00:52:35,920 --> 00:52:43,240
Speaker 2: receive thousands of responses to the longer form surveys around

970
00:52:43,920 --> 00:52:47,920
Speaker 2: h people's perceptions of our brand, their experiences here at

971
00:52:48,000 --> 00:52:52,400
Speaker 2: at Marlins Park. We've run a number of series of

972
00:52:52,520 --> 00:52:58,560
Speaker 2: topical questions via our social handles around uh, you know,

973
00:52:58,600 --> 00:53:03,560
Speaker 2: their experience, around their preferences and interests and all of that.

974
00:53:03,560 --> 00:53:08,440
Speaker 2: That in great engagement has been incredibly informative to our process.

975
00:53:09,239 --> 00:53:11,960
Speaker 2: And then when it came to the in park booths

976
00:53:11,960 --> 00:53:15,560
Speaker 2: that we had this prior season, we had over eighteen

977
00:53:15,600 --> 00:53:20,759
Speaker 2: hours of video content from the sixty second clips that

978
00:53:21,440 --> 00:53:26,720
Speaker 2: fans uploaded while they were at the ballpark, which created

979
00:53:27,160 --> 00:53:31,880
Speaker 2: tremendous context to the feedback where not only were you

980
00:53:32,640 --> 00:53:36,120
Speaker 2: reading and hearing their words, but you could see their faces.

981
00:53:36,239 --> 00:53:43,000
Speaker 2: And what was somewhat supporting for us was how balanced

982
00:53:43,480 --> 00:53:47,319
Speaker 2: much of the cinema was, how encouraging most of the

983
00:53:47,440 --> 00:53:51,480
Speaker 2: energy was in terms of the feedback that was being offered.

984
00:53:52,400 --> 00:53:54,760
Speaker 1: And the first year of that feedback during the twenty

985
00:53:54,760 --> 00:53:57,120
Speaker 1: eighteen season. That played a pretty major role in the

986
00:53:57,120 --> 00:54:01,120
Speaker 1: ballpark enhancements that the Marlins implemented last year. So those

987
00:54:01,120 --> 00:54:04,640
Speaker 1: included the construction of those reimagined seating sections at the ballpark,

988
00:54:04,680 --> 00:54:08,600
Speaker 1: the new concession options, repainting the interior to match the

989
00:54:08,640 --> 00:54:11,560
Speaker 1: team's new color scheme from the rebrand. So, now that

990
00:54:11,719 --> 00:54:14,840
Speaker 1: one full season has played out since those went to effect,

991
00:54:15,320 --> 00:54:18,319
Speaker 1: which of those changes are you most satisfied with? Do

992
00:54:18,320 --> 00:54:21,160
Speaker 1: you feel that Vans have validated the changes in any

993
00:54:21,200 --> 00:54:23,600
Speaker 1: way with what you know, the responses they've given you

994
00:54:23,640 --> 00:54:25,520
Speaker 1: to what they've seen, or will take like a larger

995
00:54:25,800 --> 00:54:28,200
Speaker 1: period of time to know for sure whether these were

996
00:54:28,200 --> 00:54:31,640
Speaker 1: the appropriate moves for you to make. Well.

997
00:54:31,680 --> 00:54:33,839
Speaker 2: I think we're taking the long view on on all

998
00:54:33,880 --> 00:54:37,759
Speaker 2: of our initiatives. We're committed to this market and we're

999
00:54:37,800 --> 00:54:40,359
Speaker 2: here for the long haul, and we'll be putting forth

1000
00:54:40,440 --> 00:54:45,760
Speaker 2: initiatives that in terms of return we we know will

1001
00:54:45,800 --> 00:54:48,680
Speaker 2: take some time, but some of the early returns this

1002
00:54:48,800 --> 00:54:53,400
Speaker 2: year we're very encouraging from the launch of the brand

1003
00:54:53,520 --> 00:54:57,080
Speaker 2: and the market's response in the cinema we have around

1004
00:54:57,160 --> 00:55:01,680
Speaker 2: that brand, you know, very very encoura Ridging to the

1005
00:55:01,760 --> 00:55:05,840
Speaker 2: feedback we received on the enhancements to the ballpark experience,

1006
00:55:06,600 --> 00:55:09,000
Speaker 2: what we hear through d MOLO in terms of fan

1007
00:55:09,120 --> 00:55:14,480
Speaker 2: satisfaction as well as member satisfaction with their overall experience

1008
00:55:14,920 --> 00:55:18,520
Speaker 2: marked improvement year over year within those scores, as well

1009
00:55:18,560 --> 00:55:23,839
Speaker 2: as their perception around satisfaction with cost of attendance as

1010
00:55:23,880 --> 00:55:28,560
Speaker 2: well as overall value of their experience. By affecting the

1011
00:55:28,600 --> 00:55:31,480
Speaker 2: price reset in tickets, bringing the three h five menu

1012
00:55:31,520 --> 00:55:35,040
Speaker 2: and the food and beverage, we were able to pull

1013
00:55:35,120 --> 00:55:40,239
Speaker 2: forward a lot of engagement from our existing buyers as

1014
00:55:40,280 --> 00:55:42,799
Speaker 2: well as earn a lot of new buyers, and a

1015
00:55:42,840 --> 00:55:46,720
Speaker 2: lot of our initiatives is broadening the appeal or position

1016
00:55:47,560 --> 00:55:51,680
Speaker 2: of Marlin's Baseball and Marlin's Park to not only address

1017
00:55:52,360 --> 00:55:57,719
Speaker 2: those avid baseball consumers, but create a broader social entertainment

1018
00:55:57,760 --> 00:56:03,040
Speaker 2: experience that can with the much broader set of leisure

1019
00:56:03,080 --> 00:56:06,000
Speaker 2: and entertainment options that are here in South Florida.

1020
00:56:07,280 --> 00:56:12,360
Speaker 1: One of the media changes with those enhancements involved deassembling

1021
00:56:12,480 --> 00:56:15,840
Speaker 1: the home run sculpture, the colorful one beyond left center field,

1022
00:56:16,280 --> 00:56:19,759
Speaker 1: and for twenty twenty, it's m's my understanding that that's

1023
00:56:19,800 --> 00:56:22,400
Speaker 1: going to be reassembled away from the playing field but

1024
00:56:22,520 --> 00:56:27,319
Speaker 1: outside on the premises. Aside from that obvious difference in

1025
00:56:27,320 --> 00:56:30,719
Speaker 1: the aesthetic of the whole facility will more or less

1026
00:56:30,719 --> 00:56:33,239
Speaker 1: the ballpark look very similar in twenty twenty as it

1027
00:56:33,239 --> 00:56:34,280
Speaker 1: did in twenty nineteen.

1028
00:56:35,760 --> 00:56:39,920
Speaker 2: Well, we're excited to reintroduce the home run sculpture and

1029
00:56:40,040 --> 00:56:43,920
Speaker 2: have it anchor the East Plaza on the exterior of

1030
00:56:43,960 --> 00:56:47,719
Speaker 2: the ballpark, and we're appreciative of the partnership we had

1031
00:56:47,760 --> 00:56:50,799
Speaker 2: with the app and the county and all other stakeholders

1032
00:56:51,600 --> 00:56:54,879
Speaker 2: in that decision, which created a tremendous opportunity for us

1033
00:56:54,920 --> 00:56:59,640
Speaker 2: to address a gap within our in ballpark experience, creating

1034
00:57:00,760 --> 00:57:03,720
Speaker 2: and an in bold group hospitality space on the lower

1035
00:57:03,800 --> 00:57:07,479
Speaker 2: level of Automation Alley, and then create more standing view

1036
00:57:08,280 --> 00:57:12,239
Speaker 2: experience for all fans as part of that expanded Budweiser

1037
00:57:12,320 --> 00:57:16,520
Speaker 2: Terrace and Skyline Terrace experience, which from day one on

1038
00:57:16,640 --> 00:57:19,720
Speaker 2: opening Day all the way through Game eighty one was

1039
00:57:19,760 --> 00:57:23,520
Speaker 2: a tremendous vista and a gathering spot or destination for

1040
00:57:24,120 --> 00:57:26,600
Speaker 2: a lot of Marlins fans as well as you know,

1041
00:57:26,720 --> 00:57:29,800
Speaker 2: visiting team guests. You know, as we look to to

1042
00:57:29,880 --> 00:57:34,840
Speaker 2: twenty twenty, there are additional experiential spaces that we're looking

1043
00:57:34,880 --> 00:57:39,360
Speaker 2: to introduce introduce into the program, as well as further

1044
00:57:39,400 --> 00:57:44,400
Speaker 2: investments within you know, the overall experience and the cost

1045
00:57:44,440 --> 00:57:48,720
Speaker 2: of that experience, So holding firm on that price set

1046
00:57:48,800 --> 00:57:53,280
Speaker 2: within ticketing, making sure that our product is affordable and

1047
00:57:53,360 --> 00:57:56,040
Speaker 2: that cost is not an objection or reason why not

1048
00:57:56,160 --> 00:57:59,600
Speaker 2: to attend the Marlins game, but also holding on to

1049
00:57:59,680 --> 00:58:03,440
Speaker 2: three five menu and then looking to address some of

1050
00:58:03,440 --> 00:58:07,960
Speaker 2: the other transactions within the game day. So we heard

1051
00:58:07,960 --> 00:58:10,640
Speaker 2: a lot of feedback this year around the parking rates

1052
00:58:10,800 --> 00:58:14,880
Speaker 2: and moving into twenty twenty, we will affect a price

1053
00:58:14,960 --> 00:58:18,760
Speaker 2: reset on both the end week and weekend rates for

1054
00:58:19,080 --> 00:58:25,080
Speaker 2: parking within the Marlins Park garages and surface slots of

1055
00:58:25,200 --> 00:58:30,880
Speaker 2: savings up to twenty five percent off what fans incurred

1056
00:58:31,200 --> 00:58:35,760
Speaker 2: here in the twenty nineteen year. Similarly, on the retail side,

1057
00:58:35,800 --> 00:58:42,160
Speaker 2: looking to introduce new introductory pricing around many core apparel items,

1058
00:58:42,160 --> 00:58:45,320
Speaker 2: whether that be a hat or a T shirt. Again,

1059
00:58:45,400 --> 00:58:51,040
Speaker 2: the focus in terms of earning fans and attendees moving forward,

1060
00:58:51,040 --> 00:58:53,680
Speaker 2: which we need more fans and we want to build

1061
00:58:53,680 --> 00:58:56,720
Speaker 2: the attendance so that we have that sustainable business in

1062
00:58:56,760 --> 00:59:00,480
Speaker 2: place so we can continue to reinvest within the that

1063
00:59:00,520 --> 00:59:03,960
Speaker 2: we're bringing up into the major leagues. Is that we

1064
00:59:04,120 --> 00:59:09,040
Speaker 2: have a value that earns the business and the time

1065
00:59:09,200 --> 00:59:11,320
Speaker 2: of every consumer out in the market.

1066
00:59:12,360 --> 00:59:15,600
Speaker 1: The parking is a huge one. I'm very excited about that.

1067
00:59:15,080 --> 00:59:18,480
Speaker 1: That's a good idea that even my staff, riders and

1068
00:59:18,560 --> 00:59:20,720
Speaker 1: pretty much anybody that's been in the area. I think

1069
00:59:20,720 --> 00:59:23,280
Speaker 1: that was a very common gripe that people had, so

1070
00:59:23,280 --> 00:59:26,400
Speaker 1: that's very exciting to hear. We're speaking with Adam Jones,

1071
00:59:26,760 --> 00:59:30,840
Speaker 1: chief revenue officer of the Marlins, and Adam throughout the

1072
00:59:30,880 --> 00:59:35,920
Speaker 1: past couple of years, one of the big milestones coming

1073
00:59:36,000 --> 00:59:39,400
Speaker 1: up on the horizon has been the process of negotiating

1074
00:59:39,400 --> 00:59:43,000
Speaker 1: this new regional television deal for the Marlins. Current contract

1075
00:59:43,040 --> 00:59:46,040
Speaker 1: with Fox Sports Florida expires after the twenty twenty season,

1076
00:59:46,600 --> 00:59:49,520
Speaker 1: and that deal has very legitimately been cited as a

1077
00:59:49,560 --> 00:59:52,800
Speaker 1: reason why the team maintains a low major league payroll.

1078
00:59:52,840 --> 00:59:56,080
Speaker 1: That lack of TV revenue to some extent, pressured the

1079
00:59:56,080 --> 00:59:58,600
Speaker 1: front office to trade some of the most valuable players

1080
00:59:58,640 --> 01:00:01,000
Speaker 1: on the team two winners ago, and the majority of

1081
01:00:01,000 --> 01:00:04,720
Speaker 1: fans understand why those transactions were necessary. But nobody wants

1082
01:00:04,720 --> 01:00:06,919
Speaker 1: to be in that position again when you know they're

1083
01:00:06,920 --> 01:00:09,360
Speaker 1: building up exciting team and have to tear it down

1084
01:00:09,360 --> 01:00:12,560
Speaker 1: all of a sudden. So would you consider those negotiations

1085
01:00:12,600 --> 01:00:15,400
Speaker 1: over television rights be your number one priority over this

1086
01:00:15,440 --> 01:00:15,919
Speaker 1: next year.

1087
01:00:18,360 --> 01:00:20,720
Speaker 2: It's among, you know, one of the highest priorities. There's

1088
01:00:20,720 --> 01:00:23,880
Speaker 2: a number of fundamental, you know, building blocks to a

1089
01:00:23,920 --> 01:00:30,400
Speaker 2: sustainable sport enterprise. And a TV rights agreement at a

1090
01:00:30,640 --> 01:00:34,120
Speaker 2: market rate, and we find ourselves well below market rate

1091
01:00:34,200 --> 01:00:37,480
Speaker 2: today working through the back end of you know, the

1092
01:00:38,160 --> 01:00:42,520
Speaker 2: deal negotiated in the early two thousands, we have an

1093
01:00:42,560 --> 01:00:46,760
Speaker 2: opportunity in that particular line of business to see a

1094
01:00:46,800 --> 01:00:52,280
Speaker 2: considerable gain moving out of twenty twenty and into twenty

1095
01:00:52,320 --> 01:00:59,440
Speaker 2: twenty one and look forward to resetting that rate to market.

1096
01:01:00,240 --> 01:01:03,960
Speaker 2: But just as importantly focused on, uh, you know, the

1097
01:01:04,360 --> 01:01:08,080
Speaker 2: type of content and how we're distributing that content. So

1098
01:01:08,120 --> 01:01:11,680
Speaker 2: as we're looking to build a market, we we both

1099
01:01:11,760 --> 01:01:16,440
Speaker 2: are are monetizing at a rate we deserve, but are

1100
01:01:16,560 --> 01:01:20,480
Speaker 2: creating a product you know that you know, earns the

1101
01:01:20,880 --> 01:01:26,080
Speaker 2: trust and engagement of residents and businesses and market as well.

1102
01:01:26,320 --> 01:01:29,120
Speaker 1: And in terms of the timing of reaching a new deal,

1103
01:01:29,760 --> 01:01:32,880
Speaker 1: the Colorado Rockies, for example, had a very similar situation

1104
01:01:32,960 --> 01:01:35,600
Speaker 1: to the Marlins, that were their contract was set to

1105
01:01:35,640 --> 01:01:38,440
Speaker 1: expire at the same time with their regional sports network

1106
01:01:38,480 --> 01:01:40,880
Speaker 1: at and T sports Net, and they just announced an

1107
01:01:40,920 --> 01:01:43,760
Speaker 1: extension of that deal. So do you think there's a

1108
01:01:43,800 --> 01:01:47,080
Speaker 1: possibility that the Marlins are able to hammer out that

1109
01:01:47,160 --> 01:01:50,520
Speaker 1: new deal this offseason or is that something that doing

1110
01:01:50,560 --> 01:01:53,240
Speaker 1: your due diligence you think will have to go mount

1111
01:01:53,320 --> 01:01:57,160
Speaker 1: more down to the wire before everybody is satisfied with

1112
01:01:57,240 --> 01:01:57,920
Speaker 1: the outcome of that.

1113
01:02:00,200 --> 01:02:04,680
Speaker 2: It's a primary of focus for the organization, and to

1114
01:02:04,720 --> 01:02:10,120
Speaker 2: the extent we're successful and achieving the desired outcome, sooner

1115
01:02:10,160 --> 01:02:13,360
Speaker 2: than later, we will be happy to you know, close

1116
01:02:13,360 --> 01:02:17,800
Speaker 2: out that process and move on to the next areas

1117
01:02:17,840 --> 01:02:21,320
Speaker 2: of focus. But one of key area of focus is

1118
01:02:21,320 --> 01:02:24,520
Speaker 2: that we want to make sure that we set this

1119
01:02:24,640 --> 01:02:29,400
Speaker 2: organization up for sustainable success and making sure that we

1120
01:02:29,920 --> 01:02:33,320
Speaker 2: achieve an outcome on that particular deal and find the

1121
01:02:33,400 --> 01:02:37,720
Speaker 2: right partner to deliver the right product you to our

1122
01:02:37,760 --> 01:02:41,440
Speaker 2: fans and at the right rate. You know, that allows

1123
01:02:41,520 --> 01:02:44,600
Speaker 2: us to build and fill into those building blocks of

1124
01:02:45,480 --> 01:02:46,600
Speaker 2: a sustainable business.

1125
01:02:47,120 --> 01:02:49,760
Speaker 1: Just to close up this conversation here, I'd like for

1126
01:02:49,800 --> 01:02:52,600
Speaker 1: the audience to understand that you are relatively young for

1127
01:02:52,680 --> 01:02:56,080
Speaker 1: a top tier executive management position in Major League Baseball.

1128
01:02:56,080 --> 01:02:59,400
Speaker 1: You're not yet forty years old, So understanding there's no

1129
01:02:59,480 --> 01:03:02,920
Speaker 1: such thing as a normal career arc in the sports industry.

1130
01:03:03,440 --> 01:03:05,480
Speaker 1: I think some people would consider what you currently have

1131
01:03:05,640 --> 01:03:09,640
Speaker 1: right now to be a quote dream job, but maybe

1132
01:03:09,680 --> 01:03:13,080
Speaker 1: you strive for something more. I'm curious if there's anything

1133
01:03:13,120 --> 01:03:16,840
Speaker 1: in particular, whether it's with the Marlins or just long

1134
01:03:16,960 --> 01:03:19,600
Speaker 1: term in your career that you want to accomplish in

1135
01:03:19,640 --> 01:03:23,280
Speaker 1: the sports industry to feel totally fulfilled and have a

1136
01:03:23,320 --> 01:03:26,680
Speaker 1: certain impact. What is it that keeps you motivated and

1137
01:03:27,080 --> 01:03:29,800
Speaker 1: whatever has helped you get to this point, but also

1138
01:03:30,160 --> 01:03:33,120
Speaker 1: some of the traits that you think are important to

1139
01:03:33,320 --> 01:03:36,040
Speaker 1: the rest of your careers as being someone that affects

1140
01:03:36,160 --> 01:03:38,320
Speaker 1: change at the highest level of sports.

1141
01:03:39,320 --> 01:03:42,600
Speaker 2: Well, I think I have a tremendous opportunity as all

1142
01:03:42,640 --> 01:03:47,120
Speaker 2: those who've you know, joined me in this this venture

1143
01:03:48,080 --> 01:03:52,800
Speaker 2: to you know, with the Marlins, you prove out a

1144
01:03:52,920 --> 01:03:57,360
Speaker 2: concept you know that originated in the early nineties around

1145
01:03:57,800 --> 01:04:03,120
Speaker 2: baseball in South Florida, and UH, myself and the rest

1146
01:04:03,160 --> 01:04:07,320
Speaker 2: of this organization hold a very bullish outlook on our

1147
01:04:07,360 --> 01:04:11,960
Speaker 2: ability to prove out that that concept and deliver to

1148
01:04:12,880 --> 01:04:16,560
Speaker 2: an elevated standard as to what a sport enterprise can

1149
01:04:16,600 --> 01:04:20,680
Speaker 2: be within not only this market, but in the overall

1150
01:04:20,880 --> 01:04:25,200
Speaker 2: you know, sport industry landscape. You know, for me, I

1151
01:04:25,560 --> 01:04:28,920
Speaker 2: seek the challenges and and with those challenges the opportunities

1152
01:04:28,960 --> 01:04:35,840
Speaker 2: to UH explore new and emerging concepts and ideas continuing

1153
01:04:35,960 --> 01:04:40,960
Speaker 2: to not only move our organization forward, but pioneer where

1154
01:04:41,000 --> 01:04:45,080
Speaker 2: possible for for the industry as as a whole. You know,

1155
01:04:45,160 --> 01:04:48,840
Speaker 2: being a thought leader is something that I was very

1156
01:04:48,840 --> 01:04:53,520
Speaker 2: proud to to be within my role consulting within the industry,

1157
01:04:54,080 --> 01:04:57,800
Speaker 2: but see equal opportunity, if not better, to continue to

1158
01:04:57,880 --> 01:05:01,840
Speaker 2: serve in that capacity here as one of the leaders

1159
01:05:01,840 --> 01:05:04,360
Speaker 2: with then this up and coming organization.

1160
01:05:05,680 --> 01:05:08,240
Speaker 1: Well, you've made a lot of progress so far and

1161
01:05:09,560 --> 01:05:12,560
Speaker 1: being with Fish Stripes and having an eye on this organization,

1162
01:05:12,640 --> 01:05:15,440
Speaker 1: I think it's pretty clear that anybody that's interacted with

1163
01:05:15,480 --> 01:05:17,280
Speaker 1: you since you've come over to the Marlins has been

1164
01:05:17,400 --> 01:05:21,040
Speaker 1: very impressed with just your creativity and your way to

1165
01:05:21,760 --> 01:05:25,040
Speaker 1: balance particular initiatives with like a broader goal that the

1166
01:05:25,160 --> 01:05:28,840
Speaker 1: organization has. Adam Jones, Chief Revenue Officer of the Marlins,

1167
01:05:29,320 --> 01:05:31,480
Speaker 1: thank you so much for coming on Fish Bites, and

1168
01:05:31,720 --> 01:05:34,400
Speaker 1: we hope to check in again in the future as

1169
01:05:34,400 --> 01:05:37,240
Speaker 1: the team continues to progress with this build towards being

1170
01:05:37,240 --> 01:05:38,360
Speaker 1: a sustainable contender.

1171
01:05:39,000 --> 01:05:42,280
Speaker 2: My pleasure, Eli. We're looking forward to helping everybody back

1172
01:05:42,320 --> 01:05:44,960
Speaker 2: in March for the twenty twenty season.