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Speaker 1: Pt great to have you on the show, and I'll

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Speaker 1: just reiterate for everyone you can follow them at rational

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Speaker 1: underscore Yankee, not irrational, rational underscore Yankee. We'll get into

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Speaker 1: the Yanks in the second portion here. Let's start with

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Speaker 1: your involvement in the MLB Fan Council. These guys didn't

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Speaker 1: know about it. It's a way for MLB to connect

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Speaker 1: with fans. So what can you tell us about your

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Speaker 1: experience so far and how you went a little viral

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Speaker 1: with a tweet talking about how you were on a

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Speaker 1: recent call with them. And I'll cherry pick here, he said,

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Speaker 1: I'm now almost one hundred percent convinced there will be

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Speaker 1: a work stoppage after next season. A lot of the

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Speaker 1: content presented to us was in support of a league

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Speaker 1: wide salary cap. It definitely felt like the league was

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Speaker 1: making its appeal to fans as to why a salary

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Speaker 1: cap makes sense. Clearly the league as a firm stance

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Speaker 1: on the issue, and if the players dig their heels

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Speaker 1: in against a cap, I think the twenty seventh season

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Speaker 1: will not happen. Prior to this call, I knew this

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Speaker 1: was a possibility, but it was subtly hopefully that cooler

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Speaker 1: heads might prevail prior to missing a season. I'm now

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Speaker 1: a lot less confident in that. So instead of cherry picking,

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Speaker 1: I've decided to just read the whole thing, and now

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Speaker 1: you go for it. Tell us what that meaning was

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Speaker 1: like and why we should be concerned about this.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I I My stance was if we're a year

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Speaker 2: out from these negotiations really kicking off, and you know,

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Speaker 2: I'm just a random guy with a Twitter account on

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Speaker 2: a call with a bunch of other random people with

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Speaker 2: Twitter accounts, and we're spending twenty to thirty minutes plus.

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Speaker 3: But honestly, it was more than that talking about salary.

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Speaker 2: Caps and that as a solution to competitive balance in baseball.

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Speaker 2: It was just kind of alarmed. I don't want to

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Speaker 2: say alarming, but it was just surprising to me that

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Speaker 2: the league was that upfront with us about why a

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Speaker 2: salary cap could could make sense, Because I feel like

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Speaker 2: I'm the last person that you're you're going to articulate

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Speaker 2: that too, right, I'm just literally some guy who fires

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Speaker 2: out tweets into the ether, you know, a couple.

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Speaker 3: Of times a day. So I don't I don't want

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Speaker 3: to say concerned, but you know, kind of going in.

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Speaker 2: I was like every other fan, right, you know, everyone

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Speaker 2: knew there might be a workstoppage, there might not be,

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Speaker 2: but I don't think I knew how serious MLB might

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Speaker 2: be about instituting a salary cap in the next CBA negotiations.

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Speaker 2: And that kind of alarmed me a little bit that

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Speaker 2: it felt like they meant business about it.

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Speaker 4: Okay, first of all, how did you get on this

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Speaker 4: fan committee? Because I want to be on this fan committee?

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Speaker 4: How do I how do I get Rob Manford to

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Speaker 4: call me and let me listen in on these phone calls?

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Speaker 4: And then did you guys get to ask questions back?

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Speaker 4: Or was who was? Who was on this call? Because

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Speaker 4: now you have me completely interested? And I went in, Right,

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Speaker 4: So I got to figure out make a make an account,

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Speaker 4: call myself irrational Yankee fan, and then I'll get all

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Speaker 4: your followers they have.

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Speaker 5: For you, commissioners.

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Speaker 2: There's there's a lot of irrational Yankees fans. I don't

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Speaker 2: think you'd get you get too much traction there. But uh,

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Speaker 2: I literally just one day got a d M from

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Speaker 2: the MLB main account asking me to be on the

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Speaker 2: MLB Fan Council, And that's really what it was. And

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Speaker 2: then when it started, I had no idea what I

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Speaker 2: was getting into. I mean, it's really just kind of

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Speaker 2: a once a month zoom call. And I will give

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Speaker 2: MLB credit. They they're not trying to hide anything. They are,

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Speaker 2: you know, telling us that anything you take off these calls,

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Speaker 2: you can go out onto your platforms and talk about.

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Speaker 2: You know, they gave us some say into what we

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Speaker 2: wanted to talk about, so they weren't really trying to

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Speaker 2: control the narrative. From that perspective, how I got selected,

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Speaker 2: I really have no idea. I mean I was either

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Speaker 2: someone at MB or maybe someone with the Yankees knew

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Speaker 2: my account gave it them.

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Speaker 3: No idea, but.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I'm it's interesting for me because I'm

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Speaker 2: not I'll work in baseball. I don't really play baseball.

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Speaker 2: I'm just a guy with a Twitter account. To get

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Speaker 2: kind of that inside access there, it was pretty interesting, right.

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Speaker 6: Did they give you any other options? But did they

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Speaker 6: give you like how they're going to fix the what

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Speaker 6: they're calling the inequality in baseball or was it all

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Speaker 6: just the salary cap?

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Speaker 2: They were upfront saying not here to present solutions, right,

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Speaker 2: We're just here to kind of talk about the problem

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Speaker 2: and they it was a it was almost weird because

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Speaker 2: they were they were saying, you know, a salary cap

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Speaker 2: might help, but we also don't want to talk about solutions,

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Speaker 2: which the salary cap would have been the solution. But

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Speaker 2: you know, I think, uh, you know, they they really

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Speaker 2: just kind of focused on, you know, over the last

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Speaker 2: you know, the argument is, you know, there's baseball. There's

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Speaker 2: a ton of parody in baseball, but when you go

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Speaker 2: down the list of who's actually won the World Series,

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Speaker 2: no one outside of the top fifteen has done it

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Speaker 2: in terms of payroll. So how how do you fix that?

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Speaker 2: A salary cap might be the way to do it.

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Speaker 2: That we did not get deep into what if you

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Speaker 2: fix the luxury tax system, what's going on with maybe

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Speaker 2: some of the owners that aren't spending money. They didn't

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Speaker 2: saying about the pirates maybe pocketing all the revenue sharing.

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Speaker 2: So it definitely felt a little bit more one sided

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Speaker 2: toward a cap than anything else. And you know, and

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Speaker 2: and and I did ask the question, and I think

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Speaker 2: it's an important question for the lead to answer. You know,

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Speaker 2: is it necessarily a bet thing for there to be

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Speaker 2: a system in place where your star players get to

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Speaker 2: play consistently in the biggest markets with the most fans,

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Speaker 2: with the most exposure, and they're consistently going to the

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Speaker 2: playoffs in the World Series. I thought that last World Series,

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Speaker 2: you know, as painful as it was to watch the

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Speaker 2: team that beat the Yankees last year play the team

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Speaker 2: that beat the Yankees this year. I mean, any baseball

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Speaker 2: fan would would put that World Series up there with

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Speaker 2: you know, one of the best World Series of all time,

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Speaker 2: and you know, with a salary cap and system system

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Speaker 2: in place, does that World Series happen?

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Speaker 4: This is a pr battle that the league is trying

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Speaker 4: to win by doing having these influencers on their call

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Speaker 4: and then say go spread this news to the world.

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Speaker 4: And I get why they're doing it. But what I

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Speaker 4: want to know is was anything else discussed? Did you

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Speaker 4: get to ask questions? Did they give you any answers?

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Speaker 4: Do they listen to any of your ideas or is

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Speaker 4: this just I know you said you got to ask questions,

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Speaker 4: But did they listen into your ideas and say, oh man,

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Speaker 4: they might have an idea to help fans or is

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Speaker 4: it just like, oh, yeah, we heard you, We're just

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Speaker 4: gonna spear you more information out.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they let us ask questions. I would say that

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Speaker 2: the fans on the call were overwhelmingly in support of

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Speaker 2: a CAP. I think that's important to point out. But also,

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Speaker 2: at the same time, you know, the Yankees have the

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Speaker 2: biggest fan base in baseball, and I'm the only Yankees

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Speaker 2: fan out of probably seventy or eighty other people on

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Speaker 2: this call, So I won't say that the fan base

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Speaker 2: was the people on the call were necessarily representative of

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Speaker 2: Mob's fan.

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Speaker 3: Base as a whole.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, a lot of the fans from small market

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Speaker 2: teams were in favor of a CAP, so there really

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Speaker 2: wasn't a ton of pushback from a.

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Speaker 3: Lot of the other people.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, I did ask the question, you know, why

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Speaker 2: is it a bad thing that the best players play

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Speaker 2: in the big markets? And the answer I got back was,

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Speaker 2: you know, what do you It depends on what we

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Speaker 2: want baseball to be. Do we want it to be

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Speaker 2: a league where you know, only ten or fifteen teams

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Speaker 2: have a chance every year, or do we want to

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Speaker 2: give everyone a shot? And I don't buy into that

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Speaker 2: premise that that's what it is right now, but that's

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Speaker 2: the answer I got.

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Speaker 6: Would you want to hear from the players, because obviously

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Speaker 6: the Major League Baseball is is putting this together, putting

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Speaker 6: this group together. Wouldn't it be beneficial to hear the

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Speaker 6: player's side, if the players Association the Union puts something together,

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Speaker 6: you'd be open to listen to that part too.

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Speaker 5: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: I want to hear that, right, because again, you know,

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Speaker 2: I want to be educated on these issues. I didn't

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Speaker 2: start putting out content or giving my thoughts about baseball

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Speaker 2: thinking anyone's going to follow me.

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Speaker 3: But as I'm learning right now, I'm on foul territory.

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Speaker 2: So every once in a while I say something and

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Speaker 2: people actually read it and listen to it and want

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Speaker 2: to talk about it. And when I do, I want

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Speaker 2: to be knowledgeable about all sides of the issue. You know,

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Speaker 2: I've gotten the ownership side. I you know, I get it.

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Speaker 2: I hear where they're coming from. I'm not going to

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Speaker 2: say I agree with it, but you know, to hear

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Speaker 2: from the other side of it.

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Speaker 3: You want to get a balanced view.

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Speaker 2: So when I talk to you know, my followers, I

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Speaker 2: have something to say.

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Speaker 4: Okay, My question is, is then all other leagues have caps?

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Speaker 5: Right?

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Speaker 4: The Chiefs go to the Super Bowl every year, the

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Speaker 4: Chiefs and the Eagles and forever the Patriots were going

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Speaker 4: to the Super Bowl every year, and in the NBA,

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Speaker 4: you know, it's it's they have to build these super teams, right,

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Speaker 4: And yes, Oklahoma City won last year, but nobody watched

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Speaker 4: because it was Oklahoma City. But when the Lakers are

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Speaker 4: in it and the Celtics are in it every year,

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Speaker 4: people tune in to watch. So how does it? I mean,

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Speaker 4: it still goes back to my original question. Flour would

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Speaker 4: obviously help the cap because there already is a soft cap.

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Speaker 4: I know you're we can't. I'm not going to get

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Speaker 4: too deep in the weeds. It's just amazing to me

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Speaker 4: that they go to fans and I'm assuming now I

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Speaker 4: don't know this, but from what you said, these are

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Speaker 4: people that are probably tweeted things that they were already

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Speaker 4: aligned with, so they were just trying to get them

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Speaker 4: to say, oh, yeah, what you're saying, we already believe

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Speaker 4: in this, let's go spread this. I don't know, I

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Speaker 4: just I would love to be a part of this.

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Speaker 4: I don't even really have a question. I just love

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Speaker 4: to be a part of it, just so I could

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Speaker 4: hear what they say. Because I've been on MLB calls

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Speaker 4: before I was there in two thousand and two when

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Speaker 4: they were trying to contract the Expos and the Twins. Oh,

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Speaker 4: we were never trying to do that. I had a

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Speaker 4: call week right, and now the new thing is salary cap,

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Speaker 4: salary cap, salary cap, and they're spreading it to the fans,

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Speaker 4: and then they get you guys who influenced people to say, oh,

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Speaker 4: this cap is a great idea, and then more fans.

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Speaker 4: I don't know it, just I would love to be

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Speaker 4: a part of this somehow and listen to it.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: I do want to say that this was one call

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Speaker 2: at the end of a series of ten or eleven calls,

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Speaker 2: and this was the only one where I felt like

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Speaker 2: MLB was really pushing its agenda a little bit.

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Speaker 3: Honest.

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Speaker 2: I don't want to make it like the whole program

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Speaker 2: was that this was kind of unique to it, but

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Speaker 2: but yeah, I think that it was definitely alarming that

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Speaker 2: on the last call that was that was the narrative

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Speaker 2: that that was being placed.

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Speaker 3: And like you said, Aj, you can go across any league.

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Speaker 2: I'm a big New York Giants fan on the football side,

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Speaker 2: and there were stories coming out over the last couple

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Speaker 2: of days that MetLife Stadium was filled with Niners fans

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Speaker 2: this week and more so than it was Giants fans, right,

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Speaker 2: because in a league with a salary cap, they were

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Speaker 2: a poorly run organization. They're up against the cap, they

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Speaker 2: can't improve their team. And now you have one of

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Speaker 2: your premier franchises in one of the largest markets. Their

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Speaker 2: fans aren't showing up to the games. I'm sure they're

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Speaker 2: watching the games, but maybe not to the degree that

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Speaker 2: they would have been. You know, you got Niners fans

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Speaker 2: in MetLife Stadium making more noise than Giants fans. And

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Speaker 2: if you create a system where there is a cap

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Speaker 2: and you have teams like the Yankees and the Dodgers

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Speaker 2: or whatever, you know, big market organization you're talking about

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Speaker 2: going through potentially prolonged periods of a downturn. Is it

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Speaker 2: good for Baseball to potentially disengage some of your largest

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Speaker 2: fan bases in an effort to you know, pick it

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Speaker 2: back up in Kansas City, uh, you know, Cincinnati, Seattle,

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Speaker 2: or whatever small market it might be. It's a hard

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Speaker 2: question because if I were a fan of those teams,

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Speaker 2: the answer would be absolutely yes. I want to have

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Speaker 2: a chance to win as much as anybody else. I

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Speaker 2: don't know, if a salary cap fixes that, and I also,

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Speaker 2: you know, for for the greater good of the game.

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Speaker 2: I don't know if that's what's best for fan engagement

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Speaker 2: because I don't think there's anything broken with baseball right

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Speaker 2: now where we need to completely revamp the monetary landscape

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Speaker 2: of it.

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Speaker 1: What info did you get, like, did you so in

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Speaker 1: this particular call? Did you learn a lot? Did they

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Speaker 1: give helpful information? And were there any questions like the

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Speaker 1: ones that you said, Hey, there's already a soft salary cap.

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Speaker 1: Why doesn't they soft floor exist for these ownership groups

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Speaker 1: of fan and these are the fan base that are

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Speaker 1: often complaining, as they should, but those groups are not

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Speaker 1: spending money and then they're acting poor. But if they

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Speaker 1: really were struggling, they would obviously sell the team. It's

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Speaker 1: a broken record, but it is true. Do they give

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Speaker 1: any response to that or is it just like, are

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Speaker 1: they trying to make it an open form or is

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Speaker 1: it more.

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Speaker 5: Just hey, here's the solution.

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Speaker 1: There's also revenue sharing, which exists now and can continue

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Speaker 1: to exist. So if a team's like, oh, I'm fifty

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Speaker 1: mils short from spending what I want to spend, revenue

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Speaker 1: sharing can help fix that as well. Did you get

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Speaker 1: any of that or was it just a one sided attack.

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Speaker 3: I don't want to call it an attack.

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Speaker 2: I think that the they geared the content toward what

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Speaker 2: the people on the call were trying to kind of

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Speaker 2: get out of it. And again, it was when when

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Speaker 2: you start talking about salary cap, you're going to get

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Speaker 2: a lot of the fans from a lot of the

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Speaker 2: smaller market teams coming out and saying that, you know,

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Speaker 2: we've been pounding the table for this for for a

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Speaker 2: long time, and you know, for me, I was maybe one.

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Speaker 3: Of the only dissenting voices on there.

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Speaker 2: So we didn't really spend a lot of time on

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Speaker 2: the other side of the issue because there wasn't a

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Speaker 2: lot of interest in the other side of the issue.

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Speaker 3: I didn't feel like.

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Speaker 1: Why are there only one? Why is there eighty people

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Speaker 1: on there and only one Yankee Rep? Like, how does

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Speaker 1: that work?

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Speaker 4: Well?

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Speaker 1: Like other teams had multiple reps, but only one for

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Speaker 1: you guys, I think everyone.

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Speaker 2: Ever, some teams have two or three. I don't know

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Speaker 2: if there's a Dodger's rep. If there is, I haven't

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Speaker 2: met that person. I don't think there's another Yankees rep.

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Speaker 3: To my knowledge.

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Speaker 2: It could just be that Yankees fans can be a

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Speaker 2: little bit annoying sometimes and they didn't want to deal

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Speaker 2: with it. You know, I'm all being pretty upfront about

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Speaker 2: that if that's the case, And I can't say I

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Speaker 2: blame him because I deal with it every day.

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Speaker 3: But yeah, I can't answer that question. I really don't know.

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Speaker 1: Well, you are rational and you are well spoken, So

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Speaker 1: let's let's try to find a positive here from either

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Speaker 1: this meeting or prior meetings, because.

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Speaker 5: You are the voice in the rep for these discussions.

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Speaker 1: Was there anything good that you've learned and idea floated

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Speaker 1: that you actually saw implemented, like over the past year.

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Speaker 1: Is there anything that can come out of it that

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Speaker 1: you think was super helpful for them to understand to

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Speaker 1: help grow the game.

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Speaker 5: It's no secret and I used to work there. You know.

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Speaker 5: It's bosses where you're.

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Speaker 1: Like corny and even Ken caught it up right, like

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Speaker 1: the It's like the concert during the World Series from

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Speaker 1: the Jonas Brothers where you're like, they're trying, but they

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Speaker 1: just don't understand it. So do you feel like anything

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Speaker 1: gets through for them to be cooler in the way

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Speaker 1: that they run the sport?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it depends on the topic you're talking about, right,

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Speaker 2: you know, there were some of it that was just

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Speaker 2: purely educational. We had someone come in and talk to

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Speaker 2: us about the science behind torpedo bats, and that was

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Speaker 2: earlier in the season when that was one of the stories.

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Speaker 3: And there's some things.

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Speaker 2: There that you've realized pretty quickly. The person who's talking

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Speaker 2: to about it and knows way more than I ever will,

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Speaker 2: So it's kind of just to sit there and listen

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Speaker 2: and learn. But then we had a really cool call

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Speaker 2: where we were given the same presentation around player marketing

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Speaker 2: a week after for Fernando Tatis Junior got it to

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Speaker 2: talk about, you know, what the league can be doing

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Speaker 2: to help increase his profile, you know, and I learned

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Speaker 2: a lot from that in terms of what the league

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Speaker 2: is doing to try to help make its players more

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Speaker 2: visible from mark. But then they asked us, you know,

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Speaker 2: what's from your perspective, what are the things that players

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Speaker 2: are kind of missing on the social media front right now?

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Speaker 2: And I felt like they really did take our suggestions.

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Speaker 2: Like one of the things I said was, you know,

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Speaker 2: I follow a lot of Yankees on Twitter. Most of

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Speaker 2: their Twitter accounts feel like just straight pr for for

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Speaker 2: the player. It doesn't feel like Aaron Judge is sending

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Speaker 2: out a whole lot of tweets off of his Twitter account, right,

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Speaker 2: it's probably maybe someone doing it for them or whoever

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Speaker 2: runs his social media. And you know, fans can see that.

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Speaker 2: They can see through that, and it doesn't make you

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Speaker 2: give you the ability to like you can identify with

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Speaker 2: someone you know when when it feels like that. So

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Speaker 2: I think just little things like that, I think we're

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Speaker 2: definitely taken into account they. I do think they made

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Speaker 2: an effort to listen to us after every call, they

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Speaker 2: asked us for our feedback.

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Speaker 5: Okay, okay, I agree with that.

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Speaker 1: By the way, where there are mostly employees working for

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Speaker 1: players and running their accounts, right, and they're busy, and

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Speaker 1: some of them aren't good at it, but some more

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Speaker 1: connectivity would certainly help, and some are better than others.

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Speaker 1: But I do know what you're talking about there. There

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Speaker 1: are quite a few players, especially some of the bigger

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Speaker 1: names where I mean it's kind of like when you

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Speaker 1: would look at the Rock or something like they're just putting.

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Speaker 5: Stuff out and they have there.

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Speaker 1: They are their own business online, right, so everything is

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Speaker 1: either an influencer post and then I get it it

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Speaker 1: pays the bills or something that's gearing towards that, So

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Speaker 1: I understand that.

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Speaker 5: I agree with that right.

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Speaker 1: Honestly, it's part of why we started this show, where like, hey,

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Speaker 1: these guys are cool, let's bring them on. It's easier

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Speaker 1: for them to just talk for fifteen minutes to us

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Speaker 1: versus have them go.

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Speaker 5: A lot of these guys feel weird about it. Hey,

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Speaker 5: Yankee fans, it's me talking after the game, right like that.

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Speaker 5: You're great on here.

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Speaker 1: You didn't want to do if you were asked to

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Speaker 1: do this, you'd be like if you were doing this

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Speaker 1: out after every game.

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Speaker 5: Like, here are my thoughts? Yeah, kind of weird, right. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: You've got Royal super prospect Blake Mitchell joining us right

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Speaker 1: now on the show, and he's out in the Arizona

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Speaker 1: Fall League and was named.

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Speaker 5: To the AFL Fall Stars game roster. I used to

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Speaker 5: call those games. It's one of my favorites.

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Speaker 1: The game is Sunday at Sloan Park eight o'clock Eastern

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Speaker 1: and you can watch it on MLB TV. It's streamed

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Speaker 1: live on the app as well. Blake joining us here, Blake,

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Speaker 1: great to have you on. Congrats on making that roster

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Speaker 1: and has everything going out there.

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Speaker 7: Yeah, sir, thanks for having me. It's been great.

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Speaker 8: You know, it's a lot of good baseball out here,

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Speaker 8: a lot of great players, great coaches, So.

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Speaker 7: You know, I'm taking it all in learning from as

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Speaker 7: many people as possible.

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Speaker 5: What's been your favorite moment out there so far?

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Speaker 1: It could be anything individually in a game, moment with

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Speaker 1: some new teammates that you're meeting.

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Speaker 8: I would say just getting to continue to play with

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Speaker 8: the guys that I played with this year, like Daniel Vasquez,

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Speaker 8: Carson Rockefer and all the Royals guys that have got

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Speaker 8: to play with. And then also our manager, Hazusa Swaye,

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Speaker 8: who's been my manager every single year in pro ball,

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Speaker 8: So for him to continue to be my manager, you know,

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Speaker 8: it's really special.

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Speaker 4: What are you trying to learn? Because when I went

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Speaker 4: to the Fall League, I was I was awful because

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Speaker 4: I was I'd actually been in the big leagues for

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Speaker 4: the first time. And then they were like, oh, go

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Speaker 4: play in Arizona, and I was like, you know, what

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Speaker 4: are you trying to work on. They didn't really say anything.

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Speaker 4: They just like, just go get more at bats, and

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Speaker 4: I was like, okay, well, what are you trying to

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Speaker 4: work on while you're out in Arizona? Did they give

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Speaker 4: you a list of things you need to improve?

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Speaker 8: I don't really have a list of things to work on.

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Speaker 8: I was hurt for the entire first half of the years.

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Speaker 8: So the main thing for me is just getting as

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Speaker 8: many at bats as possible, getting to learn, you know,

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Speaker 8: other pictures, other pitching staffs, just getting the experience. And

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Speaker 8: you know, the main thing is just getting more at bats.

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Speaker 6: All right, and I'll give you something to work on.

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Speaker 6: Face some lefties. Did you tell your manager who is it?

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Speaker 6: Heesusa suahe you said, like I was looking at your

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Speaker 6: numbers from so far in pro ball, they don't ever

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Speaker 6: let you face lefties. Do you feel like the organization

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Speaker 6: is insulating you from lefties or do you feel like

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Speaker 6: it's something that just hasn't happened. We just haven't faced

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Speaker 6: a lot of lefties.

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Speaker 8: Yeah, I guess that's just the luck of the draw.

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Speaker 8: You know, I feel like I haven't faced that mini

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Speaker 8: in pro ball. I mean, I played over one hundred

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Speaker 8: games last year in Low A, and you know, I

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Speaker 8: guess I didn't get to face that many lefties.

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Speaker 7: And then being hurt half of the year.

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Speaker 8: Probably held me back a little bit as well.

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Speaker 4: Well, how are you gonna learn to hit lefties if

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Speaker 4: you don't face them. I was left in the hitter.

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Speaker 4: I was, I always said, and I hit lefties fine

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Speaker 4: the minor leagues, and then finally you get to the

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Speaker 4: big leagues and they say you can't hit them. Well,

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Speaker 4: I hit him fine. I never had a problem in

439
00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:33,960
Speaker 4: high school, minor leagues. I hit him just fine. Just

440
00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:36,920
Speaker 4: let me play. So tell your manager, let's go. Let

441
00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:39,399
Speaker 4: me play. Call up, Call up Kucharo, call up Q

442
00:19:39,560 --> 00:19:41,000
Speaker 4: and be like you listen, I'm gonna be your catcher

443
00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:43,240
Speaker 4: in the future. I know Salvey's got a couple more years,

444
00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:45,600
Speaker 4: but let me face lefties because I want to play

445
00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:46,280
Speaker 4: every day.

446
00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:48,320
Speaker 2: All right.

447
00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:50,160
Speaker 8: I'll let him know I faced. I faced a couple

448
00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:52,399
Speaker 8: the other days. So that's a little And how'd you do?

449
00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:53,280
Speaker 4: How'd you do?

450
00:19:54,119 --> 00:19:55,159
Speaker 7: I had two knocks?

451
00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:59,000
Speaker 4: Oh, so you're bad? Yeah, sorry about.

452
00:19:58,840 --> 00:20:02,800
Speaker 6: It being a minor leaguer. When you look at a guy,

453
00:20:02,880 --> 00:20:06,639
Speaker 6: when you see that Salvado Perez just got an extension

454
00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:09,159
Speaker 6: for two years, what goes through your mind? Are you

455
00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:12,480
Speaker 6: like cool? Like now I get to play with salviy

456
00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:15,520
Speaker 6: or wait, is it because I was hurt all year

457
00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:18,159
Speaker 6: this half of the year this year? Like you do

458
00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:20,960
Speaker 6: you overthink that and is there somebody in your life

459
00:20:20,960 --> 00:20:23,560
Speaker 6: that tells you, well, relax, bro.

460
00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:27,520
Speaker 8: I haven't really thought about it much at all. You know,

461
00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:29,840
Speaker 8: it just happened. And I love Salvey. I was with

462
00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:32,840
Speaker 8: him last spring training in Big League screen training, so

463
00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:34,800
Speaker 8: he's a great guy, great guy to be around, and

464
00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:36,879
Speaker 8: I know everybody loves him in the clubhouse, all the

465
00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:40,360
Speaker 8: royals people love him. So you know, I'm not complaining

466
00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:42,240
Speaker 8: at all. You know, I love being around him, so

467
00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:44,160
Speaker 8: I'm gonna try to learn as much as possible from him.

468
00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:46,800
Speaker 6: How hard is it coming to a new team? You

469
00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:50,280
Speaker 6: spend pretty much, you know, your season, you might bounce

470
00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:52,720
Speaker 6: from one or two levels, But how hard is it

471
00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:55,000
Speaker 6: coming to a new team like your fall league team,

472
00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:57,560
Speaker 6: and you got to go and catch. Obviously, everyone's gonna

473
00:20:57,560 --> 00:20:59,640
Speaker 6: look at your hitting numbers and you know, see how

474
00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:02,760
Speaker 6: you hit dangers and you hit the ball really hard.

475
00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:05,359
Speaker 6: How hard is it to catch and learn all of

476
00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:06,720
Speaker 6: these new pitchers.

477
00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:12,199
Speaker 8: It's definitely tough, you know, learning all the signs, what

478
00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:14,080
Speaker 8: they want to use, the thrown around second since we

479
00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:17,680
Speaker 8: do have PitchCom here, you know what they like to

480
00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:21,280
Speaker 8: throw in a certain situations, certain counts. So now I'm

481
00:21:21,320 --> 00:21:22,760
Speaker 8: starting to get the hang of it after you know,

482
00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:25,800
Speaker 8: four straight weeks of catching them.

483
00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:28,040
Speaker 7: But you know, it's definitely a big adjustment.

484
00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:30,760
Speaker 4: What do you mean, no pitch all up? Before I

485
00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:32,520
Speaker 4: can get to the next question, why don't they have

486
00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:33,960
Speaker 4: you guys using pitch com and use it in the

487
00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:35,639
Speaker 4: big leagues? It can't get you all pitch go on

488
00:21:36,119 --> 00:21:38,080
Speaker 4: to get used to for when you move up the ladder.

489
00:21:38,119 --> 00:21:41,480
Speaker 4: That makes zero sense to me. PitchCom in high school.

490
00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:44,480
Speaker 8: Yeah, we don't even have it in the minor leagues,

491
00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:46,359
Speaker 8: like I think only Triple A has it, Like we

492
00:21:46,560 --> 00:21:47,520
Speaker 8: didn't have it all year.

493
00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:51,160
Speaker 4: That's crazy to me. I think I know a guy.

494
00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:54,040
Speaker 4: Are you not allowed to use it? Or you just

495
00:21:54,119 --> 00:21:55,960
Speaker 4: don't they don't let you cause I know a guy

496
00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:57,200
Speaker 4: that can send you one if you want it.

497
00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:01,240
Speaker 8: Yeah, I'm not sure. I haven't ask too many questions

498
00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:02,760
Speaker 8: about it. I'm just like, you tell me what to

499
00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:03,440
Speaker 8: do and I'll do it.

500
00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:05,440
Speaker 4: Okay. So what do you do in the Fall league

501
00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:06,879
Speaker 4: because you still get an off day a week. Is

502
00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:08,639
Speaker 4: that they still do where you get one off day

503
00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:08,960
Speaker 4: a week.

504
00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:11,840
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's been every Monday that we've had off.

505
00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:13,960
Speaker 4: What do you do out in Arizona? I know you

506
00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:16,280
Speaker 4: spend time out there, obviously in surprise with the Royals,

507
00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:18,040
Speaker 4: But what do you do during the Fall League on

508
00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:20,880
Speaker 4: your off day? You're hanging out your golfing, You're climbing

509
00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:23,160
Speaker 4: a camel back mountain? What do you do out in Arizona?

510
00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:26,840
Speaker 8: Most of the time, I'm just relaxing, you know, geting

511
00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:30,240
Speaker 8: my body ready for that week. I've been pretty consistent

512
00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:33,800
Speaker 8: on Mondays going to this recovery place called Modern Athlete.

513
00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:36,320
Speaker 8: They've just been getting my body right, you know, get

514
00:22:36,359 --> 00:22:38,520
Speaker 8: me ready for that upcoming week. So I thank them

515
00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:39,560
Speaker 8: a lot for everything they've done.

516
00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:41,040
Speaker 4: What did that?

517
00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:44,440
Speaker 6: What did that look like? Because recovery in Arizona Fall

518
00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:46,400
Speaker 6: League when I was there, and I'm sure when AJ

519
00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:49,359
Speaker 6: was there, was not quite the same on off days

520
00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:51,439
Speaker 6: as going to Modern Athlete. But what does that look like?

521
00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:55,520
Speaker 6: What do you what do you do go in there? Massage, cryotherapy, hot,

522
00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:56,640
Speaker 6: cold tub? What are you doing?

523
00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:01,719
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean they have cold tub in there, this

524
00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:06,040
Speaker 8: thing called PMF that just runs like electrodes through through

525
00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:06,919
Speaker 8: your entire body.

526
00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:08,280
Speaker 7: To relax it.

527
00:23:08,359 --> 00:23:10,560
Speaker 8: They have these things called solo dome that you know,

528
00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:14,159
Speaker 8: relaxes your nervous system, your body, just a bunch of

529
00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:16,840
Speaker 8: different stuff that we go through for about a couple

530
00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:19,320
Speaker 8: hours and then you know, it's kind of a reset

531
00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:21,520
Speaker 8: for my body. And then just come back here to

532
00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:25,280
Speaker 8: Surprise and just lay around, watch the YouTube, just do whatever.

533
00:23:26,359 --> 00:23:26,640
Speaker 6: I mean.

534
00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:30,600
Speaker 4: Listen, you're right about one thing. I only recovering from

535
00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:32,600
Speaker 4: hangovers on my off day. In the folly, there was

536
00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:36,679
Speaker 4: no there was no there was no modern athlete, trust me,

537
00:23:37,119 --> 00:23:38,960
Speaker 4: just as forever it goes. So this is way before

538
00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:41,159
Speaker 4: you were even born. Who's your roommates? Do you have

539
00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:44,240
Speaker 4: roommates out there in surprise? Are you living by your side?

540
00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:47,760
Speaker 8: I had Hunter Owen, who's a picture with the Royals,

541
00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:51,280
Speaker 8: but then something happened with his shoulder, so he went home.

542
00:23:51,359 --> 00:23:53,520
Speaker 8: So it's just me by myself now. But I have

543
00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:56,200
Speaker 8: all the living Yeah, I have all the other Royals

544
00:23:56,240 --> 00:23:59,000
Speaker 8: players that are in the same facility, but I got

545
00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:00,000
Speaker 8: my own room, so it's nice.

546
00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:02,320
Speaker 4: So wait, are you in a dorm or you know,

547
00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:03,040
Speaker 4: like an apartment.

548
00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:06,959
Speaker 8: It's like it's literally an old hotel that the Royals

549
00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:10,040
Speaker 8: bought and just made it their own and then all

550
00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:12,000
Speaker 8: the Royals players stay here. This is where we stay

551
00:24:12,040 --> 00:24:15,600
Speaker 8: for spring training. If we're here for rehab, we stay here.

552
00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:17,880
Speaker 8: So it's a nice setup they have for us.

553
00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:23,840
Speaker 6: Is is it nice? Because this is something new? This

554
00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:26,159
Speaker 6: is something new when I was in the minor leagues.

555
00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:28,320
Speaker 6: AJ didn't spend much time in the minor leagues, but

556
00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:30,240
Speaker 6: when I was in the minor leagues, we got we

557
00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:32,200
Speaker 6: had to go find our own place. And man, you

558
00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:35,720
Speaker 6: sit in Arizona and you're like, I don't know some

559
00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:38,920
Speaker 6: sketchy places, but this is all we can afford it.

560
00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:40,920
Speaker 6: Do they do a good job? And do they give

561
00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:44,200
Speaker 6: you like a do they give you options to choose from?

562
00:24:45,800 --> 00:24:49,000
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's definitely a nice setup. I know, like all

563
00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:52,240
Speaker 8: the minor league guys stay here. So my first spring

564
00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:54,159
Speaker 8: training I was here. But then once you get to

565
00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:56,200
Speaker 8: big league camp, then they give you that extra money

566
00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:59,119
Speaker 8: to stay away, stay off so you get your own

567
00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:01,480
Speaker 8: AIRBNBC set up, which.

568
00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:01,960
Speaker 7: Is not too bad.

569
00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:05,320
Speaker 8: You know, it's nice, but here it's called the Fountains.

570
00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:07,760
Speaker 8: They have you know, a whole kitchen, a whole living room.

571
00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:11,040
Speaker 8: Uh to two rooms in here, so there'll be two

572
00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:12,720
Speaker 8: beds in the bathroom and then two beds in the

573
00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:13,240
Speaker 8: bathroom and.

574
00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:15,359
Speaker 7: The other one. So it's nice.

575
00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:17,480
Speaker 8: You know, in spring training it's kind of packed where

576
00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:19,760
Speaker 8: it'd be four guys to a room, so you'll be

577
00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:21,120
Speaker 8: sharing a room and a bathroom.

578
00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:24,600
Speaker 7: But I mean, it's not bad at all. It's it's

579
00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:25,439
Speaker 7: a really nice setup.

580
00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:26,800
Speaker 6: That's bad.

581
00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:28,840
Speaker 4: I'm sorry, that's bad. You got to share a bathroom,

582
00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:31,360
Speaker 4: like that's my that's my number one. Like, oh man,

583
00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:33,159
Speaker 4: I'm too old for that.

584
00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:33,520
Speaker 3: People.

585
00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:36,040
Speaker 4: People are like, yeah, but he's a key. I understand.

586
00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:41,640
Speaker 4: But still I know. I know. I have two kids

587
00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:44,560
Speaker 4: in college. Trust me, I know all about it. I

588
00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:47,280
Speaker 4: got two kids in college that are both share rooms.

589
00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:49,680
Speaker 4: It's I don't know how they did it, Like I

590
00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:52,000
Speaker 4: would have to leave the room for certain things to happen,

591
00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:55,040
Speaker 4: find like a find like a lobby or something.

592
00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:57,000
Speaker 5: That is part of I know.

593
00:25:57,160 --> 00:25:59,200
Speaker 4: Listen, I was. I lived in the minor leagues. I

594
00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:00,960
Speaker 4: did the minor leagues. We had a hotel room we

595
00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:03,360
Speaker 4: stayed in. It was it was not as nice as

596
00:26:03,359 --> 00:26:05,000
Speaker 4: the one he's that I'm looking at behind him and

597
00:26:05,040 --> 00:26:06,960
Speaker 4: you shared it, right, yeah, and it was awful and

598
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:11,120
Speaker 4: it's yeah, but it makes you appreciate it. Well, it does,

599
00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:13,439
Speaker 4: it does. It definitely makes you That's one of the

600
00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:15,200
Speaker 4: good things about baseball. When you get there, it makes

601
00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:17,639
Speaker 4: you appreciate not having a roommate and not having to

602
00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:20,000
Speaker 4: shave share a bathroom. So trust me, when you do

603
00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:22,520
Speaker 4: get there, Blake, you're gonna enjoy it. Who was your

604
00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:28,280
Speaker 4: favorite player growing up? You can say me, Okay, I

605
00:26:28,359 --> 00:26:30,640
Speaker 4: was in Texas when you were about ten years old,

606
00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:31,960
Speaker 4: so you can say me, I was a left handed

607
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:32,920
Speaker 4: hit a catcher. I get it.

608
00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:35,639
Speaker 8: Yeah, I remember watching when I grew up, but I

609
00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:37,400
Speaker 8: think Bryce Harper was partly my favorite.

610
00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:39,240
Speaker 4: Okay, that's fair.

611
00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:40,119
Speaker 5: Original catcher.

612
00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:42,240
Speaker 4: It was a catcher one time. It didn't last very long,

613
00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:44,760
Speaker 4: but that's that's I can understand that Bryce and I

614
00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:46,920
Speaker 4: we have similar power numbers, so I get it.

615
00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:49,280
Speaker 5: I totally understand similar personalities.

616
00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:50,800
Speaker 4: Yeah, I like Bryce.

617
00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:54,600
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Uh.

618
00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:57,000
Speaker 1: Last question for you in terms of you know, what

619
00:26:57,040 --> 00:27:00,159
Speaker 1: you've learned so far with Kansas City. I know of

620
00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:03,560
Speaker 1: friends in other organizations. What do you think stands out

621
00:27:03,680 --> 00:27:05,879
Speaker 1: about the Royals organization? I know they didn't make the

622
00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:10,080
Speaker 1: playoffs this season, but last year had a nice postseason run.

623
00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:13,359
Speaker 1: What do you think is part of the identity for case,

624
00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:15,600
Speaker 1: and if you can try and avoid a cliche, like

625
00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:17,600
Speaker 1: what's something that you feel like is special that they

626
00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:20,120
Speaker 1: point out that you've really learned that maybe you didn't

627
00:27:20,119 --> 00:27:23,240
Speaker 1: pick up until you got there, you know, something a

628
00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:25,080
Speaker 1: little more big picture but not cliche.

629
00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:27,320
Speaker 5: If it's possible to figure that part.

630
00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:32,359
Speaker 8: Out, I'd say with the Royals, I really like how

631
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:35,760
Speaker 8: they strive to make everything homegrown. You know, they're not

632
00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:38,359
Speaker 8: going to go out and sign somebody for you know,

633
00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:41,080
Speaker 8: hundreds of millions of dollars just because they really can't.

634
00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:43,520
Speaker 8: You know, it's just the reality of it. You know,

635
00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:46,679
Speaker 8: they have to scout well, they have to you know,

636
00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:49,800
Speaker 8: get the right players. So I really like that. And

637
00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:51,840
Speaker 8: I really like how they you know, put all their

638
00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:54,000
Speaker 8: effort into their players because they know that they have

639
00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:55,960
Speaker 8: to make them the best, the best possible.

640
00:27:57,200 --> 00:27:59,639
Speaker 5: I like it. Well, thanks for joining us.

641
00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:00,160
Speaker 3: Have fun.

642
00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:02,000
Speaker 5: Are you excited for the Fall Stars game?

643
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:04,480
Speaker 7: Yeah, for sure, It's gonna be a lot of fun.

644
00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:06,600
Speaker 8: So get to go play out there with some guys

645
00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:09,199
Speaker 8: I haven't played with in a few years, So I'm

646
00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:10,680
Speaker 8: excited to be on the same team as them.

647
00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:13,359
Speaker 5: Nice. Yeah, it's a good event. I called a few

648
00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:14,800
Speaker 5: of those I had fun with the we used to.

649
00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:16,720
Speaker 4: I was in the follogue so long ago. I don't

650
00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:17,920
Speaker 4: even think they had a whole Star game.

651
00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:20,160
Speaker 5: No, it wasn't there the whole time.

652
00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:23,199
Speaker 1: But it's my favorite part because you get all, you know,

653
00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:25,520
Speaker 1: the guys playing well and a lot of top prospects

654
00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:27,480
Speaker 1: and we might up players.

655
00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:30,880
Speaker 5: Yeah, so enjoy it. We'll be watching. Thanks for joining us.

656
00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:33,000
Speaker 7: Yes, sir, thank you all for having me.

657
00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:36,160
Speaker 5: Appreciate you. That's wake Mitchell. Get to know the name

658
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Speaker 5: if you don't already