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Speaker 1: Get up, Get up?

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Speaker 2: What's up? Mets fans, Welcome back to another episode of

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Speaker 2: the Mets Uff Podcast. We have a super exciting interview today,

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Speaker 2: you guys knowing well, manager of the New York Mechans

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Speaker 2: Buck Show Walter has joined us. Say Buck first and foremost,

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Speaker 2: thank you so much for taking the time out of

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Speaker 2: your day and joining us on the on the podcast.

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Speaker 3: Well, thank you. Nobody's that busy. Everybody tries to act

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Speaker 3: like they're all important and busy and can't make time

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Speaker 3: for anything. Nobody's that busy. We all act like we're

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Speaker 3: important and busy. This I just close the door. And

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Speaker 3: now in a few days we get some warm bodies

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Speaker 3: in here. I'd be a little tougher, but this will

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Speaker 3: be fun.

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Speaker 1: So with the warm bison there, how does it feel

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Speaker 1: to be back down Port Saint Lucy, back a spring

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Speaker 1: training with the team.

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Speaker 3: Well, it's almost like we never left, you know. The season.

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Speaker 3: I like when people use expression off season. There's no

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Speaker 3: such thing as the off season. The baseball just flies,

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Speaker 3: regardless if you're active or not. There's just so many

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Speaker 3: things will stay on top of and but we're in

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Speaker 3: a good spot and a lot of ways. I love

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Speaker 3: what's going on with the minor league kids down here.

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Speaker 3: I really had a chance to get to know a

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Speaker 3: lot of people. It was, you know, it was rapid fire.

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Speaker 3: You know, Billy kids with me all the time up

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Speaker 3: where you know, he was here two weeks longer than

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Speaker 3: I was, and we just you know, we had the

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Speaker 3: lockout last year. It was tough, and you know, this

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Speaker 3: year we got the challenge of the WBC. But we'll

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Speaker 3: work through that. But you know, it's just I think

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Speaker 3: everybody's a lot more comforable with each other and the

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Speaker 3: relationships have been forged.

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Speaker 2: So there's been a lot of stuff going on with

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Speaker 2: the Mets during the winter and coming into spring training

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Speaker 2: there's it's a pretty exciting team. So out of all

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Speaker 2: the spring trainings you've been a manager of, where does

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Speaker 2: this one rank in terms of excitement for you?

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Speaker 3: Well, I don't really handicap a lot all of them.

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Speaker 3: You know, you go to spring trains, Well, I love

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Speaker 3: the spring is because everybody's thinking best case scenario, that

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Speaker 3: young player is gonna pop, the veteran player is going

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Speaker 3: to get back to form, an injured player is going

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Speaker 3: to be healthy. Uh, you're always looking at best case scenario.

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Speaker 3: Then the reality of the season starts and you know

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Speaker 3: you're not very good, and you know this season, you know,

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Speaker 3: everything might appear one way on paper, but it never,

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Speaker 3: you know, always a couple of injuries away from things changing. So,

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Speaker 3: you know, I think I'm more interested in our depth.

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Speaker 3: I'm more interested at this point in our what ifs.

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Speaker 3: You know, you look at Tyler or McGill, you look

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Speaker 3: at some of the injuries we had and the people

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Speaker 3: that stepped in, so you know, we've really got to

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Speaker 3: identify that quality depth. I know Billy Eppler in the

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Speaker 3: front office has been very adamant about the what ifs.

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Speaker 3: Is something I use all the time. That's what we're after.

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Speaker 3: That's the long answer. I've had some coffee, but go ahead.

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Speaker 1: You mentioned the kids a few times, you mentioned the depth.

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Speaker 1: What have you seen from some of the more noble

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Speaker 1: prospects that maybe the fans are where Francisco Alvarez, Brett

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Speaker 1: Bailey and Mark Viento's even just in the short couple

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Speaker 1: of days you guys have been in camp, Well, we.

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Speaker 3: Haven't been in camp yet. They're here, Believe me, they're here.

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Speaker 3: But guys, keep in mind, you know what a prospect

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Speaker 3: is right. A prospect is a prospect you until they

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Speaker 3: impact the major league club. You know, I kind of

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Speaker 3: chuckle all these lists that say this guy is the

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Speaker 3: best prospect and this this team has the best farm system,

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Speaker 3: and those people weighed in on that it's a shot

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Speaker 3: in the dark. Trust me, If you're producing one good

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Speaker 3: major league player a year, you're doing real well. It's

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Speaker 3: the biggest jump in professional sports from the minor leagues

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Speaker 3: in baseball to the big leagues in baseball, the level

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Speaker 3: of pitching, the level of hitters, the best of the best.

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Speaker 3: That's why guys come out of high school and play

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Speaker 3: in the NBA. I mean, Lebron James, guys come out

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Speaker 3: of college football and are all pro the first year.

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Speaker 3: So baseball, you know, when you start projecting young players.

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Speaker 3: But with that being said, we like our young guys.

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Speaker 3: It's not a matter of if it's kind of win

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Speaker 3: in our minds. So, you know, I'm more looking at

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Speaker 3: the guys that may not be household names right now

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Speaker 3: that people aren't talking about. There's a lot of a

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Speaker 3: lot of guys that aren't making some of these so

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Speaker 3: called expert lists that are as good, if not better prospects.

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Speaker 3: One of the key for organizations identify your prospects and

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Speaker 3: eliminate your suspects. And sometimes there's I call them fake prospects,

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Speaker 3: so buyer beware.

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Speaker 2: Of course, of course this year, during the season, there's

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Speaker 2: gonna be a lot of new rules impacting the game.

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Speaker 2: Which rule do you think you're looking forward to the most?

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Speaker 3: Well, none of them looking forward? You know, Well, I

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Speaker 3: guess I'm looking forward to the no ship. I think

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Speaker 3: it's gonna it should help some of our guys. I

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Speaker 3: think a pick adjustment is going to be these guys

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Speaker 3: getting off on deck and getting off. I think the

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Speaker 3: first two weeks with pitch clock's going to be a

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Speaker 3: challenge for the hitters, not for the pitchers that much.

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Speaker 3: And I think guys who chase velocity, pitchers that are

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Speaker 3: always chasing to throw harder are going to have a

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Speaker 3: little more trouble when you're throwing more rapidly. I personally

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Speaker 3: would have liked to see him turn the clock off

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Speaker 3: last couple of innings, but they're not going to do

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Speaker 3: that now. I'm more interested in the pace of our game,

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Speaker 3: in the tempo of our game. I don't think people

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Speaker 3: come to a game because of how long or how

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Speaker 3: short it is, but I know people at home on

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Speaker 3: TV it matters. And I don't think people come to

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Speaker 3: a game because Lindor's walk up song is such and such.

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Speaker 3: But you know, they didn't ask me, but it'll be

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Speaker 3: you know, yeah, could you imagine watching a football game

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Speaker 3: without replay or baseball without replay? Now? You know, you

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Speaker 3: kind of look at some of this stuff and you

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Speaker 3: always confuse change with a lack of respect for tradition.

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Speaker 3: And it's up to us to embrace those things. And

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Speaker 3: one of the things we're going to do in the

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Speaker 3: spring is get our guys ready for what's ahead of them.

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Speaker 1: We spoke to Max last year and he didn't mention

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Speaker 1: specifically what you just said. That he thinks that it's

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Speaker 1: going to be sneakily somewhat of an advantage more for

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Speaker 1: pitchers than hitters in that pitchclock. He wants to find

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Speaker 1: a way the weaponize it. But while we're speaking of rules,

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Speaker 1: you made waves last year just with your expertise of

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Speaker 1: the MLB rule book, especially that play in Miami where

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Speaker 1: Brandon Nemo sat down in the baseline and then everyone

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Speaker 1: being safe and we had to rally come after that.

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Speaker 1: So where did expertise come from and where where did

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Speaker 1: you find the inspiration to like teach that rule specifically

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Speaker 1: in spring last year.

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Speaker 3: Well, it's kind of like being an umpire or referee,

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Speaker 3: you know. I referee college basketball. Started out in low

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Speaker 3: eighth grade, middle school, work my way up to you know,

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Speaker 3: some college conferences, and you know, you had to learn

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Speaker 3: the rules, and if you're going to manage a team,

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Speaker 3: I don't know them all. I learned some nuance every year,

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Speaker 3: and I try to take advantage of them, and I

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Speaker 3: want our players to. But shouldn't the players understand the

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Speaker 3: rules of the game that they're playing. And I think

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Speaker 3: there's always a lot of rules out there that you know,

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Speaker 3: you can I don't want to say take advantage of it,

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Speaker 3: but knowledge is a is a great equalizer. So and

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Speaker 3: I've always had a curiosity about it. And and if

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Speaker 3: you're an instructional league and you're in winter ball, and

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Speaker 3: you're in all these different leagues, I was forcing up

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Speaker 3: being and you see things that people had never seen.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I saw a triple play and the ball

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Speaker 3: never hit leather. Yeah, it can happen.

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Speaker 2: We talk about, you know, the team looking forward into

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty three, there's been some new guys that have

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Speaker 2: been brought in on a staff as well, and someone

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Speaker 2: that's new this year, the bullpen coach Dom Cheaty. Talk

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Speaker 2: about your relationship with Dom and what it means to

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Speaker 2: have him be a part of the staff.

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Speaker 3: Well, first of all, you know, like hitting coach with

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Speaker 3: Jeremy Barnes and the pitching coach, Hefner. Jeremy, they had

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Speaker 3: a lot of input on this. You know, we put

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Speaker 3: four or five candidates in front of you know, and

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Speaker 3: I know Billy, Jeremy Wait carried a lot with who

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Speaker 3: we hired, and I think we all came to conclusion

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Speaker 3: that we were very fortunate to have somebody with you know,

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Speaker 3: Dom's done everything. He's been an assistant Jim, He's been a

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Speaker 3: major league coach, he's been a farm director, who's been

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Speaker 3: a scouting director. You're talking about a guy that has

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Speaker 3: been around and he lives about two miles from the

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Speaker 3: Saint Lucie Complex, which worked out great. But Dom has

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Speaker 3: really impacted a lot of lives along the way, and

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Speaker 3: he's a great compliment to Jeremy. And you can tell

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Speaker 3: right now down here they're connected at the hip and

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Speaker 3: the players are really going to benefit from from their partnership.

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Speaker 1: That's great to hear from our perspective because we see

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Speaker 1: what Jeremy Afner can do and he's he's basically a

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Speaker 1: wizard with pitching. Another another change to the coach accepts

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Speaker 1: This year's Eric Shavis being promoted to being your bench coach.

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Speaker 1: So howd that decision come to be? And what's Eric

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Speaker 1: what Schopp's role going to look like this season?

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Speaker 3: Well, I wouldn't call it a promotion. I would call

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Speaker 3: it you know, every move we make is kind of

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Speaker 3: If we do something like that, it's side to side,

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Speaker 3: because you know, if Joey doesn't do a good job

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Speaker 3: at third or with the infielders or the first base

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Speaker 3: coach and the outfielders with Wayne, I mean, everybody's got

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Speaker 3: a load to carry. And we had a chance to

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Speaker 3: lose Jeremy Barnes, which we thought was an asset for us.

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Speaker 3: With Eric, we had a very good hitting situation last year.

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Speaker 3: In order to keep that from happening, we thought we

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Speaker 3: had a chance, well we were going to lose him

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Speaker 3: to another club as a head hitting coach. So we

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Speaker 3: took Jeremy and we talked to Glenn. Glenn made this

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Speaker 3: happen because we think with some of the catchers and

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Speaker 3: the potential of Alvarez around the corner, Glenn's job is

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Speaker 3: going to be full time with these catchers, not that

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Speaker 3: it's not, and he'll continue in a lot of the

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Speaker 3: same capacities. But I think Eric's on a great path

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Speaker 3: of where his career may end up, and I think

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Speaker 3: this is a good stepping stone for him down the

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Speaker 3: road and another good thing for him. And just by

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Speaker 3: all our guys could do each other's jobs. It's a

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Speaker 3: well rounded staff. This has probably got a chance to

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Speaker 3: be the best coaching staff I've ever had.

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Speaker 2: Wow, that's awesome to hear. You've been in a bunch

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Speaker 2: of spring trainings throughout your career. What would you say

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Speaker 2: the biggest change in spring training has been over time?

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Speaker 3: I don't know. The more things change, the more they

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Speaker 3: stay the same. I've got a very definitive thing that

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Speaker 3: I want to accomplish here, and I want us to

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Speaker 3: feel completely ready, and the only thing that challenges us

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Speaker 3: is the game itself. Changing spring training probably the facilities

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Speaker 3: are so much better, Uh, the travels better. I mean

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Speaker 3: you used to go have to go from Tucson to Yuma,

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Speaker 3: to Phoenix to I mean, some of these trips and

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Speaker 3: I think, and you know, the minor leagues being here.

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Speaker 3: You know, we're getting ready to probably build another a

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Speaker 3: facility for our minor league housing and stuff that our

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Speaker 3: ownership is going to allow at some point, and it's

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Speaker 3: really the last piece we have. I think our complex

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Speaker 3: down here is one of, if not the best, in Florida,

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Speaker 3: and we don't have to share with anybody, So it's

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Speaker 3: been a real asset for us. It's about eliminating excuses.

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Speaker 3: You know, Steve Cohen and our front office have done

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Speaker 3: a great job of eliminating a lot of excuses for

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Speaker 3: us not to have success.

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Speaker 1: You've been part of a lot of Spring trainings now

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Speaker 1: at this point in your career, do you have a

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Speaker 1: favorite memory or favorite story from any spring training you've

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Speaker 1: ever been a part of to share?

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Speaker 3: Probably not to share. Uh. No, Spring springs a great

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Speaker 3: time because everybody's so upbeat they're thinking about the best

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Speaker 3: case scenario the spring. I love getting up, but I

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Speaker 3: don't want to tell you what time I get up

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Speaker 3: and what I get here. It's still dark when I

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Speaker 3: get home, it's dark. All I do is sleep there

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Speaker 3: and it's it's a labor of love. I love having

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Speaker 3: a hot cup of coffee when the sun's coming up,

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Speaker 3: and walking the fields before anybody's here with our group.

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Speaker 3: There's a lot of people here, but those are the

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Speaker 3: little things I love about the spring is getting a

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Speaker 3: leg up on things and being ready. So when the

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Speaker 3: players come through that door, the only thing they have

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Speaker 3: to do is prepare themselves for the season. And you

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Speaker 3: know that last week is tough because you're starting to

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Speaker 3: make some really tough cuts. But for the first three

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Speaker 3: or four weeks, it's a really upbeat time and it's

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Speaker 3: a great time for the fans because the players are

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Speaker 3: so accessible and so open. And I challenge anybody, if

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Speaker 3: you're looking to kill some time, come on down to

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Speaker 3: Saint Lucis. It's not that expensive and the players are

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Speaker 3: are right here with you.

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Speaker 2: Since we're the topic of spring training and warm weather?

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Speaker 2: Are you a beach a pool guy? Know it's a

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Speaker 2: lot topic, but beach your pool? You're in Florida? Which

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Speaker 2: one do you think? What do I think?

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Speaker 3: You think The answer should be neither? Right?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, of course, I mean baseball field, right the dirt guy.

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Speaker 3: I gotta tell you, I get up in the dark.

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Speaker 3: I get home in the dark. If there's a beach

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Speaker 3: around here, and if there's I think I had a

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Speaker 3: pool in the backyard one time, and I didn't know

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Speaker 3: it was there the last few days of camp, So

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Speaker 3: I'm probably the wrong guy. If the bed is okay,

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Speaker 3: it doesn't matter about the curtains because it's dark. If

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Speaker 3: the shower works, I shower at the ballpark. I don't

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Speaker 3: need a whole lot, guys, But it's it's it's beautiful,

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Speaker 3: you know. Nowadays they feed you. You know, it's it's

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Speaker 3: a special time and I love the spring and then

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Speaker 3: the reality opens up. We open up in Miami this year,

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Speaker 3: so it's gonna be a nice short trip.

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Speaker 1: This team, especially we've put together this year, has a

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Speaker 1: very very strong mix of veterans and younger players. Some

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Speaker 1: of the younger players we've touched on. But what is

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Speaker 1: what is the role of the veteran player in spring

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Speaker 1: training in like, in terms of bringing people along.

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Speaker 3: Well, you know, I'm not into hazing. I never had

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Speaker 3: understood that rookie stuff. It's just stupid. And I just

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Speaker 3: if the guys were in your uniform and your colors

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Speaker 3: make his path easier. Now, listen, there's some rookies that

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Speaker 3: might need a little tweaking here and there. They're a

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Speaker 3: little ahead of themselves, and we've got the guys to

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Speaker 3: do that, but not in a mean way. We're just

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Speaker 3: trying to make you know, I've stepped on my tail

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Speaker 3: a lot. I just want you not to make the

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Speaker 3: same mistakes I did. That's the type of veteran I want.

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Speaker 3: And our guys are like that. They they're very, very

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Speaker 3: welcoming of anybody that can help us when and you know,

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Speaker 3: they've all been there. We've all been a rookie at

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Speaker 3: some time in our life. And what's that thing? You

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Speaker 3: may not remember a lot, but you always remember how

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Speaker 3: somebody made you feel. And that's very true. So I

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Speaker 3: got to tell you guys, one of my pet beeves,

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Speaker 3: I don't tolerate in that rookie hazing stuff. Life's too short.

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Speaker 2: You know, there's a lot of players from different countries

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Speaker 2: that from different walks of life. Different How do you

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Speaker 2: find a way to connect with all these guys and

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Speaker 2: make the team feel like a family more so?

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Speaker 3: Well, you know we've got ten countries represented now in

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Speaker 3: our locker room. I one thing we do, we put

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Speaker 3: the flags up Alphabetica. We just finished them because we

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Speaker 3: had to add some and so when they come in,

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Speaker 3: we know that we're thinking about them. I used to

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Speaker 3: have a big country map, world map, but I hadn't

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Speaker 3: gotten there yet. But just something that you know, whether

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Speaker 3: it's an interpreter or whether it's if you're doing something,

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Speaker 3: make sure that it's in Spanish. Also, you know, I've

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Speaker 3: been to the Dominican I've been to Puerto Rico. I've

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Speaker 3: been to Venezuela. I've been to Mexico. You know, I've

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Speaker 3: been to Japan and Korea. I know the challenge is

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Speaker 3: going to these countries and not speaking the language, understand

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Speaker 3: the culture, and they're all different and we're not on

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Speaker 3: this earth alone. Thank god, we don't have all the

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Speaker 3: answers here in America. There's some countries that do things

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Speaker 3: as well, if not better than us. And look at

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Speaker 3: the cars in Japan, you know, pretty good. But I

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Speaker 3: I don't know. I I think we try to make

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Speaker 3: their pass easier and let them know that we've thought

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Speaker 3: through it a little bit about the communication and also

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Speaker 3: the respect for for where they came from.

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Speaker 1: This would be the last question, one of the last questions,

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Speaker 1: just buck, thank you again for taking the time. But

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Speaker 1: this offseason you were honored way I.

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Speaker 3: Understand nobody nobody's that busy. I love how people act

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Speaker 3: like they're so, oh, this is killing me. I'm so

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Speaker 3: busy and taking a time. When somebody gives you that line,

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Speaker 3: don't buy it. Okay, nobody's that.

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Speaker 1: I'm sorry, but you mean it's the fact that you know,

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Speaker 1: the fact that we're here, were talking to you. It's

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Speaker 1: a great thing. Great great to share is in this

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Speaker 1: little conversation with the fans. But you runned the season's

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Speaker 1: manager of the year, fourth time in your career. They

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Speaker 1: put you in rarefied air. Steve Cohen delivered you that

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Speaker 1: award at the at the baseball ceremony. How it goes

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Speaker 1: about last month? Now, just how's it feel they have

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Speaker 1: the recognition for for what you've done?

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Speaker 3: Well, I should have given the award to Steve and

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Speaker 3: handed it over to him because you know what he

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Speaker 3: and you know he allowed us to do. You know,

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Speaker 3: that's such an organizational award. It is. It starts out

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Speaker 3: being to the team that's surprised the most because they go, well,

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Speaker 3: something had to be different because we didn't predict them

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Speaker 3: to win one hundred and one games or whatever it was,

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Speaker 3: so it had to be the manager, which is crazy.

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Speaker 3: You know, the players allow you those's that's a player award.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I know Terry Francona and I were talking

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Speaker 3: about it that night, and so it's almost a little

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Speaker 3: uh not embarrassing, but it's a little bit. It makes

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Speaker 3: you feel very humble about it because it's a reflection

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Speaker 3: on the fans, it's the team, the organization. So you know,

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Speaker 3: I'm planning on, you know, kind of displaying that where

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Speaker 3: the team and everybody can see it, because it should

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Speaker 3: have their name on it should say New York Mets,

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Speaker 3: not my name. Wow.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, that's that's a fantastic answer.

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Speaker 1: Buck.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much again. I know you said everybody

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Speaker 2: has time, but thank you for your time. We really

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Speaker 2: do appreciate it, and hopefully we'll be able to talk

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Speaker 2: to you again soon and maybe see you in Port

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Speaker 2: Saint Lucy in a couple of weeks. How's the weather

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Speaker 2: there in New York today?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 1: The best sixty baseball weather today.

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Speaker 3: Okay, you're in charge of the weather and we get home.

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Speaker 1: O, gotcha can handle that. We'll alternate our days, all right.

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Speaker 3: We have bad weather opening day. I'm coming to see

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Speaker 3: you guys, all right, please