Speaker 1: It's not policed. Teams don't punish guys for that, Teams
Speaker 1: don't devalue guys for that.
Speaker 2: Here we go with Merrifield joining us right now from
Speaker 2: the best golf clubhouse in home Baseball.
Speaker 3: Uh wait, good to see you, man.
Speaker 2: I know you're a big football guy too, so I
Speaker 2: actually want to start here because after this weekend it's
Speaker 2: baseball talk. So what do you think the NFL does
Speaker 2: well that MLB can take a page from. And I'll
Speaker 2: just bring up a couple concepts to get your take
Speaker 2: on and obviously offer whatever else.
Speaker 3: I'm good to see you, dude. But they have a
Speaker 3: neutral site for their.
Speaker 2: Championship game that's actually been talked about in the past,
Speaker 2: like can we do a day or two of the
Speaker 2: World Series and then run the rest of it?
Speaker 3: Just throwing it out there.
Speaker 2: I know that's an easy note for most players, but
Speaker 2: that or anything else that comes to mind with the NFL,
Speaker 2: and there amazing parody actually that they offer with that
Speaker 2: salary cap, which I know will open up a can
Speaker 2: of worms for you.
Speaker 1: That's a good question, and honestly, I've really never thought
Speaker 1: about it. I think the the neutral site I think
Speaker 1: is is just a hard No, Football, I get it,
Speaker 1: it's one game. There's such a there's such an advantage
Speaker 1: being at your home site, So I get being neutral.
Speaker 1: But Baseball, I mean it's it's a little bit of advantage,
Speaker 1: not that much really really, the advantages in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: The crowd can be an advantage, but it's batting at
Speaker 1: the bottom of the the bottom of the inning. And
Speaker 1: besides that, I mean, I don't know, salary cap, I will,
Speaker 1: I will get into right now with you guys, that's
Speaker 1: a that's a whole other copie. But I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, they do a good job of promoting the game.
Speaker 1: I think we do as well. I just think it's
Speaker 1: it's just different. You know, we play one hundred and
Speaker 1: sixty two games. Our Tuesday one point thirty game just
Speaker 1: doesn't hold the same value as a Sunday night football game.
Speaker 1: It just doesn't. So it's hard, it's hard to compare
Speaker 1: the two sports. But football is always trying to improve
Speaker 1: Basketball is we are, Golf is you know, every every
Speaker 1: every sports always trying to improve their products and make
Speaker 1: it better for the fans.
Speaker 4: Wait, wait, you said neutral site for the playoffs will
Speaker 4: be bad? Right, But we could have that scenario. If
Speaker 4: the ath Is of Sacramento or the Tampa area Rays
Speaker 4: from the Steinbrenner Field make the playoffs, they've come out
Speaker 4: and said most likely they're not going to play in
Speaker 4: those fields.
Speaker 1: I'm okay with that. I mean, that's a little bit
Speaker 1: of a unique situation. But you know, I don't I
Speaker 1: think you might really wants to go to Sacramento and
Speaker 1: to play play off game. So I'm okay with finding
Speaker 1: something else out.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but think about it when if you signed with
Speaker 4: one of those teams, you've played in front of those
Speaker 4: fans the entire year.
Speaker 1: I mean, I hear what you're saying, but uh, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I mean, it'd be almost being a college
Speaker 1: basketball fan, I am. It could be like almost like
Speaker 1: going to a Cameron indoor stadium, you know where it's
Speaker 1: not the biggest stadium, but maybe it's the craziest because
Speaker 1: it's small and there's people on top of you. I
Speaker 1: don't know, I don't know. I haven't honestly haven't thought
Speaker 1: about that. I haven't thought about it. What if, uh,
Speaker 1: Sacramento where Tampa next to the playoffs? I don't I
Speaker 1: don't know the answer to that, but I mean, MLB
Speaker 1: is gonna want to have as many people in the
Speaker 1: game as they can, so they're gonna want to take a
Speaker 1: sales up. So I'm sure they'll try to move it
Speaker 1: to bigger, bigger venue. I don't know. I don't know
Speaker 1: what they're gonna do.
Speaker 5: When we talk about free agency, been a part of it,
Speaker 5: you're being a part of it. Everybody is. You hear
Speaker 5: the rumors, the speculations, you get the calls. You know,
Speaker 5: do you try and stay out of that or you
Speaker 5: want to hear every little thing that's going on because
Speaker 5: it is your livelihood at the end of the day.
Speaker 1: Last year, I tried to I tried to stay in
Speaker 1: loop with what was going on. It was my first
Speaker 1: time going through it, and so I I I tried
Speaker 1: to stay I guess, in touch with with what people
Speaker 1: of the rumors that were being circulated, but also you know,
Speaker 1: with my agent, who who would who he had talked to,
Speaker 1: which a lot of times didn't line up with you know,
Speaker 1: what you're hearing online or on TV or whatever it
Speaker 1: may be. And then comes out Philly calls me last
Speaker 1: minute and within a week the deal's done. And they
Speaker 1: were never on the radar, So I've going gone into
Speaker 1: this offseason in a different spot because I didn't have
Speaker 1: the year last year that I had the the year
Speaker 1: before in Toronto, so the expectation, I guess wasn't the same.
Speaker 1: But also I've learned that you never know who's gonna call.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter what you're hearing or what you're you're
Speaker 1: just telling you. Somebody can call last minute. So I've
Speaker 1: just kind of not really paid much attention to it.
Speaker 1: I answered calls from my agent when he calls me, obviously.
Speaker 3: But.
Speaker 1: Yeah, just kind of been a lot more relaxed in
Speaker 1: this offseason, which has been nice.
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Speaker 4: Do you look at teams that have openings like yourself?
Speaker 4: Or you ever just scrolling on the pooper and like
Speaker 4: looking at it, like I wonder who doesn't have a
Speaker 4: I feel like playing getting six hundred and fifty at
Speaker 4: backs as a second basement, screw this utility thing, Like
Speaker 4: who doesn't have a second basement?
Speaker 1: Do you ever do that?
Speaker 4: Or do you look at even like like the most
Speaker 4: recent signing and we're just talking about yo on Mankata
Speaker 4: got five million. You're like, I feel like I.
Speaker 1: Could get that, Like I'm I'm like, I'm out on
Speaker 1: the field. It's hard. I mean, that's that's that's hard
Speaker 1: to not compare when you see guys get certain contracts
Speaker 1: and you try to compare yourself to them. I mean
Speaker 1: that that's just human nature to do. But I don't
Speaker 1: put a whole lot of value in it because certain
Speaker 1: teams see players certain ways. But one don't scroll the
Speaker 1: poopers bad for you. Don't do that, get it, get in,
Speaker 1: get out what you're getting. Hemorrhoids, You're done catching. You
Speaker 1: don't need hemorrhoids anymore.
Speaker 4: Doesn't have hemorrhoids. Okay. And what is because you sit there?
Speaker 4: Just because you sit.
Speaker 1: There longer, Hey, that's what happens. Man, read the book.
Speaker 4: I haven't reading a book.
Speaker 1: That's why I'm in there so long. Yeah, exactly. Uh.
Speaker 1: But before I got before, I got on about some
Speaker 1: some uh, some of the chronic stuff that goes on
Speaker 1: in and that's something I've really taken pride in in
Speaker 1: my career, and I don't think it gets valued like
Speaker 1: it should. Is Guys that are on the field, guys
Speaker 1: that stay on the field, and it's honestly, I feel
Speaker 1: like now that I'm thirty six, I haven't spent a
Speaker 1: day on the IL when there are times that I
Speaker 1: could have. I honestly looked back and like, did I
Speaker 1: do it wrong? Because there were times when I was
Speaker 1: on the field, maybe not at one hundred percent, but
Speaker 1: it felt like it was my job to be out
Speaker 1: on that field that maybe took away from I guess
Speaker 1: the kind of player that or the numbers wise, you
Speaker 1: know what I could have done if I just would
Speaker 1: have got But I've gone on the IL and not
Speaker 1: come back till one hundred percent healthy, and I don't
Speaker 1: think that's right, but I feel like that's the way
Speaker 1: certain teams are are valuing guys and paying guys because
Speaker 1: of sheer wrong numbers. So I heard you guys talking
Speaker 1: before I came on here, and I just wanted to
Speaker 1: address that because it's kind of bothered me a little
Speaker 1: bit over the last couple of years that I've kind
Speaker 1: of reflected on that and been like, man, I don't
Speaker 1: doesn't seem bright.
Speaker 4: Hit on that a little bit. I don't know how
Speaker 4: much you heard because I was kind of going against
Speaker 4: Scott saying I don't believe. I'm not saying everybody can't,
Speaker 4: but like the chronic part of it, like how much
Speaker 4: did you put in to stay on the field. You said,
Speaker 4: I'm very proud of not spending any time IL, and
Speaker 4: Michael Young was the exact same way, he was very
Speaker 4: proud of not spending time on the IL.
Speaker 1: In his career.
Speaker 4: How much do you put into that? And do you
Speaker 4: feel like, obviously you can't blanket statement everybody in and
Speaker 4: on once you mentioned people, but do you feel like
Speaker 4: guys don't put enough time in to staing off the
Speaker 4: IL position players?
Speaker 1: Yeah, because I feel like it's it's not it's uh,
Speaker 1: it's not viewed in a positive light. It's not it's
Speaker 1: not appreciated when guys are on the IL. It's if
Speaker 1: a guy is and this happens throughout the league on
Speaker 1: every team, But when a guy starts struggling, you're never
Speaker 1: you're never gonna feel a hundred percent, especially after what
Speaker 1: spree training is over. You got that maybe first series
Speaker 1: of adrenaline of opening weekend and then you're not one
Speaker 1: hundred percent ever, And you know when guys starts struggling,
Speaker 1: you feel little Nixon Nacs that are everyone feels, and
Speaker 1: you can lean into that a little bit if you
Speaker 1: feel like, Okay, well let me, let me take a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks off and get this wrist right, or
Speaker 1: get this foot right, or get this hamstring right. Call
Speaker 1: it getting it right. But really I just need to
Speaker 1: take a take a breakaway or take a step away
Speaker 1: and reset, and then when I come back, maybe this
Speaker 1: funk I'm in will be over. And you see it
Speaker 1: all the time, and and that's just it's not it's
Speaker 1: not right, but it's not policed. Teams don't don't punish
Speaker 1: guys for that. Teams don't devalue guys for that. It's
Speaker 1: it's almost the opposite. It's like, if it works for
Speaker 1: the guy, Okay, well, this guy's numbers were good. He
Speaker 1: had five hundred at bats when he should have had
Speaker 1: six hundred and fifty at bats. But his ops and
Speaker 1: all these you know, his WRC plus, they were all good. Okay,
Speaker 1: Well when he started to slide, he got away. And
Speaker 1: so that's why I look back and I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: maybe I played the system wrong. And I hate I
Speaker 1: hate that. I hate I hate feeling like that because
Speaker 1: it's not what I think. How the game should be played,
Speaker 1: but no, it's a good call doing it wrong.
Speaker 2: So raid stats are valued much more now than counting
Speaker 2: stats versus even ten years ago. Right where they're like, Okay,
Speaker 2: I want to know what this player is doing on
Speaker 2: a per game basis, and I don't care that he
Speaker 2: gave me one, you know, sixty or whatever. Right, there's
Speaker 2: actually one step further from this too. And I like
Speaker 2: parts of this because I think it helps certain players
Speaker 2: get out of slumps, and they've talked about it.
Speaker 3: Hey, bad bad at ball.
Speaker 2: Luck we're looking at your peripherals and it says that
Speaker 2: you actually should be much better. And I think parts
Speaker 2: of that are good, But there are other parts of
Speaker 2: that that point to players who never actually reach those
Speaker 2: expectations and just aren't that good, and they become, for
Speaker 2: lack of a better term, like a sabermetric darling. Right,
Speaker 2: we've seen players like that. I'm not going to throw
Speaker 2: certain names out there right now, but I don't know.
Speaker 2: That's my take on how the game has changed. And
Speaker 2: then I think players try to adjust to the way
Speaker 2: that front offices are evaluating things.
Speaker 3: Right where they're like.
Speaker 2: Okay, they don't care if I play as much. Then
Speaker 2: I'm just gonna, you know, say that something's bothering me
Speaker 2: and miss a couple weeks like you're saying, and it's
Speaker 2: not being valued that you actually need that player on
Speaker 2: the field because the backup is going to give you
Speaker 2: much worse production.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I think to this the way the game
Speaker 1: is the way that front offices are approaching the game.
Speaker 1: Got mandatory off days, and from the time these guys
Speaker 1: are in the minor leagues, if you're a top prospect,
Speaker 1: you're playing like, I think they played six games a
Speaker 1: week that you're playing like four and you're getting two days,
Speaker 1: two mandatory days off something like that. So you're kind
Speaker 1: of bred from the time you're young that it's not
Speaker 1: normal to play every day. It's not normal to go
Speaker 1: through a full season. And there's in every sport you're
Speaker 1: you're seeing that you're seeing load management days in the
Speaker 1: NBA and uh maybe not so much the NFL or football,
Speaker 1: but yeah, it's it's different, different mentality of going about
Speaker 1: playing this day and eight this day and age. And
Speaker 1: I hate to sound like an old guy, but I
Speaker 1: was always under you know, there's a famous Wally Pip
Speaker 1: story that's always stuck with me. And it took me
Speaker 1: a long time to get to the big leagues, and
Speaker 1: once I got there, I didn't want to take a
Speaker 1: day off and I don't want this guy that's working
Speaker 1: in triple A to to come take my job, to
Speaker 1: have a chance to come up and go four for
Speaker 1: four with two homers. And now it's like, okay, well
Speaker 1: maybe it's not the guy. And you know, I wanted
Speaker 1: to get in the door, get my get my foot
Speaker 1: in and never never give it up. And that's not
Speaker 1: really I guess the the common mentality anymore, which is,
Speaker 1: like I said, maybe I'm in the wrong, but it's
Speaker 1: it's different.
Speaker 4: I don't believe you are. I don't believe you are.
Speaker 4: Keep keep grinding until they take the jersey from you,
Speaker 4: not not sitting in the tub until they give you your
Speaker 4: jersey back. But I got a question for you now.
Speaker 4: I want you to turn a little bit to the
Speaker 4: left so the light hits you pretty good like this,
Speaker 4: you see all grace, No no, no, no, no, grace,
Speaker 4: I don't see it. I was looking at you because
Speaker 4: the Yankees, the Yankees need a second basement. Would you
Speaker 4: be willing to shave that because I've never seen that
Speaker 4: face like smooth, smooth shave, Like are you okay with
Speaker 4: that role? Like if the Yankees are like, hey, we
Speaker 4: need a second baseman, Chris.
Speaker 1: We played together when I had to shave my face,
Speaker 1: You shaved it.
Speaker 4: It was never it was never killing it would play together.
Speaker 1: No, it was never. You never you always have that
Speaker 1: you always.
Speaker 4: That was the one rule that you bent in Olmaha
Speaker 4: had had it bent. Look at that face you are.
Speaker 4: You're You're like a constant five o'clock shadow.
Speaker 5: Oh my god, craft he's killing you.
Speaker 1: Unbelievable. I mean, yeah, no, I my wife would would
Speaker 1: love for me to have to shave my face. Mandatory
Speaker 1: for me to shave my face every day. You would
Speaker 1: love that.
Speaker 3: So so w to the Yankee tomorrow.
Speaker 1: I did it twenty twenty twenty two when I was
Speaker 1: really scuffling. Yeah, I'll clean twenty and uh, I think
Speaker 1: it was towards the end of my time in Kansas
Speaker 1: City and then uh, first little bit in Toronto, I was,
Speaker 1: I was, I was full clean.
Speaker 4: Okay, all right? Last one? Who won your towny who?
Speaker 1: Since we haven't had you on what? What? Which ones?
Speaker 4: Did you come up with a division that you could
Speaker 4: win for yourself? This time again where you're like, oh,
Speaker 4: here's my trophy.
Speaker 1: No, you got it. You can't do it every year,
Speaker 1: then nobody will show up, so you have to kind
Speaker 1: of hear it, you know. Yeah, Aaron Hicks won the
Speaker 1: gross division, so he was the best golfer there. He's nasty,
Speaker 1: he's so good, so good. And then Jackson Stevens won
Speaker 1: the net division, so he was kind of a last
Speaker 1: minute ad as well. So that was good for him
Speaker 1: that he he won.
Speaker 3: That's cool.
Speaker 4: And how do you do? How did you do?
Speaker 1: My game is not great right now. You know, I
Speaker 1: got a little baby over there, and she's taken away
Speaker 1: from from my golf. So sure I'll have to tell
Speaker 1: her about it when she gets older. How much she
Speaker 1: hurt my golf game these years.
Speaker 4: I'm sure she's gota care this much.
Speaker 3: Yeah much, Crats lower it here, Yeah exactly.
Speaker 4: Thanks, thanks for coming on, and I'll take care of
Speaker 4: my hemorrhoids later. I appreciate that.
Speaker 3: There you go, Crat saying goodbye. Wait, good to see you.
Speaker 3: We'll catch it in a few weeks.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, good to see fellas