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Speaker 1: What's up, everybody. Welcome into another edsion of Crush City territory.

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Speaker 1: I'm Chandler Rome, joined this time by the newly minted

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Speaker 1: thirty nine year old Josh Reddick. Josh, first of all,

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Speaker 1: happy belated birthday. But Tyler obviously didn't want to celebrate.

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Speaker 1: He is he's not with us. He claims he's sick.

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Speaker 1: I have not been able to confirm that he is sick,

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Speaker 1: so he may just be deserting you on the day

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Speaker 1: after your birthday. How do you feel about that?

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Speaker 2: You know, there's a reason why I'm called mister irrelevant

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Speaker 2: in the sporting world of baseball, and Tyler just continued

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Speaker 2: to prove that today because you know, for those who

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Speaker 2: don't know, Justin Verlander's birthdays today and it's widely celebrated

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Speaker 2: because obviously it should be Jav's great human, great player

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Speaker 2: Hall of Famer. But that does touch up and bring

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Speaker 2: up a sense of the subject to yours truly, because

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Speaker 2: every year in spring training, after we got Jay aj

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Speaker 2: made this running prank of you know, not acknowledging the

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Speaker 2: February nineteenth birthday in the room, but going all out

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Speaker 2: for the next birthday the following day. So it was

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Speaker 2: always a running joke, and I think Berlander had everything

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Speaker 2: to do with it, because if I'm sure he was,

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Speaker 2: he was still in the back left corner of the

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Speaker 2: locker room, right when you walk in back left corner.

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Speaker 2: I was on the right right by the bathrooms, right

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Speaker 2: where I belong, right by the poopers. I could see

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Speaker 2: him giggling in the corner like a little girl, just

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Speaker 2: waiting for something to wait for something to happen. So

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Speaker 2: it was a running joke for a little while for

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Speaker 2: that and then so it just continues to add on.

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Speaker 2: On February twentieth, it's not a friendly day for me

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Speaker 2: because everybody just seems to just celebrate the twentieth way

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Speaker 2: more than they do the nineteenth. So Tyler, I'm.

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Speaker 1: On to you, man, what do you get justin Berlander

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Speaker 1: for his birthday? What do you get someone that has everything.

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Speaker 2: Nothing? He sets up his own birthday party for everybody

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Speaker 2: in spring training. So that's taken care of any pace

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Speaker 2: for all his drink, All the drinks and the food

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Speaker 2: are covered as as they should be. My man's made

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Speaker 2: of perform a million dollars. He what second or third most,

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Speaker 2: fourth most in the history of sports, and money made,

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Speaker 2: so nobody should get him anything. I'll give you a

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Speaker 2: nice pat on the butt, Hey, Bud, happy birthday. Keep

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Speaker 2: doing what you do, because I mean, you just said

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Speaker 2: there's nothing you can get that guy. What are you

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Speaker 2: gonna give a gift card to the golf store? Like,

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Speaker 2: maybe a dozen golf balls. Everybody, every every dad that

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Speaker 2: plays plays golf loves a good dozen golf balls. You

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Speaker 2: can never go wrong there. So maybe I should have

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Speaker 2: done that, but I didn't get him anything.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that seems like the way to go, either a

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Speaker 1: sleeve of golf balls or nothing, because he'll at least,

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Speaker 1: you know, he'll use the golf balls you're gonna get

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Speaker 1: justin Verlanders. Anything else, he'll probably just throw it in

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Speaker 1: whatever room in his house or his house is.

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Speaker 2: If it makes it to the house, it might it

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Speaker 2: might make it to the trash can at the curve

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Speaker 2: for all we know.

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Speaker 1: Correct. So I wonder what AJ did for I wonder

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Speaker 1: what AJ did for JV today in Lakeland and Tigertown.

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Speaker 2: Whether there was I guarantee you there was something I

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Speaker 2: should have. You know I should have. I should message

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Speaker 2: AJ while we're on the on the feed and be like, hey,

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Speaker 2: what'd you do for JV's birthday? Because I didn't get

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Speaker 2: a text from you. I mean, you know, I'm gonna

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Speaker 2: get on it right now. All right, I'm texting aj

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Speaker 2: right now.

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Speaker 1: Okay, Well, while you're doing that, let's catch everyone up

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Speaker 1: a little bit on what they've missed since the last podcast,

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Speaker 1: which featured Asher's opening day starter Hunter Brown. Hunter Brown

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Speaker 1: through his second live VP of spring training today at

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Speaker 1: Cacti not at Cacti Park of the Palm Beaches, at

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Speaker 1: the Astra Spring training facility. He got two ups, which

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Speaker 1: means he threw simulated two innings and in between his

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Speaker 1: inning breaks. Tatsuya Emi through his first live VP as

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Speaker 1: a Major League Baseball player, and he actually told uh

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Speaker 1: Asher's coaches yesterday that he was pretty nervous that he

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Speaker 1: was gonna be nervous throwing his first live VP in

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Speaker 1: in front of a lot of people. You know, Josh.

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Speaker 1: It's funny. Joe Spot and I were talking a little

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Speaker 1: bit today and we were kind of talking about like

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Speaker 1: how how scrutinized this live VP was going to be,

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Speaker 1: And I said, I can think of only one other

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Speaker 1: live VP in my time covering the Astros that probably

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Speaker 1: got more attention than tetsu EMI's today, and it was

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Speaker 1: Force Whitley's when he was a when he was still

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Speaker 1: like the top consensus prospect all and I remember, I'll

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Speaker 1: never forget. We were on one of the backfields and

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Speaker 1: it was about as big of a crowd as showed

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Speaker 1: up today to watch Emi showed up to watch Whitley.

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Speaker 1: He faced Springer. I think Bregman was in there, I think,

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Speaker 1: And I remember, like I was working at the Houston Chronicle,

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Speaker 1: and I remember like we went to every hitter after like, oh,

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Speaker 1: would you see? Would you see? And I'll never forget

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Speaker 1: George just kind of looked at us. He's like, well,

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Speaker 1: like it was pretty good. Like I hadn't seen a

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Speaker 1: live I hadn't seen live pitching in three months, but

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Speaker 1: it looked good to me. Like it just goes to

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Speaker 1: show like and there's nothing is Force Whitley, but he

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Speaker 1: goes to show like you should not make a lot

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Speaker 1: of live vps, but it's all we have at this point.

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Speaker 2: And I think maybe.

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Speaker 1: More for tetsu Emi, I think today maybe allowed him

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Speaker 1: to take a little bit of a deep breath, like

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Speaker 1: he he he passed another test, maybe past another hurdle

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Speaker 1: and I think I don't know if it was designed

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Speaker 1: this way, but if it was, you know, kudos to

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Speaker 1: the astros and kudos to the people that set it up.

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Speaker 1: But Jose al Tuove was the second batter he faced,

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Speaker 1: and if you're gonna be nervous, if you're gonna like

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Speaker 1: have a lot like, it's best just to rip the

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Speaker 1: band aid off, like face face the Hall of Famer,

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Speaker 1: the resident Hall of Famer on the team, and tetsu

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Speaker 1: Emi got the full Jose Al two Bay experience. He

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Speaker 1: got two pitches Al two ve swung, swung and miss

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Speaker 1: at the first one. It was a it was one

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Speaker 1: of those sliders that we'll talk about a little bit

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Speaker 1: in a little bit, em I slider, but you know,

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Speaker 1: slung a miss at a slider and then rolled over

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Speaker 1: would look like a fastball, uh to the left side

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Speaker 1: of the endfield. But Emai afterwards said, you know felt good.

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Speaker 1: You know, it was good to see him pound in

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Speaker 1: the strike zone. But he did say he said, once

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Speaker 1: Al two b stepped into the batter's box and once

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Speaker 1: he started pitching Al two bay. This was EMI's direct quote,

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Speaker 1: through an interpret he said, Wow, I really feel like

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Speaker 1: I'm in the big leagues.

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Speaker 2: Now, that's that's high praise for not only al Tuove,

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Speaker 2: who deserves every bit of praise he gets, but good

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Speaker 2: for him. I mean, Emi seems to be adjusting well.

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Speaker 2: And we've talked about that clubhouse atmosphere. It's such an

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Speaker 2: easy transition to come over there. I think I read

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Speaker 2: somebody else's comment, was it Burrow? I think Burrows said

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Speaker 2: the exact same thing like yesterday or today about how

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Speaker 2: great the environment is there. But for him to come

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Speaker 2: out and just say how nervous he was shows that

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Speaker 2: the competitor that he that he really is, he's excited

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Speaker 2: to be there. It's not just another day for him.

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Speaker 2: You know, this is a completely different culture shop for

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Speaker 2: this guy. He's coming to a different country, small small

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Speaker 2: small town Florida city that you know, there's probably not

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Speaker 2: a whole lot to do for somebody who doesn't know

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Speaker 2: where to go. So not only is he adjusting hard

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Speaker 2: to the baseball world, he's adjusting to life over here

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Speaker 2: as well. So for him to come out be nervous

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Speaker 2: and then say something like that about al Tuove, it

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Speaker 2: just shows how comfortable he is and how good he's

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Speaker 2: hopefully going to be. Like you said, we can rewind

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Speaker 2: nothing against Fort Wheetly. Let's hope that career path goes

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Speaker 2: a completely opposite direction as that one did for the

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Speaker 2: for the Houston Astionals organization. But it's good get him

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Speaker 2: out of there. We may know, like you said, we

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Speaker 2: haven't seen probably anywhere close to what Tessy he might

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Speaker 2: is going to be able to be able to do

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Speaker 2: in a big league uniform, Like this is our first

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Speaker 2: first step moving forward seeing what he can do, and

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Speaker 2: it's just gonna get better and better as it goes on,

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Speaker 2: as spring training goes on, and then you got to

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Speaker 2: go into the season. You know, his first start nerves

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Speaker 2: are going to kick in a whole lot more. You know,

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Speaker 2: it's it's just a ladder that he just has to

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Speaker 2: continue to climb and keep moving forward. And he seems

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Speaker 2: like he's got the right head on his shoulders to

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Speaker 2: be able to accomplish that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you mentioned there, you hit the nail on the head.

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Speaker 1: Like there's gonna be a lot of firsts for him,

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Speaker 1: Like his first spring training workout was a big deal

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Speaker 1: because there was a ton of Japanese media here that

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Speaker 1: was just following his every move and then today again

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Speaker 1: it's another step. His first grape Fruit League start, when

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Speaker 1: he pitches in a spring training game, that'll be another

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Speaker 1: We'll be having this same discussion kind of around that,

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Speaker 1: and then obviously his first start in the regular season

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Speaker 1: will have the same stuff. So it's a gradual thing

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Speaker 1: with Emi. He's gonna have to kind of take all

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Speaker 1: these necessary steps. But again, this is why you have

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Speaker 1: spring training. It's better to do this here. It's better

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Speaker 1: to do this, like you kind of mentioned, in a

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Speaker 1: small town, not a small town, but a small part

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Speaker 1: of South Florida that you know, kind of secluded.

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Speaker 2: You're not.

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Speaker 1: You know, there's there's fans here, and obviously, you know

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Speaker 1: all of his teammates came to watch him through live

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Speaker 1: VP today, But you know, you're not doing this in

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Speaker 1: front of forty thousand people with a third deck, with

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Speaker 1: you know, a bunch of pressure on you. Like look,

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Speaker 1: if he would have gone out there and sprayed the

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Speaker 1: ball over the place today and not been able to

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Speaker 1: throw it over the plate, like I mean, look, there

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Speaker 1: would have been a little bit of concern, but you wouldn't, right,

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Speaker 1: it wouldn't have been like sound the alarm bells like

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Speaker 1: this guy's like it would have been okay if he

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Speaker 1: would have not performed well today, but it was good

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Speaker 1: for the Astros that he did. He was one thing

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Speaker 1: I will say about watching it. You know, the he

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Speaker 1: was around the strike zone, which I'll be honest with you,

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Speaker 1: in his first couple of bullpens when we were watching

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Speaker 1: his bullpens in the ten pack, that was not always

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Speaker 1: the case. He was spraying it around a little bit.

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Speaker 1: And again, you never want to overreact to anything in

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Speaker 1: spring training. You know, if he goes out in his

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Speaker 1: first grape Fruit League start and it doesn't go well,

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Speaker 1: I beg of you, please do not overreact. Please do

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Speaker 1: not act like this is a bad signing. In the

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Speaker 1: same vein, if he goes out there in his first

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Speaker 1: grape Fruit League start and strikes out nine guys in

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Speaker 1: three innings, don't overreact to that. It's it's all. You know,

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Speaker 1: what's the old adage. You don't believe March stats and

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Speaker 1: you don't believe September stats. So but I'm glad you

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Speaker 1: brought up though you know his transition and how he's

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Speaker 1: fitting in here, because you know you mentioned that he's

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Speaker 1: come it's a culture shock, and he's coming to a

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Speaker 1: place where he doesn't know anybody. And you know, I

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Speaker 1: think with Emi, the thing that has impressed me the

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Speaker 1: most about what is around him is that he has

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Speaker 1: come into the perfect clubhouse I think for him, because Josh,

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Speaker 1: I mean, you've been in there. You know the culture

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Speaker 1: in there. You know how welcoming everyone is.

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Speaker 2: You know that.

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Speaker 1: You know, every time I try to write about kind

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Speaker 1: of the culture that's been cultivated in there across this

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Speaker 1: era of Ashers baseball, you know, you struggle to come

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Speaker 1: up with the right words. But you know, Mauricio Dubond

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Speaker 1: said once it's like, we don't have many rules. And

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Speaker 1: you know, there was another time where I think was

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Speaker 1: justin Verlanders said, you know, if you give your best,

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Speaker 1: that's that's perfectly fine, because you know, the guys at

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Speaker 1: the top in al Tuve and Korea and mccullors, kind

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Speaker 1: of the figureheads of this. You know, they're giving it

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Speaker 1: their best. So as long as you reciprocate what they do,

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Speaker 1: it's good to go in there and there's no preconceived notions,

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Speaker 1: no judgment. But again, this is new. The Ashers have

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Speaker 1: not had a Japanese born player come straight from MPB

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Speaker 1: or a foreign league in their history. So this is

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Speaker 1: new for everyone. And to that effect, you know that

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Speaker 1: sya Emi after his first it was his second. It

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Speaker 1: was during his second spring training workout kind of started

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Speaker 1: to he he stepped out of his comfort zone a bit.

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Speaker 1: He was willing to, you know, acknowledge that he was

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Speaker 1: a little lonely that you know, he's staying at the

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Speaker 1: I'm sure you know the the hotel he's staying at. Josh,

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Speaker 1: He's staying at the Hilton. You never stayed there, of

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Speaker 1: course not you would never stay there, but uh, he's

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Speaker 1: staying I was.

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Speaker 3: A free agent signing. I wasn't staying at a hotel

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Speaker 3: in spring training, of course not he he of course

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Speaker 3: you were not. But tetsu Emai is he was a

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Speaker 3: free agent signing. But I think just to maybe get

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Speaker 3: get stuff going, staying at a hotel, art.

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Speaker 2: Culture shop, the culture shot comes back to play.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. But so after his second spring training, during his

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Speaker 1: second spring training workout, this was still when pictures and

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Speaker 1: catchers were it was just pictures and catchers. Uh, they

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Speaker 1: were doing PFPS on one of the backfields, and he

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Speaker 1: found Ryan Weiss. And Ryan Weiss obviously played last year

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Speaker 1: in the KBO in Korea, and Ryan Weiss has a

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Speaker 1: lot of parallels with Tetsumi. He has been Ryan Weiss

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Speaker 1: has been exactly where Tatsuya Emi is now. He has

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Speaker 1: been in a foreign league where he needed an interpreter

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Speaker 1: around him at all times and did not know the culture,

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Speaker 1: did not know the language, did not know anything like

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Speaker 1: Ryan Weiss has been in Tatsuya EMI's shootes. So in

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Speaker 1: hearing Tatsuya em I talk about it, he said he

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Speaker 1: knew that he knew that he had been there before.

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Speaker 1: He knew and Emi said this through his interpret he said,

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Speaker 1: I had a connection with him. So during their second

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Speaker 1: day of PFPS, he kind of em I did what

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Speaker 1: I don't think a lot of people would be comfortable

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Speaker 1: doing in this situation. Like he went up to Ryan

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Speaker 1: Weiss and he asked him, you know, what do you

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Speaker 1: do when you leave the field?

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Speaker 2: What do you do when you go home?

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Speaker 1: Because I'm bored. He told him, I'm bored. And you know,

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Speaker 1: Ryan Weiss's wife is down here and staying with him

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Speaker 1: and bring training. He said, well, you know, usually I

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Speaker 1: kind of hang out with my wife, But if you

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Speaker 1: want to go to dinner, like, I'd love to take

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Speaker 1: you to dinner and Emi, as why described it, Emi

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Speaker 1: was very very excited to get that invitation. Ryan Weiss

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Speaker 1: extended the invitation of Mike Burrows another new edition of

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Speaker 1: the Astros Clubhouse, and then I went to dinner in

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Speaker 1: downtown West Palm Beach uh last week and it produced

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Speaker 1: this wonderful uh picture of all three of them, that

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Speaker 1: uh that Ryan Weiss's wife shared on her Instagram story.

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Speaker 1: But you know that, Josh, I'm I gained a lot

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Speaker 1: of respect for Ryan Weiss in that instance, just because

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Speaker 1: you know it to have that initiative to understand and

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Speaker 1: to have that sort of human empathy for someone that

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Speaker 1: that you can clearly tell, you know, just maybe needed

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Speaker 1: a friend at that point, that was really cool. It

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Speaker 1: was cool to see that, and it was cool that

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Speaker 1: that happened. And tatsu Emi even said after like it

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Speaker 1: meant the world to him to do that.

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Speaker 2: Oh goshyah, I mean it just shows that small step

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Speaker 2: towards leadership that you know goes kind of goes a

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Speaker 2: little unnoticed and didn't go notice unnoticed in this situation.

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Speaker 2: Person say, but just for him to step up, you know,

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Speaker 2: these these are all three new guys on a team

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Speaker 2: that you know didn't really know what to expect coming

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Speaker 2: in here. I mean, there were just guys that came

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Speaker 2: along just trying to make this team. Obviously, you know

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Speaker 2: these two of those two or three of those guys

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Speaker 2: are I'm losing my words now, excuse me. Just being new,

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Speaker 2: let's be scratch that. Just being new and just getting

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Speaker 2: to know each other on that level probably makes it

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Speaker 2: a lot easier for them as a whole to be

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Speaker 2: able to fit in and not only with just their pictures,

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Speaker 2: but with the whole staff as well, to be able

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Speaker 2: to kind of get comfortable with at least some guys

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Speaker 2: and then kind of move their way forward as they

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Speaker 2: get to know the rest of the staff as well.

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Speaker 2: But for him to just step up and say, you

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Speaker 2: know what, I could have suggested nine things to this

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Speaker 2: guy to do without having somebody come to hang out

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Speaker 2: with him, but instead he just went straight to, hey,

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Speaker 2: let's go bite to eat, Let's just get to know

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Speaker 2: each other a little bit and move on from there.

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Speaker 2: So huge credit to him. I know it had to

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Speaker 2: help out Emi, because you know, from a much smaller standpoint,

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Speaker 2: like going to a new team like that is is

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Speaker 2: kind of difficult to do once your way from the field,

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Speaker 2: Like when I was there in seventeen. You know, got

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Speaker 2: along great with all the guys when I got there,

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Speaker 2: you know, the outfield that we had with you know,

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Speaker 2: Springer myself, even like Nori Aoki after he got home

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Speaker 2: from the w back from the WC, like, we all

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Speaker 2: meshed well, but we all kind of went our separate

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Speaker 2: ways once we left the field to kind of do

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Speaker 2: our own thing, you know, whether you know guys were married.

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Speaker 2: I was still single at the time. But you know,

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Speaker 2: it's a little different. You know, I'm not sure how

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Speaker 2: Japanese players enjoy golfing as much as like what we do.

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Speaker 2: So there's always those different things. But for me, like

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Speaker 2: you just got to find that outlet that's I mean,

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Speaker 2: find an oallyties to get bored, Like I did legos.

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Speaker 2: I would go buy like thousand piece legos and sit

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Speaker 2: in my Airbnb and hang out and do Legos at

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Speaker 2: night with my dogs. I had no shame. Or I

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Speaker 2: played video games. So he'll find something. I'm sure there's

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Speaker 2: something that he can he'll get involved in and really

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Speaker 2: start to enjoy. Just he's got to find that video

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Speaker 2: game or a show that he could really enjoy and

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Speaker 2: just sit on the couch and relax. Man, it's a

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Speaker 2: long season. You don't have to do something every day.

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Speaker 2: Just hang out and if you lonely, go get a dog.

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Speaker 1: And I do want to make a point too, like

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Speaker 1: and after today, after his live VP today, like the

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Speaker 1: minute he walked off the mound, like Correa met Carlos,

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Speaker 1: Korea met Emi, like before he even got off the

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Speaker 1: mound to give him a hug, Like there was a

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Speaker 1: ton of teammates that were, you know, encouraging him and

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Speaker 1: telling him how Grady pitched, you know, in the clubhouse afterward,

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Speaker 1: they really are like rallying around this guy who I

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Speaker 1: don't and I don't want to talk about Emi as

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Speaker 1: if he's like this helpless kind of like.

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Speaker 2: Look, guys, he can hold his own.

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Speaker 1: It's not as if this is something where like he

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Speaker 1: needs his handheld and things like that. But it's just

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Speaker 1: reassuring and just from a human, from the human side

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Speaker 1: of things. It's cool to see them like embrace something

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Speaker 1: that is so new because you know, Josh, like you

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Speaker 1: mentioned it, like you've been new before. And the Ashers

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Speaker 1: have had new guys come in their clubhouse a lot,

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Speaker 1: and guys that there is a language barrier. But again,

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Speaker 1: this is something so new for the entire organization, welcoming

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Speaker 1: a happen these players straight from MPB that that has

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Speaker 1: not happened before. So everything that does happen is pretty new,

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Speaker 1: and it's been interesting and really encouraging just as a

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Speaker 1: human being to see the way they've welcomed this guy.

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Speaker 1: But you know, I don't know when we're going to

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Speaker 1: get to see Emi pitching Great Fruit League play. He's

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Speaker 1: I don't want to say he's behind, because he's not.

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Speaker 2: Like he's not injured.

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Speaker 1: This is not an injury thing, but they're listening to

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Speaker 1: him in terms of like how much he wants to

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Speaker 1: throw when he wants to do.

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Speaker 2: Sir.

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Speaker 1: So today was only his first live VP. Usually pitchers

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Speaker 1: get about two or three live vps before they get

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Speaker 1: into a game. Hunter Brown through his second live VP today,

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Speaker 1: as I mentioned, so Emi just again don't panic on this,

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Speaker 1: but is just a little bit behind the normal kind

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Speaker 1: of starting build up. But again that could be his preference.

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Speaker 1: The astros are allowing him to kind of dictate his schedule.

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Speaker 1: So don't know when we'll see to Emi in Great

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Speaker 1: Fruit League play, but we will see Great Fruit League

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Speaker 1: play beginning tomorrow on Saturday at Cacti Park of the

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Speaker 1: Palm Beaches, the Ashers will play the Nationals and Josh

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00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:09,360
Speaker 1: as we have. As we have talked about in the past,

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Speaker 1: these games largely, you don't want to put too much

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Speaker 1: stock into what happens if guys don't have great, Great

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00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:20,399
Speaker 1: Fruit League showings. If guys do have great, great, great

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00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:23,840
Speaker 1: grape Fruit League showings, say that five times fast. That's

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Speaker 1: if you don't want to put too much stock in

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Speaker 1: the stats. But there is stuff that to watch, and

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Speaker 1: there is there are reasons to watch these games. And

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Speaker 1: I think first and foremost what you've been what you

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Speaker 1: need to watch starting on Saturday is the Ashers outfield

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Speaker 1: and how Joe Aspata is going to divvy some playing time,

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Speaker 1: how these guys are going to look because since the

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00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:51,600
Speaker 1: Astros traded Hey sus Sanchez uh to the Blue Jays

401
00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:55,480
Speaker 1: for Joey loperfdo, they have not done anything else to

402
00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:58,960
Speaker 1: address their outfield And it is something that I think

403
00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:02,600
Speaker 1: is a concern with within the organization. I don't think

404
00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:05,400
Speaker 1: it's a you know, I don't even think I can

405
00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:08,200
Speaker 1: say it. You know, Dana Brown coming out and saying

406
00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:12,200
Speaker 1: after they traded Hayesu Sanchez, We're not done yet, and

407
00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:14,960
Speaker 1: then saying like we're focusing on left handed bats. That

408
00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:17,840
Speaker 1: just signaled that they're not very comfortable with the current

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00:19:17,880 --> 00:19:22,360
Speaker 1: outfield configuration. And it's Zach Cole, It's Jake Myers, It's

410
00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:24,960
Speaker 1: Cam Smith, and it's Joey Loperfito. Those are the four

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00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:28,760
Speaker 1: guys that, as of this moment, probably have the inside

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00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:31,960
Speaker 1: track to make in the opening day roster. That is

413
00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:35,200
Speaker 1: not a lot of experience, Josh. I mean, Jake Myers

414
00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:38,119
Speaker 1: is the veteran of that group, and I would not

415
00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:42,920
Speaker 1: certainly call him an established big leaguer. But it's gonna

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Speaker 1: be interesting to see how Joe maneuvers this and quite frankly,

417
00:19:46,359 --> 00:19:50,480
Speaker 1: whether the Ashers add to this outfield mix during Grapefruit

418
00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:55,639
Speaker 1: League play. From from an outside source, I honestly.

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Speaker 2: Don't know who they even go to. I don't know.

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00:19:56,800 --> 00:19:58,480
Speaker 2: There's not a name that pops up for me to

421
00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:01,639
Speaker 2: even think about reference. But there's got to be something.

422
00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:04,080
Speaker 2: I mean, like like these these four guys, I mean,

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Speaker 2: what Jake has what two years two and two and

424
00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:09,720
Speaker 2: a half years of major league service time? If that

425
00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:12,960
Speaker 2: is he in arbitration, it doesn't matter. He's pre five

426
00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:15,400
Speaker 2: year so he's definitely not an established veteran at all,

427
00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:19,840
Speaker 2: so that leadership role becomes way more of a wait

428
00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:21,879
Speaker 2: for him to kind of bear. And then you have

429
00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:24,040
Speaker 2: a guy like Zach Cole who's got what two months

430
00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:26,359
Speaker 2: of not even a month of service time to come

431
00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:28,520
Speaker 2: in here and hopefully make a team. But yeah, you're

432
00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:31,720
Speaker 2: right this if you're putting a lineup together, these these

433
00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:34,160
Speaker 2: four guys are on your your your your lineup card

434
00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:36,560
Speaker 2: in game one. So I mean, this is something that

435
00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:39,360
Speaker 2: they've got to do and hopefully, you know, hopefully don't

436
00:20:39,359 --> 00:20:41,080
Speaker 2: have to do anything. Hopefully one or two of these

437
00:20:41,080 --> 00:20:45,160
Speaker 2: guys can break out. Cam Smith just continues to build

438
00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:48,560
Speaker 2: Ford and in the way he's moving, we'll give Cam

439
00:20:48,600 --> 00:20:52,240
Speaker 2: his loss. Since Tyler's not here and he's got he's

440
00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:54,639
Speaker 2: got all, you know, every window is open for him.

441
00:20:54,680 --> 00:20:57,240
Speaker 2: He's got every chance to go through and and really

442
00:20:57,320 --> 00:20:59,320
Speaker 2: break out and be that next superstar that they really

443
00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:00,880
Speaker 2: wanted to be a new I know Zach Cole could

444
00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:03,360
Speaker 2: be that next person too, kind of the guy that

445
00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:06,119
Speaker 2: nobody thought could step up. But there's got to be

446
00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:09,639
Speaker 2: some some work done, and they have to mean they

447
00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:11,480
Speaker 2: they've got to make the decision harder for them to

448
00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:13,720
Speaker 2: pick somebody up. If these guys really want to make

449
00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:15,719
Speaker 2: the club as a whole, then they have to do

450
00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:18,880
Speaker 2: everything they can to go out there not only just perform,

451
00:21:18,920 --> 00:21:20,560
Speaker 2: but go out there every day and spring training show

452
00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:22,760
Speaker 2: they're ready to work, show they're trying to get better

453
00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:26,040
Speaker 2: every day, work on weaknesses that they need to improve on,

454
00:21:26,480 --> 00:21:29,320
Speaker 2: and just make Dana's job that much harder. Like, man,

455
00:21:29,359 --> 00:21:31,280
Speaker 2: maybe we don't need this person, or maybe we do

456
00:21:31,359 --> 00:21:34,000
Speaker 2: need this person. So it's it's all in there in

457
00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:36,679
Speaker 2: the driver's seat. Let them handle it. Make Dana's job harder.

458
00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:38,640
Speaker 2: But where they're at right now, it's gonna be tough

459
00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:40,120
Speaker 2: pill to swallow. If you got to look at those

460
00:21:40,119 --> 00:21:41,000
Speaker 2: four guys.

461
00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:44,439
Speaker 1: If you can't get things right, I'm gonna throw some

462
00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:47,639
Speaker 1: numbers at you real quick. So let's like so file

463
00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:49,840
Speaker 1: some of these numbers with. Jake Myers has a grand

464
00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:52,960
Speaker 1: total of fifteen hundred and fifty eight Major League played

465
00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:59,720
Speaker 1: appearances in his career and fifty eight. Zach Cole, cam Smith,

466
00:22:00,119 --> 00:22:03,680
Speaker 1: and Joey lo Brafdo have combined for nine hundred and

467
00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:08,480
Speaker 1: eleven Major League played appearances. Hey Sue Sanchez, who the

468
00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:12,639
Speaker 1: Astros traded away to the Blue Jay, has sixteen hundred

469
00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:16,159
Speaker 1: and eighty one played appearances against right handed pitching alone,

470
00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:18,920
Speaker 1: So that's not even counting the time that he hits left.

471
00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:24,480
Speaker 1: So what I'm trying to say is, like I'm Haysue Sanchez,

472
00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:27,679
Speaker 1: trading him is sensible, right, Like he was making too

473
00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:31,440
Speaker 1: much money, he was did not have a path really

474
00:22:31,480 --> 00:22:33,960
Speaker 1: to everyday playing time as you looked at it, especially

475
00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:35,400
Speaker 1: with how his last two months went.

476
00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:37,800
Speaker 2: But the one thing he did have he had a

477
00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:38,439
Speaker 2: track record.

478
00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:41,520
Speaker 1: He had a back and I know everyone's gonna hate

479
00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:43,639
Speaker 1: to hear this phrase, but he had a back of

480
00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:47,440
Speaker 1: the baseball card, even if you didn't see it at

481
00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:49,720
Speaker 1: all in the two months he was an Astro just

482
00:22:50,920 --> 00:22:53,439
Speaker 1: five season, right, don't look at the last two he

483
00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:55,680
Speaker 1: was He was good. He was a good player when

484
00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:57,439
Speaker 1: the Astros acquired for the Marlins, and then it just

485
00:22:57,480 --> 00:23:00,000
Speaker 1: went terribly for the last two months. And he was

486
00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:01,880
Speaker 1: hot for like he was hot for like what a week?

487
00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:04,520
Speaker 1: He was hot for like a week and that was it, yep, exactly.

488
00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:09,480
Speaker 1: So it's okay to trade hey, sus Sanchez like that

489
00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:11,840
Speaker 1: the whole But the whole crux of it was, if

490
00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:15,520
Speaker 1: you're gonna trade your most experienced outfielder, if you're going

491
00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:18,239
Speaker 1: to trade the guy that if you really look at it,

492
00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:21,280
Speaker 1: he's probably your third or fourth best option against right

493
00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:25,280
Speaker 1: handed pitching on most days. It better come with a

494
00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:28,800
Speaker 1: counter move. It better come with something to replace him

495
00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:33,560
Speaker 1: that's not Joey Loperfdo. Who Joey Lirafdo could be great,

496
00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:35,720
Speaker 1: Like we've seen the upside, Like he's a left handed

497
00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:37,800
Speaker 1: bat that could crush right handed pitching. Who knows, But

498
00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:40,560
Speaker 1: he just hasn't done it that Cole hasn't done it.

499
00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:44,320
Speaker 1: Cam Smith hasn't done it. So in the absence of that,

500
00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:48,880
Speaker 1: you're relying on a lot of inexperience in the outfield.

501
00:23:49,119 --> 00:23:54,120
Speaker 1: And it just we know how much Dana Brown values

502
00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:57,680
Speaker 1: grape Fruit League results. That's a lot of the reason

503
00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:00,400
Speaker 1: why Cam Smith made the opening day roster lifelast year

504
00:24:01,119 --> 00:24:03,840
Speaker 1: is because he tore it up in grape Fruit League play.

505
00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:08,159
Speaker 1: But Josh, I wonder how like logical that line of

506
00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:10,520
Speaker 1: thinking is, because as we've talked about a lot, like

507
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:12,720
Speaker 1: all three of these guys, and look, I think the

508
00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:16,280
Speaker 1: Ashers would love it if Cole low Brafito and Smith

509
00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:18,159
Speaker 1: all went out in grape Fruit Leg play and just

510
00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:22,280
Speaker 1: raked from day one. They put up absurd stats, and

511
00:24:22,320 --> 00:24:24,280
Speaker 1: they would feel really good about going into the season.

512
00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:26,840
Speaker 1: But I don't know that we can take much in

513
00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:30,080
Speaker 1: the grand scheme from these guys raking in grape Fruit

514
00:24:30,119 --> 00:24:32,520
Speaker 1: League play, because, as we've talked about, it is just

515
00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:35,640
Speaker 1: such a different kind of style of game that's played here,

516
00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:37,399
Speaker 1: and you don't know what kind of level of pitching

517
00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:38,280
Speaker 1: these guys are facing.

518
00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:41,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, this is just a level of pitching alone.

519
00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:44,959
Speaker 2: The first week of spring training is usually your guys

520
00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:49,280
Speaker 2: who are fighting for that spot or they're your camp

521
00:24:49,359 --> 00:24:51,600
Speaker 2: invite guys that are just there to get their work

522
00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:54,840
Speaker 2: before they get sent out next week. So that alone

523
00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:57,040
Speaker 2: is one step. And then even when you get into

524
00:24:57,080 --> 00:24:59,439
Speaker 2: like the grind in the middle of March of spring training,

525
00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:02,320
Speaker 2: you may get their number two or number one, number

526
00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:05,480
Speaker 2: three guy for three or four innings, but then it's

527
00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:09,520
Speaker 2: you know, maybe one good reliever, maybe the team's closer,

528
00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:13,000
Speaker 2: gets their one inning. But then like the seventh, eighth, ninth, like,

529
00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:15,399
Speaker 2: you may be looking at double A, triple A guys

530
00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:17,800
Speaker 2: that are just there to fill innings and get the

531
00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:21,000
Speaker 2: game over with, So you can't really take into credit

532
00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:24,560
Speaker 2: guys coming in and raking in the eighth and ninth inning,

533
00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:28,800
Speaker 2: because if we're gonna be blunt, most of the guys

534
00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:30,359
Speaker 2: that are playing in the eighth or ninth inning in

535
00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:33,320
Speaker 2: the lineup are facing the pitchers they're gonna be facing

536
00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:35,600
Speaker 2: in their double A season, So it's kind of like

537
00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:37,840
Speaker 2: an even matchup. Wherever you look at it, starters are

538
00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:40,959
Speaker 2: already out on both sides of the baseball So it

539
00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:42,639
Speaker 2: is it's kind of hard for me to read that

540
00:25:42,760 --> 00:25:45,959
Speaker 2: much into spring training stats, but if Dana Brown can

541
00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:48,159
Speaker 2: believe in it, and Dana Brown's gonna believe in it,

542
00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:54,000
Speaker 2: so you know, it's it's it's cost guys spots more

543
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:55,920
Speaker 2: than I think it's earned them in the history of

544
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:57,320
Speaker 2: the game. You know, I've known a lot of guys

545
00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:00,480
Speaker 2: that have hit close to damn near five hundred and

546
00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:03,359
Speaker 2: got sent out second week of spring training because there

547
00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:06,040
Speaker 2: was just it didn't matter who you were, It just

548
00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:08,160
Speaker 2: doesn't matter what you do. You're just here to be seen.

549
00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:13,880
Speaker 2: So spring training stats for me, man, because flipside, you're

550
00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:15,760
Speaker 2: super starting to go out there and hit one sixty

551
00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:17,479
Speaker 2: and it's not gonna matter. You're still going to hit

552
00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:21,040
Speaker 2: third for you on opening day. So it's kind of

553
00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:23,040
Speaker 2: hard to look at spring training stats on any kind

554
00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:26,160
Speaker 2: of thing for me personally. But you know, but then again,

555
00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:28,480
Speaker 2: this is all these guys really have to rely on

556
00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:29,800
Speaker 2: right now. When you look at like we said, we're

557
00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:32,040
Speaker 2: talking about the lineup card, those are the four guys

558
00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:33,119
Speaker 2: you have to do it. So you have to put

559
00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:35,000
Speaker 2: him under that microscope and make sure that they can

560
00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:38,440
Speaker 2: do everything right and perform for you.

561
00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:39,280
Speaker 1: You know, and the other thing. And you can speak

562
00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:43,800
Speaker 1: to this Josh as a guy that you know, veteran players,

563
00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:46,560
Speaker 1: established players when they come to spring training, like this

564
00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:48,080
Speaker 1: is the time to work on stuff.

565
00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:49,800
Speaker 2: This is the time where if.

566
00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:53,639
Speaker 1: Like Christian Walker said he's gonna experiment with a toe tap, well, like,

567
00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:57,160
Speaker 1: if Christian Walker doesn't hit the spring it's probably because

568
00:26:57,160 --> 00:26:59,600
Speaker 1: he's tinkering with his swing. He's trying some different timing

569
00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:03,040
Speaker 1: mechan out, trying some different stuff. The same thing goes

570
00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:06,440
Speaker 1: for pitchers. So if you see, like a young guy

571
00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:08,639
Speaker 1: get a hit off of an established big leaguer, like,

572
00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:10,840
Speaker 1: how do you know that that guy's not working on

573
00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:12,600
Speaker 1: his change up? Or how do you know that that

574
00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:14,880
Speaker 1: guy like if he gets in a two strike count,

575
00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:16,600
Speaker 1: he's like a, like, I'm gonna try right on right

576
00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:18,360
Speaker 1: change up here in a two strike counts to see

577
00:27:18,359 --> 00:27:18,960
Speaker 1: how it looks.

578
00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:21,120
Speaker 2: And I'm gonna throw my fifth best pitch at him

579
00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:23,080
Speaker 2: just to see what I can do with it, right,

580
00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:25,679
Speaker 2: and that reality, I'm gonna throw you this one in

581
00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:27,520
Speaker 2: the season and let you go back to the dugout.

582
00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:31,880
Speaker 1: That happens so much more than I think fans appreciate

583
00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:35,119
Speaker 1: in spring training. It's like, this is top. This is

584
00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:37,800
Speaker 1: the only time of year when you guys, if you're

585
00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:40,919
Speaker 1: an established veteran guy like you can really work on

586
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:42,520
Speaker 1: stuff with no consequences.

587
00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:44,800
Speaker 2: Like and on the flip side of that, like there's

588
00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:47,600
Speaker 2: guys like you know you always see like there's few

589
00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:50,240
Speaker 2: numbers where top guys go out and go like, oh,

590
00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:52,439
Speaker 2: he only went one and a third and gave up six,

591
00:27:53,359 --> 00:27:55,080
Speaker 2: and then you look at his pitch count and you're like, oh,

592
00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:57,160
Speaker 2: you only through thirty pitches. It's because the first three

593
00:27:57,240 --> 00:27:59,280
Speaker 2: hitters who were double A guys went after the first

594
00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:02,280
Speaker 2: pitch heater, and you know, my man didn't have time

595
00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:03,800
Speaker 2: to work on stuff. You know, Jay like guy like

596
00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:05,960
Speaker 2: Berlin's come back to Berlin. JV's not a first pitch,

597
00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:09,000
Speaker 2: get you out guy like JV throws three pitches, set

598
00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:10,720
Speaker 2: you up, and then sit you down. Whereas these guys

599
00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:13,960
Speaker 2: are trying to get on top, get that hit off

600
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:15,679
Speaker 2: of JVN you know the first thing they do when

601
00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:18,440
Speaker 2: they get on the bus, Hey Mom, I got a

602
00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:21,800
Speaker 2: hit off of today, or hey Dad, you never get

603
00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:24,040
Speaker 2: like this. It's it's true because I did the exact

604
00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:26,480
Speaker 2: same thing. Like I did the exact same thing. I

605
00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:28,159
Speaker 2: think in my first camp of No. Nine, like with

606
00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:30,760
Speaker 2: the Red Sox, Like I think I had Roy Holliday

607
00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:33,159
Speaker 2: or something in Toronto, and I was like, dude, I

608
00:28:33,160 --> 00:28:35,320
Speaker 2: got to hit off his cutter and hit a double

609
00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:37,800
Speaker 2: one left center, and then first time ever faced him,

610
00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:39,600
Speaker 2: I went three straight to the dugout. It was a

611
00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:41,120
Speaker 2: very humbling situation.

612
00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:43,920
Speaker 1: I'll never forget. I think it was my first year

613
00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:46,760
Speaker 1: on the beat. JV pitched. He pitched against the Nationals

614
00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:50,480
Speaker 1: at at in West Palm Beach in a spring training game,

615
00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:53,640
Speaker 1: and then that I I think I'll remember who the

616
00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:55,480
Speaker 1: prospect was, but I don't want to say his name

617
00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:59,080
Speaker 1: out loud, just because I don't. But this this kid

618
00:28:59,120 --> 00:29:00,520
Speaker 1: hit two homers off this kid at too.

619
00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:02,440
Speaker 2: I know that sure.

620
00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:05,320
Speaker 1: Who was Carter Kaibum? It was it was Carter Kubum.

621
00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:05,760
Speaker 2: That's why.

622
00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:11,040
Speaker 1: For that game and being in the press box, like

623
00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:15,440
Speaker 1: all of the Nationals beat reporters were, oh my god,

624
00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:17,840
Speaker 1: this is our story because Carter Keebum. Because Carter Keeboom

625
00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:20,280
Speaker 1: was at the time, like the National's best prospect, Like

626
00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:23,120
Speaker 1: he's like number two or three prospecting baseball too. And

627
00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:26,320
Speaker 1: he took Justin Burley under deep twice in a big

628
00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:29,440
Speaker 1: league spring training game, which is like for US reporters,

629
00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:32,520
Speaker 1: that's like gold if the best prospect taking a future

630
00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:36,160
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer deep twice, And one of the Beat

631
00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:38,200
Speaker 1: one of the Nationals writers at the time asked, Hey,

632
00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:40,960
Speaker 1: would you mind asking Justin just about you know what

633
00:29:41,040 --> 00:29:43,840
Speaker 1: he saw from the kid, And I'll never forget and

634
00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:45,680
Speaker 1: I don't have the quote off the top of my head,

635
00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:46,480
Speaker 1: but Justin Goes.

636
00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:49,320
Speaker 2: I was like, yeah, you know, the kid did what

637
00:29:49,320 --> 00:29:49,720
Speaker 2: he had to do.

638
00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:51,640
Speaker 1: I guess, like good job, and like you can tell

639
00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:55,800
Speaker 1: like not Justin, Like Justin probably threw him a change

640
00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:57,640
Speaker 1: up in a one two count when he's probably thrown

641
00:29:57,640 --> 00:29:59,920
Speaker 1: when he probably threw like fifty change ups total in

642
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:04,160
Speaker 1: the ensuing season, or like you set hitters up differently,

643
00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:06,800
Speaker 1: you do stuff in different counts that you would never

644
00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:10,400
Speaker 1: do if the game matters. So again, when we're when

645
00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:13,080
Speaker 1: you're looking at spring training, when you're looking at these stats,

646
00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:15,600
Speaker 1: take it all with a grain of salt because you

647
00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:18,360
Speaker 1: don't know what the other guy is working on, and

648
00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:21,040
Speaker 1: you don't know, quite frankly, if he's ever going to

649
00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:24,200
Speaker 1: see anything like that sequencing when the season starts. So

650
00:30:24,520 --> 00:30:28,600
Speaker 1: it's why this outfield is still worrisome. Even if these

651
00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:30,920
Speaker 1: guys go out and rake in spring training, and look,

652
00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:34,320
Speaker 1: the Astros and Joe Aspota would rather these guys rake

653
00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:37,480
Speaker 1: in spring training than not. They will, they'll fully take

654
00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:39,440
Speaker 1: all the caveats of oh, it's just spring training. But

655
00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:42,640
Speaker 1: if low, Braffito, Smith, and Cole all go out and

656
00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:45,400
Speaker 1: are hitting three hundred with a nine hundred ohps, they'll

657
00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:48,320
Speaker 1: be perfectly fine with that. But assuming that's going to

658
00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:51,400
Speaker 1: carry over into the season is a little bit disingenuous,

659
00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:54,760
Speaker 1: which is why this is the rationale as to why

660
00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:58,680
Speaker 1: Estok Paradus has been available all off season, because they

661
00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:01,240
Speaker 1: want to alleviate the surp us in the infield obviously,

662
00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:05,160
Speaker 1: but they also know that this is that this at

663
00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:06,800
Speaker 1: this outfield, it.

664
00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:07,760
Speaker 2: Could go really well.

665
00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:11,800
Speaker 1: If Cam Smith, you know, actualizes his potential that we

666
00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:15,800
Speaker 1: know he has, that answers a question. If Zach Cole

667
00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:18,560
Speaker 1: can cut down on the swing and miss and is

668
00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:20,479
Speaker 1: the guy that they saw in the minor leagues last year,

669
00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:21,680
Speaker 1: that answers another question.

670
00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:22,760
Speaker 2: Then the outfield's great.

671
00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:25,200
Speaker 1: But that's a lot of ifs, and that's a lot

672
00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:28,080
Speaker 1: of pressure to put on two young guys, which is

673
00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:31,920
Speaker 1: why they have been trying to get a veteran outfielder

674
00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:35,800
Speaker 1: in here to basically, for lack of a better word,

675
00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:39,080
Speaker 1: Josh be an adult, Like, go get an adult to

676
00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:43,120
Speaker 1: play in the outfield and help them out. And if

677
00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:45,479
Speaker 1: I remember right, and if I've heard right, and if

678
00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:47,560
Speaker 1: my sources are right, I do think there will be

679
00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:50,680
Speaker 1: at least one adult coming to West Palm Beach to

680
00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:51,840
Speaker 1: help out the outfielders.

681
00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:53,880
Speaker 2: Is that act? I don't know if you want to

682
00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:57,840
Speaker 2: define this individual as an adult age wise and maybe

683
00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:01,400
Speaker 2: life wise, but yeah, I am actually going to be

684
00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:04,040
Speaker 2: in West Palm Beach for the first week of March,

685
00:32:04,680 --> 00:32:07,200
Speaker 2: as it was the Cacti of the ballparks at West

686
00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:09,080
Speaker 2: Palm Beach in Florida. Is that the name of it now?

687
00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:13,000
Speaker 2: Track Tie Park of whatever it is wherever they play. Yeah,

688
00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:16,800
Speaker 2: Joe's spot called me about four days ago asking if

689
00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:18,959
Speaker 2: I would come down and work with the outfield for

690
00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:21,880
Speaker 2: for like a six day stretch, and I gotta say

691
00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:23,880
Speaker 2: I was pretty excited. I didn't I didn't think I'd

692
00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:26,720
Speaker 2: ever be this excited about going and doing a like

693
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:30,400
Speaker 2: a coaching role, but I pretty stoked about it. You know,

694
00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:32,720
Speaker 2: go down there and kind of do what I can

695
00:32:32,800 --> 00:32:34,640
Speaker 2: to help these guys out. Figure out what they want

696
00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:37,120
Speaker 2: me to do. First. I stilln't even know what Joe

697
00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:39,120
Speaker 2: is going to have me do, but I would assume

698
00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:42,720
Speaker 2: kind of like what a rover does and just be

699
00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:44,720
Speaker 2: out there for the morning drills, work with him in

700
00:32:44,760 --> 00:32:46,840
Speaker 2: the morning. If they just want to talk, I'll talk,

701
00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:49,400
Speaker 2: and then just watch what they do during the games,

702
00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:50,880
Speaker 2: I would think. So hopefully I can come down there

703
00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:53,080
Speaker 2: and just give them a little bit of a you know,

704
00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:55,800
Speaker 2: tips and advice, hopefully get them in the right frame

705
00:32:55,840 --> 00:32:58,840
Speaker 2: of mind, and you know, they've got to apply it.

706
00:32:58,880 --> 00:33:00,600
Speaker 2: I can only tell them what to do, but I'm

707
00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:03,400
Speaker 2: looking forward to going down there and working with them,

708
00:33:03,440 --> 00:33:06,080
Speaker 2: but also seeing the guys. You know, I'm old, but

709
00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:08,240
Speaker 2: I'm not old enough yet to where there's still guys

710
00:33:08,280 --> 00:33:10,080
Speaker 2: in the league that played when I played, too, So

711
00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:12,480
Speaker 2: it'll be good to get back in there with those

712
00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:16,080
Speaker 2: guys and the atmosphere of baseball again. So I'd be

713
00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:17,720
Speaker 2: lying if I said I didn't miss it, but I'd

714
00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:19,280
Speaker 2: also be lying if I said I did miss it

715
00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:20,080
Speaker 2: a lot.

716
00:33:20,640 --> 00:33:22,680
Speaker 1: Don't give everything away, But I mean, what do you

717
00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:25,040
Speaker 1: plan to? I mean again, it's kind of read and

718
00:33:25,080 --> 00:33:26,960
Speaker 1: react and you don't know. Hell, by the first week

719
00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:29,560
Speaker 1: of March, there could be some different guys here, who knows.

720
00:33:29,560 --> 00:33:32,640
Speaker 1: But what do you plan on? What do you plan

721
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:34,480
Speaker 1: on your message being? And kind of how do you

722
00:33:34,520 --> 00:33:36,480
Speaker 1: plan on what do you plan on telling these guys?

723
00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:38,600
Speaker 1: A lot of as we've just talked about, a lot

724
00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:41,600
Speaker 1: of young guys that are still trying to find their

725
00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:43,520
Speaker 1: footing and are still trying to establish themselves in the

726
00:33:43,520 --> 00:33:44,400
Speaker 1: major leagues.

727
00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:48,600
Speaker 2: Should remind them, reminding this baseball thing is the exact

728
00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:50,960
Speaker 2: same thing you've been playing since you were five years old.

729
00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:53,600
Speaker 2: Like the stadium's changed, the fields changed, the team's change,

730
00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:56,120
Speaker 2: but the one thing is the game doesn't change. You

731
00:33:56,160 --> 00:34:00,000
Speaker 2: can't let the atmosphere affect that. You can't let I mean,

732
00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:02,600
Speaker 2: it's very hard to not let it affect you because

733
00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:04,959
Speaker 2: the emotions run high and everything about it. But you

734
00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:07,680
Speaker 2: gotta remember just take that step back and just realize, like, look,

735
00:34:07,720 --> 00:34:10,120
Speaker 2: you're you're a good ball player. There's a reason you're here.

736
00:34:10,600 --> 00:34:13,279
Speaker 2: There's a reason this team wants you here. So that

737
00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:14,759
Speaker 2: that's really where I'm trying to go with it. And

738
00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:17,720
Speaker 2: then and then the baseball world, like I'm just gonna

739
00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:19,839
Speaker 2: be watching for like little things that I can kind

740
00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:21,960
Speaker 2: of hopefully tick up in their game a little bit.

741
00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:25,040
Speaker 2: I'm not looking to revamp cam Smith. I'm not looking

742
00:34:25,040 --> 00:34:27,080
Speaker 2: to rebuild Zach Cole at all. I'm just here to

743
00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:30,239
Speaker 2: you know, if I see something, I'm not gonna time

744
00:34:30,239 --> 00:34:31,920
Speaker 2: to switch here. I'm gonna call'm an approch him. We're

745
00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:34,720
Speaker 2: gonna talk about it and like, hey, here's what I suggest,

746
00:34:34,760 --> 00:34:37,120
Speaker 2: Here's what I did. If it helps you, great, if not,

747
00:34:37,640 --> 00:34:40,879
Speaker 2: throw it out the back door. But you know, once

748
00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:42,719
Speaker 2: once I get there, I'm sure Joe's gonna tell me

749
00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:46,239
Speaker 2: what he wants me to do and a more broader spectrum.

750
00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:48,719
Speaker 2: But we'll see for that right now. That's kind of

751
00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:50,839
Speaker 2: where I'm going with it, just trying to figure out

752
00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:52,400
Speaker 2: what I want to talk to these guys about and

753
00:34:52,760 --> 00:34:55,200
Speaker 2: just really send you overall message like, look, there's something

754
00:34:55,239 --> 00:34:57,759
Speaker 2: we can improve on every day, and while I'm here,

755
00:34:57,840 --> 00:34:59,560
Speaker 2: I think we should take full advantage of it.

756
00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:02,400
Speaker 1: I will say, I don't know how many of these

757
00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:04,959
Speaker 1: guys you've met, the four outfielders that we've talked about,

758
00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:09,840
Speaker 1: but all of them are overly receptive to coaching. They

759
00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:12,880
Speaker 1: they have gotten great their makeup, all of their makeup

760
00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:14,160
Speaker 1: have gotten great marks.

761
00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:16,040
Speaker 2: And if they don't listen, I'll just bring this.

762
00:35:16,520 --> 00:35:18,400
Speaker 1: You should you should you should bring that, no matter what,

763
00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:24,560
Speaker 1: you should bring that, regardless picture of it. Yeah, but

764
00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:25,040
Speaker 1: that's good.

765
00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:25,960
Speaker 2: I'm excited.

766
00:35:26,120 --> 00:35:29,240
Speaker 1: I think I think Joe made a wise decision getting

767
00:35:29,239 --> 00:35:32,080
Speaker 1: a left handed getting a wily, veteran left handed hitting

768
00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:34,640
Speaker 1: outfielder to come, uh, to come help this group of

769
00:35:34,719 --> 00:35:37,600
Speaker 1: left handed hitting outfielders kind of figure out what to do.

770
00:35:39,360 --> 00:35:42,279
Speaker 1: We haven't Josh. We haven't talked to you since a

771
00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:45,320
Speaker 1: couple of things, to two big things that I think

772
00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:49,080
Speaker 1: your perspective would be valued on. First, we'll get the

773
00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:52,640
Speaker 1: we'll get the salacious part out of the way. First,

774
00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:55,840
Speaker 1: it broke while we were doing our while Tyler and

775
00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:57,040
Speaker 1: I were on our last pod.

776
00:35:57,239 --> 00:35:57,359
Speaker 2: Uh.

777
00:35:57,600 --> 00:36:02,919
Speaker 1: It broke that Tony Clark's, the MLBPA chief, resigned due

778
00:36:02,920 --> 00:36:05,680
Speaker 1: to an internal investigation that found he engaged in an

779
00:36:05,680 --> 00:36:09,080
Speaker 1: inappropriate relationship with his sister in law, who was a

780
00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:10,359
Speaker 1: union employee.

781
00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:13,040
Speaker 2: Do you ever, do we ever find out which side

782
00:36:13,040 --> 00:36:17,200
Speaker 2: of the family was on, because that's relevant. Yes, I believe.

783
00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:18,600
Speaker 2: I believe.

784
00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:22,920
Speaker 1: Bob Nightingale of USA Today reported that it was Tony's

785
00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:26,600
Speaker 1: wife's sister or current what not.

786
00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:29,719
Speaker 2: Not that it's okay either way, but that's about as

787
00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:33,520
Speaker 2: bad as correct correct.

788
00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:37,760
Speaker 1: Now since aj I got aj back.

789
00:36:39,239 --> 00:36:42,080
Speaker 2: Breaking, he goes, you'll be happy to know that I

790
00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:47,279
Speaker 2: didn't even realize it was his birthday today, and he

791
00:36:47,280 --> 00:36:50,439
Speaker 2: said happy belated, hope all as well. So he might

792
00:36:50,440 --> 00:36:52,239
Speaker 2: be just taking my chain. But if he's being for real,

793
00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:55,080
Speaker 2: then great. That's that's about four years built up for

794
00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:59,480
Speaker 2: me right there that I can appreciate. That's great.

795
00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:01,719
Speaker 1: I don't for a second that AJ forgot it was

796
00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:05,040
Speaker 1: justin Berner, especially especially.

797
00:37:04,560 --> 00:37:09,400
Speaker 2: In Lakeland and Tigertown where birthday justin Berlanders is the

798
00:37:09,480 --> 00:37:11,640
Speaker 2: King of Tiger town, so everybody knew it.

799
00:37:12,760 --> 00:37:17,960
Speaker 1: But back to Tony Clark. The MLBPA since then has

800
00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:21,840
Speaker 1: elected Bruce Meyer as the interim executive director of the PA.

801
00:37:23,160 --> 00:37:26,680
Speaker 1: Not gonna bore everyone with all the minutia of the PA,

802
00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:31,800
Speaker 1: but suffice to say Bruce Meyer was or is maybe

803
00:37:31,800 --> 00:37:34,640
Speaker 1: a bigger deal than Tony Clark, because Bruce Meyer is

804
00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:37,480
Speaker 1: the lead negotiator. He is the guy that when they

805
00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:40,800
Speaker 1: get to bargaining, he is negotiating, He is doing the bargaining.

806
00:37:41,160 --> 00:37:43,640
Speaker 1: Tony Clark was involved in the bargaining, but Tony Clark

807
00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:46,880
Speaker 1: was kind of more the public face of this, while

808
00:37:47,160 --> 00:37:49,840
Speaker 1: Bruce Meyer is the lawyer. He is a labor lawyer

809
00:37:50,120 --> 00:37:54,200
Speaker 1: who was in charge of bargaining. So, Josh, maybe for

810
00:37:54,360 --> 00:37:56,800
Speaker 1: people that kind of looked at this story and only

811
00:37:56,840 --> 00:38:00,480
Speaker 1: saw like a guy got fired because as he had

812
00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:03,480
Speaker 1: an interproporate relationship with his sister in law, can you

813
00:38:03,719 --> 00:38:07,040
Speaker 1: discuss why this is such a big deal and why

814
00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:10,480
Speaker 1: the timing of it right before you know the CBO

815
00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:14,080
Speaker 1: in December, Like, explain for people why this is such

816
00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:14,600
Speaker 1: a big deal.

817
00:38:15,239 --> 00:38:16,759
Speaker 2: I mean you just said it. I mean, just what

818
00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:21,839
Speaker 2: the lockout being so much closer than what baseball may

819
00:38:21,920 --> 00:38:25,719
Speaker 2: realize that agreement is gonna that negotiation is going to

820
00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:27,319
Speaker 2: be a bigger pain in the button now. But it

821
00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:30,600
Speaker 2: just brings unwanted attention that the PA did not need.

822
00:38:31,719 --> 00:38:34,120
Speaker 2: And you know, Tony's been in this business for a

823
00:38:34,200 --> 00:38:36,399
Speaker 2: very long time and has been a lot of good

824
00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:38,680
Speaker 2: things and not so many good things, and this just

825
00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:40,520
Speaker 2: kind of falls into one of those things to be like,

826
00:38:40,560 --> 00:38:44,960
Speaker 2: hey man, that was stupid. I mean, if we're being blood,

827
00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:47,279
Speaker 2: that was stupid. I mean, let's let's do let's use

828
00:38:47,320 --> 00:38:49,600
Speaker 2: our heads here. I mean, you just you just ruin

829
00:38:49,719 --> 00:38:51,719
Speaker 2: not all your life, but it's a lot of other

830
00:38:51,719 --> 00:38:54,839
Speaker 2: people's lives and that's never okay to do it in

831
00:38:54,840 --> 00:38:58,520
Speaker 2: that regard. So just plain dumb to bring it in there.

832
00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:00,760
Speaker 2: The timing of it of everything, you know, spring training

833
00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:04,280
Speaker 2: starting obviously coming out, but you know, just the timing

834
00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:07,359
Speaker 2: of what's going on next year after this season's over,

835
00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:10,160
Speaker 2: it just brings a whole new magnification of problems for

836
00:39:10,239 --> 00:39:13,319
Speaker 2: this good situation. And Bruce is gonna be great. I mean,

837
00:39:14,400 --> 00:39:16,040
Speaker 2: if you really think about it, Tony was kind of

838
00:39:16,080 --> 00:39:18,400
Speaker 2: really like the public figure that kind of ran the

839
00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:21,200
Speaker 2: ship where it's like Bruce was that behind the door

840
00:39:21,760 --> 00:39:24,520
Speaker 2: who really just made everything work anyway. And Tony just

841
00:39:24,600 --> 00:39:26,640
Speaker 2: kind of like pr and Pete, you know, made his

842
00:39:26,680 --> 00:39:29,640
Speaker 2: public announcements that way, and he really related to the

843
00:39:29,640 --> 00:39:31,920
Speaker 2: player as well. I think Bruce mayern I maybe had

844
00:39:32,520 --> 00:39:34,640
Speaker 2: two or three conversations in my time, but you know,

845
00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:37,359
Speaker 2: Tony was always somebody you could talk to just because

846
00:39:37,360 --> 00:39:39,239
Speaker 2: he's been there. He's that player who's been through it.

847
00:39:39,280 --> 00:39:42,239
Speaker 2: He knows what it's about. But you know, now you

848
00:39:42,239 --> 00:39:45,160
Speaker 2: can't look back and go, man, Tony was the smartest

849
00:39:45,160 --> 00:39:48,400
Speaker 2: individual in this situation. But man, this is just something

850
00:39:48,440 --> 00:39:50,600
Speaker 2: that's it's going to be talked about for a while,

851
00:39:50,840 --> 00:39:53,680
Speaker 2: and because of not only because of the severitest situation,

852
00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:55,799
Speaker 2: but what you're looking at this year, this is gonna

853
00:39:55,800 --> 00:39:58,759
Speaker 2: be something that's gonna be talked about all next year

854
00:39:58,800 --> 00:40:01,120
Speaker 2: and through the negotiations and then even this year. So

855
00:40:02,080 --> 00:40:06,080
Speaker 2: just horrible timing, making dumb decisions on temptations that didn't

856
00:40:06,120 --> 00:40:09,480
Speaker 2: need to be uh chased. And if you were that

857
00:40:09,560 --> 00:40:13,759
Speaker 2: and if you were that into each other, there are

858
00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:16,040
Speaker 2: plenty of other ways to get around there. There's you know,

859
00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:18,120
Speaker 2: there's things this thing called divorce you can do if

860
00:40:18,160 --> 00:40:20,360
Speaker 2: you need to get to that. So if you're listening,

861
00:40:20,719 --> 00:40:22,480
Speaker 2: don't do that. Just if you don't want to be

862
00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:24,319
Speaker 2: with your wife anymore, just get a divorce and move on.

863
00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:29,680
Speaker 1: There's nepotism. There's like she worked for the union, which

864
00:40:29,719 --> 00:40:31,200
Speaker 1: is another thing here.

865
00:40:31,040 --> 00:40:33,439
Speaker 2: That now now it's like, oh, you hired her just.

866
00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:36,359
Speaker 1: For that, and I have again like we're not we're

867
00:40:36,400 --> 00:40:38,480
Speaker 1: not saying that's the case, but again, like you open

868
00:40:38,560 --> 00:40:42,480
Speaker 1: yourself up to that when this happened, and you know,

869
00:40:42,800 --> 00:40:45,480
Speaker 1: Tony Clark was the head, was the head of the union,

870
00:40:45,560 --> 00:40:48,600
Speaker 1: and she was under him. That that that is that

871
00:40:48,680 --> 00:40:51,600
Speaker 1: can be considered you know when you look that is

872
00:40:51,960 --> 00:40:55,600
Speaker 1: that screams HR like that is like, go to HR immediately.

873
00:40:55,640 --> 00:40:58,400
Speaker 1: But I don't want to get too much deeper into that,

874
00:40:58,440 --> 00:41:00,200
Speaker 1: but I did think it was important to hear. I'm

875
00:41:00,200 --> 00:41:03,560
Speaker 1: a former player who has UH. I don't know how

876
00:41:03,600 --> 00:41:05,960
Speaker 1: involved you were with the union when you played, but

877
00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:08,680
Speaker 1: obviously you sat through all the PA meetings. You you

878
00:41:08,719 --> 00:41:11,640
Speaker 1: had to go through at least one CBA negotiation during

879
00:41:11,640 --> 00:41:14,000
Speaker 1: your career, probably too because you were in the league

880
00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:16,839
Speaker 1: so long. Like it's a big deal. And you know,

881
00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:18,840
Speaker 1: the one thing I am glad you mentioned that Tony,

882
00:41:19,239 --> 00:41:22,319
Speaker 1: Tony Clark is the only former player to ever run

883
00:41:22,360 --> 00:41:26,640
Speaker 1: the MLBPA, So that is something Bruce will have to

884
00:41:27,200 --> 00:41:29,319
Speaker 1: you know that that's a that's a hurdle that Bruce

885
00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:31,640
Speaker 1: will have to clear here, because the one thing that

886
00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:34,360
Speaker 1: is pretty unanimous when you talk to people about Tony

887
00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:36,480
Speaker 1: Clark is that he did a very good job relating

888
00:41:36,480 --> 00:41:40,880
Speaker 1: to players, because, like you said, Tony's been there, Tony

889
00:41:41,239 --> 00:41:45,120
Speaker 1: like there is something about, you know, the fraternity of

890
00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:48,560
Speaker 1: being an MLB player, and only a select few people

891
00:41:48,600 --> 00:41:51,200
Speaker 1: have that Tony had it. Tony was able to relate

892
00:41:51,239 --> 00:41:53,279
Speaker 1: to guys. Bruce's not that Bruce is.

893
00:41:53,239 --> 00:41:57,320
Speaker 2: A labor lawyer. He is a lawyer, So a lot.

894
00:41:57,120 --> 00:42:01,280
Speaker 1: Of uncertainty there as that CBA is going to expire

895
00:42:01,360 --> 00:42:04,520
Speaker 1: in December in a lockout is all the certain and

896
00:42:04,760 --> 00:42:11,080
Speaker 1: barring something just completely unforeseen, something just as probably sad

897
00:42:11,160 --> 00:42:12,600
Speaker 1: but not nearly as salacious.

898
00:42:13,640 --> 00:42:15,000
Speaker 2: Josh uh.

899
00:42:15,040 --> 00:42:19,200
Speaker 1: You know Lance mccollor's we we Tyler and I discussed

900
00:42:19,239 --> 00:42:22,880
Speaker 1: it on our last pod, So Tyler and I have

901
00:42:22,920 --> 00:42:25,399
Speaker 1: kind of set our piece. But you know, Lance gave

902
00:42:25,480 --> 00:42:28,960
Speaker 1: us a pretty emotional interview a couple of days ago

903
00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:32,520
Speaker 1: here in camp, during which he made it pretty clear

904
00:42:32,560 --> 00:42:34,240
Speaker 1: that this could be the last year of his career.

905
00:42:34,960 --> 00:42:38,400
Speaker 1: This is the last year of his astro's contract.

906
00:42:38,480 --> 00:42:38,680
Speaker 2: You know.

907
00:42:38,760 --> 00:42:42,320
Speaker 1: He said in so many words that if if things

908
00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:44,640
Speaker 1: go great this year and a team wants me next year,

909
00:42:44,680 --> 00:42:47,640
Speaker 1: I'll be happy to do that. But if it doesn't

910
00:42:47,760 --> 00:42:49,759
Speaker 1: and this is it for me in baseball, I'll be

911
00:42:49,800 --> 00:42:52,120
Speaker 1: perfectly content. He sounded like a guy at peace. He

912
00:42:52,239 --> 00:42:54,520
Speaker 1: sounded like someone that kind of has a lot of

913
00:42:54,560 --> 00:42:58,480
Speaker 1: clarity now in his in his mind. But just as

914
00:42:58,480 --> 00:43:01,480
Speaker 1: his teammate, as somebody that has watched, you know, been

915
00:43:01,520 --> 00:43:04,880
Speaker 1: an up close view of Lance at his best. You

916
00:43:04,920 --> 00:43:07,759
Speaker 1: saw him from across the way in twenty fifteen when

917
00:43:07,760 --> 00:43:09,560
Speaker 1: he came up, you saw him, and you were a

918
00:43:09,560 --> 00:43:12,840
Speaker 1: teammate in twenty seventeen and twenty eighteen when probably Lance

919
00:43:12,960 --> 00:43:16,640
Speaker 1: was at his peak, and now to him about to

920
00:43:16,640 --> 00:43:19,640
Speaker 1: be thirty three years old, maybe staring down the end

921
00:43:19,680 --> 00:43:24,440
Speaker 1: of his career. I'm curious your perspective on Lance that

922
00:43:24,520 --> 00:43:28,480
Speaker 1: interview and just where he's at in his baseball life

923
00:43:28,719 --> 00:43:29,960
Speaker 1: and really his life in general.

924
00:43:30,920 --> 00:43:32,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it just sounds like a guy who's

925
00:43:32,600 --> 00:43:37,239
Speaker 2: accepted what's coming in front of him. Man, it is

926
00:43:37,280 --> 00:43:39,520
Speaker 2: it's heartbreaking to hero when anybody talks like that, but

927
00:43:39,520 --> 00:43:40,920
Speaker 2: when you know a guy, that just makes it that

928
00:43:41,040 --> 00:43:44,359
Speaker 2: much more intense. And for a guy that just got

929
00:43:44,440 --> 00:43:47,120
Speaker 2: driven down a path that you know, he didn't really

930
00:43:47,120 --> 00:43:49,879
Speaker 2: get to choose, in a dream that he made come

931
00:43:49,920 --> 00:43:53,000
Speaker 2: true and in his own right. So you know, I

932
00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:55,959
Speaker 2: think we all really wanted Lance to be more of

933
00:43:55,320 --> 00:43:58,239
Speaker 2: a of a player and competitor. Then he got to

934
00:43:58,280 --> 00:44:00,560
Speaker 2: be from spending all that time from injury and everything.

935
00:44:00,640 --> 00:44:02,520
Speaker 2: And I know he would have loved that. But this

936
00:44:02,600 --> 00:44:04,359
Speaker 2: is a guy who seems like he knows what he's doing.

937
00:44:04,400 --> 00:44:07,960
Speaker 2: If he blows out, you know, May third or wherever,

938
00:44:08,160 --> 00:44:10,879
Speaker 2: July September. If he doesn't blow out, great, but if

939
00:44:10,880 --> 00:44:12,359
Speaker 2: he does, and this is the end, for he does

940
00:44:12,400 --> 00:44:14,000
Speaker 2: seem like it's something that he can be like, you

941
00:44:14,040 --> 00:44:16,279
Speaker 2: know what, this is just something I've got to learn

942
00:44:16,280 --> 00:44:19,160
Speaker 2: to walk away from. I've got to be the family man.

943
00:44:19,280 --> 00:44:21,879
Speaker 2: Now there's a whole nother life. You mean, your life

944
00:44:21,880 --> 00:44:23,360
Speaker 2: starts when you have a kid. You know, when you

945
00:44:23,360 --> 00:44:26,520
Speaker 2: have kids, your life really truly does start. So he

946
00:44:26,560 --> 00:44:29,319
Speaker 2: has really seemed to accept that. And if baseball is

947
00:44:29,360 --> 00:44:31,680
Speaker 2: something he can put behind him, he can look back

948
00:44:31,680 --> 00:44:33,239
Speaker 2: with his head held high, like he didn't get to

949
00:44:33,239 --> 00:44:35,160
Speaker 2: play or pitch as many games he may have wanted to,

950
00:44:35,320 --> 00:44:38,640
Speaker 2: But the accomplishments that he did get to be a

951
00:44:38,680 --> 00:44:42,239
Speaker 2: part of are something that guys that spent eighteen to

952
00:44:42,320 --> 00:44:44,719
Speaker 2: twenty years in and they didn't even get close to that.

953
00:44:44,880 --> 00:44:46,920
Speaker 2: So he got to be a part of some really

954
00:44:46,920 --> 00:44:50,280
Speaker 2: fantastic teams, one of the best dynasties in all of baseball,

955
00:44:50,719 --> 00:44:52,360
Speaker 2: and he was right in the heart of that. So,

956
00:44:53,400 --> 00:44:55,000
Speaker 2: like we say, we want to see him buried in

957
00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:57,920
Speaker 2: the age, and if that's the case, then Lance mccolors

958
00:44:57,960 --> 00:44:59,399
Speaker 2: will always be remembered in h town.

959
00:45:01,400 --> 00:45:05,120
Speaker 1: Everyone's asking because you you you shared, you shared your

960
00:45:05,160 --> 00:45:08,200
Speaker 1: memories of his major league debut on on ec as

961
00:45:08,239 --> 00:45:12,720
Speaker 1: we are looking on YouTube now. I think most people

962
00:45:12,760 --> 00:45:15,799
Speaker 1: remember you were on the a's at when Lance made

963
00:45:15,840 --> 00:45:19,000
Speaker 1: his debut. But the batman cleats got brought up again.

964
00:45:19,840 --> 00:45:22,800
Speaker 1: Give everyone, give everyone the background of the batman. I

965
00:45:22,880 --> 00:45:25,879
Speaker 1: mean the background is that Lance was a brash young

966
00:45:26,000 --> 00:45:29,280
Speaker 1: kid that wore batman cleats in his big league debut.

967
00:45:29,360 --> 00:45:31,080
Speaker 1: You were on the other side and you maybe did

968
00:45:31,160 --> 00:45:35,279
Speaker 1: not appreciate a brash young kid going out and having

969
00:45:35,320 --> 00:45:37,240
Speaker 1: that much show in his debut.

970
00:45:37,760 --> 00:45:40,440
Speaker 2: I did not, as most of my teammates did not.

971
00:45:41,719 --> 00:45:43,680
Speaker 2: You know, this is what he said fifteen, right, was

972
00:45:43,719 --> 00:45:47,480
Speaker 2: his debut. Yes, I mean, this is a time before

973
00:45:47,600 --> 00:45:49,600
Speaker 2: custom cleats or even a thing like you had to

974
00:45:49,600 --> 00:45:55,400
Speaker 2: have like sixty percent team color or wide or some craziness.

975
00:45:56,560 --> 00:45:58,200
Speaker 2: And I was just bitter because I was with the

976
00:45:58,239 --> 00:45:59,960
Speaker 2: age where we had to have like seventy five percent

977
00:46:00,120 --> 00:46:02,480
Speaker 2: white on our cleats on the road too. Mine even

978
00:46:02,520 --> 00:46:04,880
Speaker 2: looked awful, So I was I was a little upset

979
00:46:04,880 --> 00:46:06,880
Speaker 2: about that. Then he comes out in a debut and

980
00:46:06,880 --> 00:46:09,040
Speaker 2: then goes out with some pretty cool I mean, they

981
00:46:09,040 --> 00:46:12,680
Speaker 2: were cool cleats, Listensen, let's not get past the coolness

982
00:46:12,719 --> 00:46:15,760
Speaker 2: of his cleats, and you know the fact that Marvel's

983
00:46:15,760 --> 00:46:20,120
Speaker 2: better because Spider Man is better than DC. But yeah,

984
00:46:20,160 --> 00:46:23,480
Speaker 2: I mean I remember being top step churping at him

985
00:46:23,480 --> 00:46:25,640
Speaker 2: and his warm ups, like, oh, you think you're cool

986
00:46:25,640 --> 00:46:28,279
Speaker 2: because you're la la la. And I didn't do too

987
00:46:28,360 --> 00:46:30,439
Speaker 2: well against him that night, but we you know, none

988
00:46:30,480 --> 00:46:34,120
Speaker 2: of us did and in that lineup, So yeah, I mean,

989
00:46:34,719 --> 00:46:36,040
Speaker 2: it's just one of those things like you're in the

990
00:46:36,040 --> 00:46:38,279
Speaker 2: heat of the moment. This kid is in a time

991
00:46:38,320 --> 00:46:40,960
Speaker 2: where you're not supposed to show any kind of you know,

992
00:46:41,600 --> 00:46:44,960
Speaker 2: personalization in baseball. Yet it wasn't a thing yet. If

993
00:46:44,960 --> 00:46:47,320
Speaker 2: we can even remember that long ago in baseball fans,

994
00:46:48,280 --> 00:46:50,520
Speaker 2: you weren't allowed to pimp home runs and do all

995
00:46:50,560 --> 00:46:52,960
Speaker 2: the craziness you see now. So yeah, I chirped him

996
00:46:52,960 --> 00:46:55,279
Speaker 2: a good bit. And you know it was de I

997
00:46:55,320 --> 00:46:58,680
Speaker 2: mean whatever I was. I was the salty veteran in

998
00:46:58,719 --> 00:47:01,759
Speaker 2: the Oakland A's and they were a young Astros team

999
00:47:01,800 --> 00:47:03,879
Speaker 2: that were still trying to figure out how to win.

1000
00:47:03,960 --> 00:47:05,719
Speaker 2: So it seemed like it worked. They were very young,

1001
00:47:05,760 --> 00:47:10,319
Speaker 2: and nobody chirped back at me. And if I'm not

1002
00:47:10,640 --> 00:47:13,040
Speaker 2: don't quote me, but I'm pretty sure if I remember correctly,

1003
00:47:13,040 --> 00:47:15,000
Speaker 2: I remember a teammate that has given him a hard

1004
00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:17,600
Speaker 2: time as well, but he just didn't care. That's Lance.

1005
00:47:17,640 --> 00:47:19,080
Speaker 2: That's who he was. That's Lance.

1006
00:47:19,239 --> 00:47:21,680
Speaker 1: That that is Lance to a t I'm looking at

1007
00:47:21,680 --> 00:47:24,520
Speaker 1: the box score from his debut. You hit third in

1008
00:47:24,560 --> 00:47:26,879
Speaker 1: that in that A's lineup, you want to guess who

1009
00:47:26,960 --> 00:47:29,000
Speaker 1: hit second, fourth, and fifth?

1010
00:47:30,239 --> 00:47:32,399
Speaker 2: Second, fourth, and fifth? Did you hit?

1011
00:47:32,640 --> 00:47:33,440
Speaker 1: So you hit third?

1012
00:47:33,640 --> 00:47:37,440
Speaker 2: So what much of the season was that?

1013
00:47:37,440 --> 00:47:41,080
Speaker 1: That was? That was? It was May eighteenth, twenty fifteen.

1014
00:47:41,680 --> 00:47:44,799
Speaker 2: May eighteenth, twenty fifteen. I hit third.

1015
00:47:45,640 --> 00:47:49,040
Speaker 1: Hey, you guys won the game two to one. The

1016
00:47:49,080 --> 00:47:53,439
Speaker 1: Ashers got two hits. Drew palmeran started.

1017
00:47:53,080 --> 00:47:59,360
Speaker 2: For you guys started okay, was that uh gosh? Second

1018
00:47:59,480 --> 00:48:02,319
Speaker 2: might have been? Then I don't know who's Coco at

1019
00:48:02,320 --> 00:48:08,120
Speaker 2: that time? We get ahead of me that year, son

1020
00:48:08,120 --> 00:48:11,120
Speaker 2: of a beasting Coco Crisp hit lead off. I'll give

1021
00:48:11,160 --> 00:48:14,080
Speaker 2: you that, Coco Crispy. Billy Burns.

1022
00:48:15,280 --> 00:48:21,120
Speaker 1: No, Sam Scott, Sam Fold, the former uh GM of

1023
00:48:21,120 --> 00:48:22,520
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Phillies.

1024
00:48:22,160 --> 00:48:25,480
Speaker 2: He hit eighth. The guy that hit second, I'll give

1025
00:48:25,480 --> 00:48:26,240
Speaker 2: you a couple of hints.

1026
00:48:26,640 --> 00:48:29,440
Speaker 1: Guy that hit second has been a thorn in the

1027
00:48:29,440 --> 00:48:32,800
Speaker 1: astro's side for a long time and was traded this winter.

1028
00:48:36,080 --> 00:48:40,480
Speaker 2: Oh god, I was traded this winter. He was traded

1029
00:48:40,480 --> 00:48:46,799
Speaker 2: to Marcus Me. So Marcus Stephen Me. And then you

1030
00:48:46,840 --> 00:48:50,480
Speaker 2: know we didn't have Danny Lindsay. Nope, Billy Butler.

1031
00:48:50,719 --> 00:48:51,960
Speaker 1: Billy Butler hit clean up.

1032
00:48:51,960 --> 00:48:56,040
Speaker 2: And then the only reason I asked you who hit fifth? No?

1033
00:48:56,400 --> 00:48:59,600
Speaker 1: He this guy hit fifth. He's a much He's much

1034
00:48:59,680 --> 00:49:02,799
Speaker 1: better at his current job than what he was as

1035
00:49:02,840 --> 00:49:05,000
Speaker 1: an actual are you guys?

1036
00:49:05,320 --> 00:49:07,960
Speaker 2: Damn? That's it. That's an aggressive quote for Stephen Vote

1037
00:49:08,480 --> 00:49:12,680
Speaker 2: is Stephen Vote back to back American League Manager of

1038
00:49:12,719 --> 00:49:15,480
Speaker 2: the Year. God, he's so good. He's such a good,

1039
00:49:15,600 --> 00:49:19,400
Speaker 2: good manager and such a good person. So happy for him.

1040
00:49:20,280 --> 00:49:22,279
Speaker 1: Jake Buchanan pitched a ninth inning of that game for

1041
00:49:22,320 --> 00:49:26,760
Speaker 1: the Astros. Lance mccullors went four and two thirds, struck

1042
00:49:26,760 --> 00:49:29,800
Speaker 1: out five, walked three ninety three pitches, a very typical

1043
00:49:29,880 --> 00:49:33,200
Speaker 1: Lance mccullors start ninety three pitches to get fourteen outs.

1044
00:49:33,280 --> 00:49:34,920
Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure I was on both sides of us.

1045
00:49:34,920 --> 00:49:36,759
Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure I walked in struck out against him

1046
00:49:36,760 --> 00:49:37,120
Speaker 2: that day.

1047
00:49:37,920 --> 00:49:39,719
Speaker 1: Were you chirping in the batter's box or did you

1048
00:49:39,800 --> 00:49:40,880
Speaker 1: just say that for the dugout?

1049
00:49:41,239 --> 00:49:43,400
Speaker 2: No, that was that was top step in the dugout,

1050
00:49:43,440 --> 00:49:44,920
Speaker 2: helmet on, but never in the box.

1051
00:49:46,640 --> 00:49:48,239
Speaker 1: What if he had a throat slashed, you guys like

1052
00:49:48,280 --> 00:49:50,400
Speaker 1: he did later on in that year against the and

1053
00:49:50,640 --> 00:49:55,919
Speaker 1: the Royals in the DS when Salvi and Mike Mustakus

1054
00:49:56,000 --> 00:49:59,680
Speaker 1: and Lorenzocaine wanted to throw lands.

1055
00:50:00,640 --> 00:50:03,160
Speaker 2: If we could say that on air, hurt him, hurt him,

1056
00:50:03,200 --> 00:50:06,399
Speaker 2: We'll say that. You know I would have been right

1057
00:50:06,440 --> 00:50:07,000
Speaker 2: there with him.

1058
00:50:06,840 --> 00:50:10,560
Speaker 1: Too, and I think Lance would really Again, Lance is

1059
00:50:10,600 --> 00:50:13,239
Speaker 1: a lot more mature now he's thirty give me thirty

1060
00:50:13,239 --> 00:50:15,960
Speaker 1: three years old, Like I mean, he fully acknowledge that.

1061
00:50:16,120 --> 00:50:20,759
Speaker 2: But I think the Royals got their revenge that year though.

1062
00:50:20,680 --> 00:50:25,040
Speaker 1: They did, they did, they did. Yeah, we won't keep

1063
00:50:25,080 --> 00:50:28,720
Speaker 1: talking about that, but great for a league. Play starts

1064
00:50:29,160 --> 00:50:31,640
Speaker 1: tomorrow at Cacti Park of the Palm Beaches.

1065
00:50:32,600 --> 00:50:33,320
Speaker 2: A p s A.

1066
00:50:33,520 --> 00:50:37,200
Speaker 1: That I will be leaving Florida on Sunday for a

1067
00:50:37,239 --> 00:50:40,640
Speaker 1: little bit. I'm gonna go back to Houston, help out

1068
00:50:40,719 --> 00:50:42,880
Speaker 1: cover the WBC at Dyke And Park, and then be

1069
00:50:42,960 --> 00:50:44,760
Speaker 1: back in the middle of Marsh. This will be the last,

1070
00:50:44,840 --> 00:50:47,000
Speaker 1: Actually it will not. This will not be the last

1071
00:50:47,000 --> 00:50:50,800
Speaker 1: show we do from West Palm Beach because tomorrow Saturday,

1072
00:50:51,040 --> 00:50:53,200
Speaker 1: we're scheduled to have another member of the Ashers pitching

1073
00:50:53,239 --> 00:50:55,960
Speaker 1: staff join us for an interview. Here going to keep

1074
00:50:55,960 --> 00:50:59,040
Speaker 1: that a little bit of a secret. I think, look,

1075
00:50:59,120 --> 00:51:01,480
Speaker 1: we already we already got the bar so high. We

1076
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Speaker 1: got the opening Carter and the reigning Cy Young finalists

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Speaker 1: Hunter Brown on so this guy is just as good

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Speaker 1: of an interview, but maybe not opening a starter level yet.

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Speaker 1: But we'll have that tomorrow, but until then you can

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Speaker 1: follow me on x at Chandler Underscore and we can

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Speaker 1: follow Josh at j Reddubduce. Please rate and review us

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Speaker 1: on Apple Spotify. You can subscribe to the YouTube channel.

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Speaker 1: Please like the YouTube video that helps us a bunch.

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Speaker 1: Like I said, we'll be back tomorrow with an interview

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Speaker 1: with a member of the Astros pitching staff. But until then,

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Speaker 1: hopefully Tyler gets better. If he's actually sick, and he'll

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Speaker 1: be with us tomorrow, but if not, we'll we'll make do.

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Speaker 1: Talk to you guys soon and thanks for listening.

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Speaker 2: By