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Speaker 1: The show goes on.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to a brand new episode of the official show

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Speaker 2: here on the fish on First podcast channel, bringing you

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Speaker 2: complete Miami Marlins coverage all year round. I'm Eli Susman,

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Speaker 2: the founder of fish on First. Thank you for tuning in,

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Speaker 2: Happy holidays and go Caines. Very happy to see my

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Speaker 2: alma mater, the University in Miami, advancing in the college

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Speaker 2: football Playoff. Believe it or not, we do have a

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Speaker 2: lot of baseball to cover on this show. Coming up,

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Speaker 2: an exclusive interview between myself and the president and general

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Speaker 2: manager of the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, Matt Goodrow. It was

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Speaker 2: great learning about the business side of Triple a minor

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Speaker 2: league affiliate and one that had so much success this

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Speaker 2: past year. You're really gonna enjoy getting his perspective on

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Speaker 2: that aspect of the job. This podcast is brought to

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Speaker 2: We're gonna be showing their informations scrolling across the bottom

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Speaker 2: of the screen throughout the entire show so that you

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Speaker 2: don't forget it, support the people that support us, and

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Speaker 2: treat yourself to a great time this holiday season and beyond.

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Speaker 2: Before getting to the interview, we got to start off

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Speaker 2: with Edward Cabrera because I feel we're at the stage

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Speaker 2: of the offseason where it's incomplete for the Marlins. I

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Speaker 2: don't think we can render a judgment on this off

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Speaker 2: season until we find out what, if anything, happens with Cabrera,

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Speaker 2: the very talented right hander coming off the best year

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Speaker 2: of his career, and he has been on and off

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Speaker 2: in rumors essentially since Peter Bendix took over as Marlin's

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Speaker 2: president of baseball operations, and this is at a moment

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Speaker 2: where his value is much higher than it had been

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Speaker 2: at any other point in the past. Couple of years,

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Speaker 2: is it high enough for the Marlins to actually pull

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Speaker 2: the trigger to swap him out for in all likelihood

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Speaker 2: multiple other players that could address positions where they have

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Speaker 2: a greater need than the starting rotation, which is an

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Speaker 2: area of strength for them. I want to focus on

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Speaker 2: him now because we now have a good point of

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Speaker 2: reference in terms of what his value would be on

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Speaker 2: the market, seeing as how the Rays and the Orioles

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Speaker 2: made a trade just a couple of days ago Shane

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Speaker 2: Boz going to Baltimore for what is going to be

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Speaker 2: a five player return for Shane Boss Really, so, I think,

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Speaker 2: like a lot of other people, I was taken aback

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Speaker 2: by how much this ret was for Boz. I guess

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Speaker 2: the co headliners in this case catcher Cayden Bodine and

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Speaker 2: outfielder Slater de Brunn, both going from Baltimore to Tampa Bay,

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Speaker 2: and overall five assets in this package also including a

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Speaker 2: right hander Michael Farrett, outfielder Austin Overn, and a competitive

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Speaker 2: balance round a pick in the upcoming draft, which is

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Speaker 2: currently slated to be number thirty three overall. So all

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Speaker 2: these players that are still quite a while away from

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Speaker 2: the big leagues, none of whom would be consensus top

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Speaker 2: one hundred MLB prospects. Both in Bodine and brun those

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Speaker 2: are players that are kind of knocking on the door

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Speaker 2: of that honor depending on how their twenty twenty six

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Speaker 2: season goes. And with Boz it's so relevant to Eddie

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Speaker 2: because they're very similar in age. Bozz is about a

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Speaker 2: year younger, and they're both three years away from free agency.

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Speaker 2: So Boz is entering his first year of arbitration eligibility.

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Speaker 2: Cabrera is entering his second, but he got there a

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Speaker 2: year early, so both are underteam control through twenty twenty eight.

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Speaker 2: Their salaries are going to be very similar for this

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Speaker 2: upcoming season, and both of them have kind of been

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Speaker 2: in that interesting spot for a few years now where

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Speaker 2: they hadn't quite reached their potential. Boz was actually held

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Speaker 2: in even higher regard as a prospect than Cabrera ever was,

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Speaker 2: and yet he's coming off a season in particular in

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty five where although he was healthy, he wasn't

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Speaker 2: particularly effective. It was an era in the high fours

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Speaker 2: for Boz in Tampa Bay had a big issue with

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Speaker 2: home runs this past season, and although he was durable,

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Speaker 2: just wasn't in the middle of all that success, he

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Speaker 2: was throwing a decent amount of strikes but not getting

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Speaker 2: the results that his team really needed. And he's the

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Speaker 2: guy that's missed quite a bit of time drew to

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Speaker 2: Tommy John surgery. This was the only full year of

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Speaker 2: his career to this point, and the results weren't there,

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Speaker 2: And yet the Orioles are willing to give up even

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Speaker 2: if none of their elite prospects. Still a ton of

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Speaker 2: depth that when you added all together, is a really

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Speaker 2: sizable chunk of assets going back to Tampa Bay. And

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Speaker 2: it got me thinking about how Boz and Cabrera kind

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Speaker 2: of compare to one another. So I made this side

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Speaker 2: by side graphic for those of you watching on either

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Speaker 2: YouTube or Twitter that looks at the similarities and differences

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Speaker 2: in most categories. It goes in Eddie's favor. He has

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Speaker 2: the advantage in terms of Baseball Reference War seven point

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Speaker 2: two to three point one over the course of his career.

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Speaker 2: It's a lot tighter if you look at fangrabs War,

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Speaker 2: which is based on fielder independent pitching. It's almost a

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Speaker 2: dead heat between them over the course of their careers

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Speaker 2: to this point. Even though Cabrera has had plenty of

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Speaker 2: durability issues, he hasn't had that long term sidelined situation

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Speaker 2: such as Tommy John So overall, he's been able to

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Speaker 2: make an additional thirty three starts. He's been able to

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Speaker 2: pitch about fifty percent more endings over the course of

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Speaker 2: his big league career. In terms of ERA, Cabrera about

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Speaker 2: two tenths of a run better, but the gap is

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Speaker 2: wider if you actually adjust for ballpark factors. That gap

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Speaker 2: is Cabrera being eight percent better than a league average

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Speaker 2: in terms of ERA and Boz being five percent worse

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Speaker 2: than the league average in terms of ERA. Overall, though,

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Speaker 2: it's the differences aren't that big except in terms of

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Speaker 2: total volume and then this most recent season, But you

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Speaker 2: look under the hood and at their FIP, and Boz

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Speaker 2: actually does have a lower career FIP to this point

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Speaker 2: four two eight to Combers four four five. And I

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Speaker 2: think this offseason especially has kind of driven home the

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Speaker 2: fact that teams are prioritizing that over earned run average,

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Speaker 2: especially in smaller samples. We've seen in free agency, guys

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Speaker 2: like Devin Williams coming off a bad year, Ryan Helsley

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Speaker 2: coming off a very uneven year, and still get paid

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Speaker 2: premium for their position. Dylan sees being the best example

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Speaker 2: by far, getting over two hundred million dollars from the

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Speaker 2: Toronto Blue Jays, even though he was kind of the

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Speaker 2: epitome of average from a run prevention standpoint. This past year,

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Speaker 2: this off season has been sort of a reckoning of

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Speaker 2: that and really showing where not just the smart team stand,

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Speaker 2: but where I think the majority of team stands in

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Speaker 2: terms of how they value players moving forward. They're going

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Speaker 2: to look at the under the hood stuff first and

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Speaker 2: then maybe make adjustments if you have a history of

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Speaker 2: really overachieving your fielder independent pitching, which Cabrera to an

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Speaker 2: extent actually does, and he did again slightly this past year.

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Speaker 1: This past year, though it was kind.

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Speaker 2: Of inn all fronts, it was a big step forward

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Speaker 2: for Eddie looking like a pretty prototypical number three starter

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Speaker 2: for a competitive team, and in the case of the Marlins,

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Speaker 2: he was their most valuable overall starter this past year

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Speaker 2: because of San Dil contrast struggles because the time is

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Speaker 2: due to injury from Yuri Perez and Ryan Weathers. So yeah,

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Speaker 2: Eddie this past year did a lot to improve his stock.

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Speaker 2: I don't think it dramatically changes how other teams view him,

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Speaker 2: though in terms of the actual way that these guys

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Speaker 2: approach hitters, it's also pretty similar. Both of them have

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Speaker 2: fastballs that averaged ninety seven miles per hour this past year.

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Speaker 2: Cabrera has his most standout secondary pitches being his change

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Speaker 2: up in his curveball, and Boz also has a very

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Speaker 2: nice curveball. He has a cutter more so than Eddie's slider,

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Speaker 2: but both of them have strong four pitch mixes. Cabrera

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Speaker 2: occasionally still throws that sinker as a fifth pitch to

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Speaker 2: keep people off balance and to get a little more

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Speaker 2: ground balls, and the more than I looked at it,

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Speaker 2: I think the gap between them is minimal, if at all,

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Speaker 2: I think there still is a gap, because I do

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Speaker 2: think teams still prioritize the most recent season a lot,

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Speaker 2: and for Cabrera that was a significant step forward for him,

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Speaker 2: most especially in terms of just strike throwing. So overall,

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Speaker 2: his walk rate for his career is still quite a

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Speaker 2: bit higher than Boz's is, and I think this past

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Speaker 2: year is more so a dead heat between them in

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Speaker 2: that category. But the fact that he was able to

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Speaker 2: make that improvement, I think he would be that would

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Speaker 2: do enough to elevate his value above Boz. But I

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Speaker 2: think there's still some question about where Cabrera's ceiling actually is,

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Speaker 2: Like how much better is he really going to get

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Speaker 2: to than where he is right now? I mean, right now,

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Speaker 2: he's an above average major league starting pitcher, and that's

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Speaker 2: nothing to sneeze at. But I've been somebody in the

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Speaker 2: past that has been totally indifferent to the idea of

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Speaker 2: potentially moving on from Cabrera because I didn't see that

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Speaker 2: ace upside the way that I think a lot of

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Speaker 2: other people did, and I still don't. I still think

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Speaker 2: that his upside is a little bit higher than it

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Speaker 2: is right now. There's still room to improve. But this

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Speaker 2: past year he checked a lot of boxes in terms

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Speaker 2: of working deep into games, but not so deep. He's

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Speaker 2: not someone that's ever going to go the distance. I

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Speaker 2: don't think, with precious few exceptions. He's still somebody that

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Speaker 2: is going to battle off and on efficiency concerns.

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Speaker 1: With his pitches.

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Speaker 2: But it was I keep saying it was a step

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Speaker 2: forward this past year in a way that if it's

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Speaker 2: a team that's hell bent on winning in twenty twenty six,

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Speaker 2: that you would think that would boost his down quite

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Speaker 2: a bit. But this comes down to the reality that

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Speaker 2: the Orioles were interested in Cabrera, that the Orioles were

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Speaker 2: having negotiations with the Marlins prior to swinging this deal,

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Speaker 2: and they didn't do it. And the simple question of

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Speaker 2: why they wouldn't do it, I think is pretty apparent

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Speaker 2: that if he was available at the same price that

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Speaker 2: Boz was, if he was available for the same package,

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Speaker 2: then a deal would have been done and they would

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Speaker 2: have gone with the guy that has this very recent

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Speaker 2: track record of being a good, performing big league starting pitcher.

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Speaker 2: They just they value that higher and all things being equal,

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Speaker 2: they would go with Cabrera. But clearly things were not equal,

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Speaker 2: and that's why they went. They moved down the priority

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Speaker 2: list to somebody like Boz. And we haven't really gotten

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Speaker 2: clearly defined terms in terms of what the Marlins are

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Speaker 2: looking for for Eddie, but it's been enough that there

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Speaker 2: really hasn't been any deal close to being finalized this

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Speaker 2: entire offseason, even though Carrera's availability has been well known,

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Speaker 2: Even though he was available dating back to the last

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Speaker 2: trade deadline, at least then there were a clear idea

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Speaker 2: of what sword pieces the Marlins were looking for.

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Speaker 1: In return.

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Speaker 2: And so going back to this trade package, it's a

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Speaker 2: unique structure to get five real assets in a kind

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Speaker 2: of deal. This is certainly a quantity over quality type

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Speaker 2: of deal. You don't see it very often, a five

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Speaker 2: for one sort of deal. So I think, naturally, looking

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Speaker 2: ahead to this one, you need to assume the structure

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Speaker 2: that the Martins are looking for it's gonna be a

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Speaker 2: little bit different, where they're going to look for a

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Speaker 2: clear er center piece and over a better centerpiece than

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Speaker 2: was one that changed hands in the course of this

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Speaker 2: Shane Bays trade. So but all things considered, maybe Cabrera's

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Speaker 2: value i'd estimated five percent higher than Shane bas maybe

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Speaker 2: ten percent. But if the Marlins are looking for more

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Speaker 2: than that, which is I see by all indications they are,

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Speaker 2: that's kind of why we haven't seen any movements at

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Speaker 2: this point, because the Marlins are standing firm on this

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Speaker 2: idea of asking for the moon and the stars, when

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Speaker 2: maybe the moon in one star it would be enough

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Speaker 2: right here in return for Eddie, I would still lean

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Speaker 2: towards the likelihood that he does get traded over the

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Speaker 2: course of this offseason. Eventually, the Marlins, I think are

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Speaker 2: gonna pull back a little bit, just acknowledging the inconsistencies

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Speaker 2: in Comber's history when it comes to throwing strikes and

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Speaker 2: staying healthy. Even this past season he had two separate

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Speaker 2: iel stints, one for a blister and then one more concerningly,

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Speaker 2: for an elbow sprain. I was really surprised to see

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Speaker 2: that he actually returned to the man by the end

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Speaker 2: of the season. And although that would I would think

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Speaker 2: that would help his value quite a bit rather than

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Speaker 2: just ending the season on the IL. It doesn't mean

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Speaker 2: that I don't think teams are fully convinced that he

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Speaker 2: is full he's going to be over these elbow scares

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Speaker 2: moving forward. That maybe for a guy that has made

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Speaker 2: this far without undergoing Tommy John that over these next

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Speaker 2: few years, that it's a distinct possibility that one pitch

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Speaker 2: pushes that ligament too far and he ends up missing

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Speaker 2: a year or more of these three ormaining.

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Speaker 1: Years of club control.

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Speaker 2: So I think, ultimately I don't think fans should be

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Speaker 2: all that outraged. For example, if they do wind up

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Speaker 2: with the Shane Boz package in trading Eddie, if they

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Speaker 2: wind up with a deal that doesn't have a clear

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Speaker 2: cut top one hundred guy and one that also is

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Speaker 2: has players that are a little bit removed from being

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Speaker 2: big league ready.

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Speaker 1: I don't.

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Speaker 2: As we saw just this past offseason in the Hazeos

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Speaker 2: Lizardo trade, I think this is almost the exact anniversary

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Speaker 2: of that trade. Marlin's got a couple guys that are

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Speaker 2: several years away from the big leagues in return. That's

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Speaker 2: Peter Bendix's style. He's gonna look for the best value

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Speaker 2: he can get, regardless of all other factors. That if

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Speaker 2: you just accrue enough surplus value in your organization that

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Speaker 2: you're gonna get that's going to give you the resources

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Speaker 2: you need to address speci needs. So there's been this

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Speaker 2: theory that the Marlins may address first base in the

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Speaker 2: Caprera trade, looking for whether it's Kobe Mayo in Baltimore

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Speaker 2: or Tristan Cassas in Boston, guys that are very obviously

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Speaker 2: available and have the power profile that gets you really

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Speaker 2: excited from a first baseman, Guys that are even cheaper

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Speaker 2: from a salary standpoint and have several years of club control.

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Speaker 2: It's possible, but I don't think the Marlins are going

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Speaker 2: to be that close minded about it, and I think

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Speaker 2: that's the way that this ultimately gets done is the

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Speaker 2: fact that they're willing to accept a wide variety of

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Speaker 2: potential packages in return, and eventually one of those is

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Speaker 2: going to come close enough to the original asking price

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Speaker 2: to get it done. But yeah, just to put a

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Speaker 2: exclamation point on this, this really has been the theme

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Speaker 2: of the off season, where teams are showing that they're

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Speaker 2: not going to be beholden by the run prevention results

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Speaker 2: that pitchers have had recently. They're going to look a

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Speaker 2: lot deeper than that, and in some cases make moves

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Speaker 2: that are counterintuitive to that, even really investing a lot

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Speaker 2: in guys that have questionable run prevention histories and just

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Speaker 2: bet on the fact that their underlying skills are going

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Speaker 2: to take over moving forward and that those results could

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Speaker 2: look a lot different moving forward. We'll continue to monitor this,

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Speaker 2: of course, but yeah, I thought of a very interesting

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Speaker 2: topic to explore. So whether it's maybe nobody does get

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Speaker 2: close enough to the asking price and the Marlins end

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Speaker 2: up trading a different starting pitcher, one that doesn't have

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Speaker 2: quite as much overall value, but still it could be

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Speaker 2: used to address other areas of the organization. Still a

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Speaker 2: long way to go with this. I mentioned it on

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Speaker 2: the site that I don't think we see movement here

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Speaker 2: until there's more free agent signings. From a starting pitching standpoint,

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Speaker 2: I don't think we see anything before the turn of

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Speaker 2: the calendar into January, a couple of weeks away before

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Speaker 2: this might get moving. This is a patients front office.

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Speaker 2: They really are they to be intimidated by public pressure

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Speaker 2: of any kind. You're going to wait until they get

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Speaker 2: the deal that they want right here. And it's an

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Speaker 2: awkward situation for Eddie for sure. I mean, all I

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Speaker 2: did is perform well this past year, and that gets

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Speaker 2: him right in the middle of all these rumors. But

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Speaker 2: it's gonna be fascinating saga to continue following right here,

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Speaker 2: and ultimately we really do at the reserve judgment on

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Speaker 2: what the Marlins are doing until we see exactly what

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Speaker 2: happens in this particular case. So without further ado, we

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Speaker 2: can now get to my interview with Matt Goodrow, the

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Speaker 2: president and general manager of the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, talking

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Speaker 2: about what goes on running a business, which is ultimately

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Speaker 2: what the any minor league team is, this one being

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Speaker 2: an exceptionally successful one, just had an ownership change in

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Speaker 2: Jacksonville for the first time in many years, and first

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Speaker 2: time and over a decade, so we get into the

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Speaker 2: ramifications of that. Of course, we reflect on the Jumbo

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Speaker 2: Shrimp winning not only the International League Championship with the

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Speaker 2: Triple A National Championship, and what if anything that does

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Speaker 2: from a variety of angles when it comes to running

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Speaker 2: that team moving forward. Sit back and enjoy this interview,

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Speaker 2: and then come back at the end. We're going to

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Speaker 2: go taking a swim around the diamonds and highlighting other

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Speaker 2: contents outside of Fish On First that I think Marlin's

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Speaker 2: fans would be very interested in.

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Speaker 1: So enjoy the interview.

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Speaker 2: Stick around for the final segment. Here it is Matt

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Speaker 2: Goodrow from the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. It's Eli Sussman here

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Speaker 2: with you on the official show. A first time guest

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Speaker 2: on the Fish on First podcast with us, and a

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Speaker 2: different sort of guest that I hope you guys will

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Speaker 2: appreciate his perspective and how it very much goes hand

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Speaker 2: in hand with the Marlins fan experience. Newly promoted to

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Speaker 2: the president to the position of president and general manager

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Speaker 2: of the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, Matt Goodrow thanks a ton

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Speaker 2: for making time for this conversation, mister president.

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Speaker 3: Were happy to do to you, looking forward to chatting

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Speaker 3: with you.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So, first off, when fans of any professional sports team,

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Speaker 2: they hear the title general manager, their first thought is

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Speaker 2: roster construction, player acquisition. That's not really the case when

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Speaker 2: it comes to a minor league baseball affiliate. It's the

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Speaker 2: parent club itself that is responsible for that sort of thing.

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Speaker 2: So to start us off, could you kind of explain

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Speaker 2: what you're you've previously been the assistant GM, if you

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Speaker 2: could explain what your job responsibilities were and what you

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Speaker 2: think they're going to be moving forward.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, previously my job responsibilities fell into a

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Speaker 4: few different buckets of helping oversee the stadium operations here

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Speaker 4: by Star Ballpark, and overseeing a lot of the capital

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Speaker 4: planning and projects that have happened here in the last

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Speaker 4: few seasons.

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Speaker 3: Over over the last three years or so, we've had about.

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Speaker 4: Thirty one point eight million dollars worth of projects accomplished

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Speaker 4: at the ballpark and completed, which have been awesome, and

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Speaker 4: we continue to work on a few different projects going

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Speaker 4: on in the ballpark currently. So the off seasons have

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Speaker 4: been busy and and and kept us going. But I've

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Speaker 4: had had the opportunity to lead a lot of those

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Speaker 4: projects in the past few years, have a very good

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Speaker 4: working relationship with the Marlins themselves and being a primary

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Speaker 4: contact to the team not only throughout the season, but

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Speaker 4: in the off season, just kind of making sure things

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Speaker 4: are ready to go and in place for the guys

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Speaker 4: when they get here in March, going through the whole season.

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Speaker 4: And also done a lot in the in the corporate

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Speaker 4: sales space, you know, you know, helping helping work to

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Speaker 4: fill some of the billboards in the outfield wall and

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Speaker 4: theme nights that we have in the ballpark with different

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Speaker 4: companies that are looking to showcase their brands here in

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Speaker 4: Jacksonville with the Jumbo Shrimp. So those are kind of

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Speaker 4: the primary responsibilities. I had also helped staff a lot

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Speaker 4: of the part time staff members that would work on

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Speaker 4: a Jumbo Shrim game.

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Speaker 3: So very proud to say a lot of the people that.

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Speaker 4: A fan might interact with when they come watch Jembo

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Speaker 4: Shrim baseball here might be somebody that I helped interview

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Speaker 4: and helped helped into their role. And you know, we

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Speaker 4: collaboratively have tried to train and be a friendly face

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Speaker 4: to be able to help you while you're getting to

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Speaker 4: your seat, or finding where to get a good hot

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Speaker 4: dog or or shrimp entree that's here in the ballpark

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Speaker 4: before they enjoy the game.

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Speaker 3: So those are a lot of things that I previously did.

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Speaker 4: But to your point, Eli, I think it's it is

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Speaker 4: a bit of a misconception that when you have the

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Speaker 4: general manager or assistant general manager title, a lot of

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Speaker 4: people think you're doing player development and scouting and constructing

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Speaker 4: the roster. So a lot of I've spoken with a

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Speaker 4: lot of disappointed students that have jumped on a call

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Speaker 4: with me and wanted to chat about my career that

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Speaker 4: we really talk more about the business of baseball and

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Speaker 4: and running running the nuts and bolts of again ticket

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Speaker 4: sales and corporates, corporate partnerships and running the event by

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Speaker 4: you know, securing a staff to be here and running

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Speaker 4: running concession stands and cleaning up after ourselves after afterwards,

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Speaker 4: and making sure that it's all safe in the in

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Speaker 4: the process when you know, thousands and thousands of jumbos

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Speaker 4: from fans are coming out to the ballpark.

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Speaker 3: To enjoy a game.

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Speaker 4: So it's it's it's not much to do with building

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Speaker 4: the team, but we certainly work with the Marlins hand

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Speaker 4: in hand enough to know that we do have a

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Speaker 4: part in making sure that there's success on the field

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Speaker 4: and that they have all the tools that they need

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Speaker 4: to do a great job and develop the players in

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Speaker 4: a way that they're that they're looking to do.

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Speaker 2: So I'd take it you've been based in Jacksonville even

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Speaker 2: over the course of the season itself, that you're always

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Speaker 2: there or do you ever get certain occasions where you

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Speaker 2: might travel with the team for road trip or is

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Speaker 2: it always just.

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Speaker 4: I have I haven't historically traveled with the team on

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Speaker 4: a trip, and we've we've done a couple We've had

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Speaker 4: a couple of opportunities where we've taken like season ticket

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Speaker 4: holders on you know, some some of our core fans.

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Speaker 4: We've we've offered the opportunity to go on a road

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Speaker 4: trip and watch the team in a different city.

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Speaker 3: So those have been the times that I've traveled.

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Speaker 4: But we have a we have a travel coordinator that

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Speaker 4: that handles a lot of the team travel on our

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Speaker 4: end here. I think once or twice maybe she's tried

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Speaker 4: with the team, but I haven't traveled yet, But that

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Speaker 4: might be something that I try to change this year

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Speaker 4: and see if I can go on a trip and

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Speaker 4: see how everything works, so we can make sure that

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Speaker 4: we're doing things to the best of our ability together,

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Speaker 4: you know, and I know the team wouldn't be shy

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Speaker 4: if there was something that needed to be improved on

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Speaker 4: how we could work on a plan to make it

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Speaker 4: better too.

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Speaker 3: So, but typically haven't been the boots on the ground

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Speaker 3: going on a road trip.

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Speaker 2: In the pressure release that was went out announcing your promotion,

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Speaker 2: they described you as the primary liaison to the Jackonville

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Speaker 2: coaching staff. I'm curious what sort of questions concerns do

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Speaker 2: they have during the course of the season, What what

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Speaker 2: sort of things were you facilitating to make sure that

438
00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:41,440
Speaker 2: things went smoothly on their end.

439
00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:44,520
Speaker 4: I think it's just making sure that things in the

440
00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:47,040
Speaker 4: in the clubhouse and on the field, they are all,

441
00:22:47,359 --> 00:22:50,200
Speaker 4: you know, in good working order, and that there's there's

442
00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:54,560
Speaker 4: a good contact to our to our grounds crew, and

443
00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:57,000
Speaker 4: that the that the road trips have been going smoothly,

444
00:22:57,720 --> 00:23:01,080
Speaker 4: and just general things that they that they may need

445
00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:04,000
Speaker 4: that really come from our side. That you know, we

446
00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:07,240
Speaker 4: were the managers of this facility so well.

447
00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:08,360
Speaker 3: We work.

448
00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:11,879
Speaker 4: We work with a company Legends that they're actually the uh,

449
00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:15,400
Speaker 4: the ones that truly oversee the facility, but we're here

450
00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:18,280
Speaker 4: on a day to day basis, so we're the ones

451
00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:21,080
Speaker 4: mostly responsible for keeping the place in good working order

452
00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:23,159
Speaker 4: and ready to go when when.

453
00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:23,880
Speaker 3: The team gets here.

454
00:23:24,119 --> 00:23:26,280
Speaker 4: So it could be about something that needs to needs

455
00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:30,240
Speaker 4: to be repaired or in the clubhouse, something that's broken,

456
00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:33,359
Speaker 4: to trying to do something different on a road trip

457
00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:36,240
Speaker 4: on the way that we travel, or adjusting adjusting a

458
00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:39,000
Speaker 4: bus time or you know, Fortunately, we got to talk

459
00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:41,040
Speaker 4: about a lot of success this year and how we

460
00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:44,560
Speaker 4: were going to celebrate you know, winning the first half

461
00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:47,360
Speaker 4: championship and traveling to Las Vegas and.

462
00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:48,960
Speaker 3: Things of that nature when we were going to go

463
00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:50,240
Speaker 3: for the Triple A Championship.

464
00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:53,120
Speaker 4: So kind of a kind of a variety of questions

465
00:23:53,119 --> 00:23:56,480
Speaker 4: and things can come up that, you know, it's important

466
00:23:56,480 --> 00:24:02,040
Speaker 4: for both you know, the team itself who who are

467
00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:05,560
Speaker 4: the Marlins, but you know, don the Jumbo shrim Jersey

468
00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:08,240
Speaker 4: when they're here to have a have a strong rapport

469
00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:10,800
Speaker 4: with people that you know, do work here full time

470
00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:12,600
Speaker 4: as the Jumbo Shrimp staff to make sure that.

471
00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:14,720
Speaker 3: Things are working seamlessly and.

472
00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:16,919
Speaker 4: And don't have any problems when when they're coming to

473
00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:19,919
Speaker 4: and from town and uh and having their games here

474
00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:20,439
Speaker 4: on site.

475
00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:21,600
Speaker 1: Got it.

476
00:24:22,119 --> 00:24:24,399
Speaker 2: Moving up the chain of commands a little bit to

477
00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:28,520
Speaker 2: the Marlins front office, whether it's Peter Bendix or Gabe Kapler,

478
00:24:28,720 --> 00:24:32,520
Speaker 2: Rachel Balkovich, do you have semi regular communication with any

479
00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:35,960
Speaker 2: of them when it comes to them, they're obviously they're

480
00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:39,440
Speaker 2: concerned about every aspect of the player development operation.

481
00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:39,840
Speaker 3: Yeah.

482
00:24:39,920 --> 00:24:44,159
Speaker 4: Yeah, Rachel out of out of those three, or is

483
00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:46,600
Speaker 4: the one that's been in most contact with with my

484
00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:48,840
Speaker 4: position previously and what I would expect to kind of

485
00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:51,639
Speaker 4: be the primarily ais on to us. But Peter and

486
00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:53,639
Speaker 4: Gabe have both been here and then we get a

487
00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:57,919
Speaker 4: chance to interact here here and there. But Rachel, between

488
00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:00,600
Speaker 4: those three, has been kind of our our primary contact

489
00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:03,080
Speaker 4: to making sure that we're we're all aligned with the

490
00:25:03,119 --> 00:25:03,720
Speaker 4: vision that she.

491
00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:06,119
Speaker 3: Has for for going on down here in Jacksonville.

492
00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:08,760
Speaker 4: She she she was I would say probably three or

493
00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:10,440
Speaker 4: four times over the course of the year, if not more.

494
00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:13,920
Speaker 4: Might be selling her short, but she she's she's been

495
00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:17,080
Speaker 4: the one that we've talked to the most. Obviously, if

496
00:25:17,080 --> 00:25:20,760
Speaker 4: the primary contact through through David Carpenter, our manager and

497
00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:23,199
Speaker 4: things like that, that's that's that's where it really all starts.

498
00:25:23,240 --> 00:25:26,639
Speaker 4: But but some of the other front office staff do

499
00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:28,720
Speaker 4: do do pop in and let us know when they

500
00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:31,000
Speaker 4: when they want to chat about something or or just

501
00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:32,399
Speaker 4: or here on site and we catch up.

502
00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:36,680
Speaker 2: Your time with the Jumbus has been split almost down

503
00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:39,280
Speaker 2: the middle between the first couple of years when Kim

504
00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:43,400
Speaker 2: Ang was still the general manager and now these past

505
00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:45,280
Speaker 2: couple of years where Peter Bendix is the head of

506
00:25:45,359 --> 00:25:49,320
Speaker 2: baseball operations with Kapler and Rachel involved with it as well,

507
00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:55,639
Speaker 2: and our fans are always constantly looking for signs of

508
00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:59,360
Speaker 2: hope or just signs of actual tangible change in terms

509
00:25:59,359 --> 00:26:01,920
Speaker 2: of the player toment side, because things frankly weren't going

510
00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:04,880
Speaker 2: all that well from that standpoint a couple of years

511
00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:05,440
Speaker 2: prior to.

512
00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:06,920
Speaker 1: This front office overhaul.

513
00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:09,920
Speaker 2: And I think they'd be interested in just hearing from

514
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:13,520
Speaker 2: kind of your perspective, if from your dealings with the

515
00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:16,040
Speaker 2: Marlins organizations the last couple of years. The relationship has

516
00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:19,280
Speaker 2: been the same throughout the entire period where they've been

517
00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:21,600
Speaker 2: the Triple A affiliate of the Marlins throughout that period,

518
00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:24,720
Speaker 2: is has there been any sort of tangible difference that

519
00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:27,440
Speaker 2: sticks out to you in terms of the way that

520
00:26:27,440 --> 00:26:31,480
Speaker 2: that the affiliation has been these past couple of years that.

521
00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:38,120
Speaker 1: Different. I think, I get.

522
00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:42,159
Speaker 4: It would be hard for me to say if there's

523
00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:46,200
Speaker 4: like anything that I could point to specifically that like

524
00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:49,439
Speaker 4: was it was, it was a difference, and like what

525
00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:53,919
Speaker 4: what I'm seeing being done the you know, I'm not

526
00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:57,119
Speaker 4: somebody who's in the locker room when they're you know,

527
00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:00,720
Speaker 4: come coming up with a plan or or you know,

528
00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:04,159
Speaker 4: setting defense defensive alignments and in the in the lineup

529
00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:04,960
Speaker 4: or anything like that.

530
00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:06,960
Speaker 3: So I've never been connected to that.

531
00:27:06,920 --> 00:27:11,400
Speaker 4: In any way and and never was before, not now.

532
00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:16,160
Speaker 4: But you know, we we've certainly, going into last baseball

533
00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:19,159
Speaker 4: season undeniably can see a vast improvement in the product

534
00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:22,919
Speaker 4: on the field. I probably got the chance to know

535
00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:25,960
Speaker 4: to know Karp a little bit better than I knew

536
00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:29,440
Speaker 4: the knew Darren Brown before, but I knew Darren Wall too,

537
00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:33,639
Speaker 4: That might also be unfair to say. But there's certainly

538
00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:37,359
Speaker 4: been an energy and enthusiasm around the team that I noticed,

539
00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:39,760
Speaker 4: particularly last year when we were having so much success,

540
00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:41,760
Speaker 4: which was different than I had seen before.

541
00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:46,840
Speaker 3: And so it's you know, I would speculate them.

542
00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:49,720
Speaker 4: You know, the focus has been contagious in a way

543
00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:52,160
Speaker 4: that that led to a lot of success heres, particularly

544
00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:56,600
Speaker 4: in Jacksonville. So I feel confident saying that I think

545
00:27:56,920 --> 00:27:59,800
Speaker 4: Marlins fan should be excited about the future, especially the

546
00:27:59,840 --> 00:28:03,840
Speaker 4: way that our team performed here all along the season,

547
00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:07,160
Speaker 4: again not only being the first half champions, but then

548
00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:09,399
Speaker 4: competing very hard in the second half of the season,

549
00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:13,480
Speaker 4: then having a tremendous few games in late September to

550
00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:15,919
Speaker 4: go ahead and win the championship. So, I mean, the

551
00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:18,600
Speaker 4: future seems nothing but bright. And I can't speak anything

552
00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:20,760
Speaker 4: but glowingly about the people who I've worked with here

553
00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:24,480
Speaker 4: recently on the staff and have certainly noticed an energy

554
00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:28,640
Speaker 4: and enthusiasm that's been unmatched in the last couple of seasons,

555
00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:29,240
Speaker 4: that's for sure.

556
00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:34,359
Speaker 2: Now let's now get to the ballpark renovations that Viisnar

557
00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:41,080
Speaker 2: Ballpark has undergone relatively recently. Project next as it was. Yeah, absolutely,

558
00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:44,440
Speaker 2: we're following the process pretty closely these last couple of years.

559
00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:47,960
Speaker 2: If you could just quickly summarize what the different elements

560
00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:48,960
Speaker 2: that were involved with that.

561
00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:54,240
Speaker 4: Sure over the last few years, we started off in

562
00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:57,400
Speaker 4: a few different phases to accomplish a lot of good

563
00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:01,560
Speaker 4: impact to improve in the ballpark. The first one excuse

564
00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:05,280
Speaker 4: me was going into twenty twenty three renovating the clubhouses.

565
00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:10,320
Speaker 4: Much of that, much of the improvements began as stemming

566
00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:16,240
Speaker 4: from needing to improve the ballpark from a PDL standpoint,

567
00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:19,320
Speaker 4: which we're getting it up to the standards that Major

568
00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:22,400
Speaker 4: League Baseball has provided in a new agreement that came in,

569
00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:23,520
Speaker 4: I believe during.

570
00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:24,480
Speaker 3: The twenty twenty one season.

571
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:28,240
Speaker 4: So we were very fortunate that the city of Jacksonville

572
00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:31,440
Speaker 4: partnered so well with us and being able to give

573
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:34,400
Speaker 4: us funding to upgrade the ballpark to be able to

574
00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:36,560
Speaker 4: meet a lot of these standards. And we started with

575
00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:40,160
Speaker 4: the locker rooms themselves. That was a place that we

576
00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:43,000
Speaker 4: were deficient and wanted to improve, and we were able

577
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:45,600
Speaker 4: to renovate those two locker rooms over the twenty twenty

578
00:29:45,760 --> 00:29:49,280
Speaker 4: three off season, going into the year after the twenty

579
00:29:49,320 --> 00:29:51,400
Speaker 4: twenty two season, going into the year of twenty twenty three,

580
00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:53,480
Speaker 4: so we were able to change out the lockers on

581
00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:58,520
Speaker 4: both sides, make the visiting side particularly larger, which it

582
00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:01,480
Speaker 4: had been pretty small, hadn't had many updates in the

583
00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:05,120
Speaker 4: first fifteen to twenty years of the ballpark had existed,

584
00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:09,360
Speaker 4: so it was really a full renovation of those areas again,

585
00:30:09,520 --> 00:30:13,560
Speaker 4: changing out the lockers, carpeting, updating the restrooms and bathrooms

586
00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:17,880
Speaker 4: and showers, kitchen spaces, things of that nature. So not

587
00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:20,240
Speaker 4: only on the jumbo shrim side, which we're proud of

588
00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:22,840
Speaker 4: is strong and looks really good, but the visiting side

589
00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:26,000
Speaker 4: to a has turned out to be a really nice

590
00:30:26,080 --> 00:30:30,000
Speaker 4: upgrade there. Going into twenty twenty four, we were able

591
00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:32,120
Speaker 4: to add ribbon boards and a new video board on

592
00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:34,920
Speaker 4: the left field on the left center field wall, So

593
00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:38,120
Speaker 4: we've got ribbon boards now that hang over like that

594
00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:43,000
Speaker 4: section one fourteen to one eleven and one on one

595
00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:46,440
Speaker 4: to one oh four some something that's probably pretty common

596
00:30:46,440 --> 00:30:47,960
Speaker 4: in a major league park and maybe a lot of

597
00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:51,040
Speaker 4: other minor league parks have that too, but really enhances

598
00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:54,360
Speaker 4: kind of the game experience by showcasing the score and

599
00:30:54,960 --> 00:30:56,640
Speaker 4: different statistics that are going on there.

600
00:30:57,440 --> 00:30:58,480
Speaker 3: But the video board.

601
00:30:58,280 --> 00:31:01,360
Speaker 4: Two was I believe about twenty to twenty five percent larger,

602
00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:03,840
Speaker 4: you know, state of the art, crystal clear.

603
00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:07,239
Speaker 3: You know, the picture looks great on it now, So

604
00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:08,880
Speaker 3: we were we were super excited.

605
00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:13,240
Speaker 4: And then going into twenty twenty five is really where

606
00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:17,360
Speaker 4: there was a ton of noticeable, impactful difference on the

607
00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:19,520
Speaker 4: ballpark too, I think a general fan that would come in.

608
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:23,160
Speaker 4: Is where we renovated our new center field plaza, which

609
00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:26,960
Speaker 4: is now the Baptist Health center Field Plaza right down

610
00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:28,920
Speaker 4: kind of at the bottom of the screen there, and

611
00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:32,560
Speaker 4: then the right field right field building is comprised of

612
00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:36,760
Speaker 4: a club space with some seats that oversee the oversee

613
00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:39,600
Speaker 4: the right fielder with about one hundred and ninety seats,

614
00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:43,520
Speaker 4: and again a club space area that has has a

615
00:31:43,560 --> 00:31:45,920
Speaker 4: bar and kitchen and all of that connected to it,

616
00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:49,080
Speaker 4: along with those kind of drink rail seats that they

617
00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:50,440
Speaker 4: are outside of it. So we used to have a

618
00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:53,640
Speaker 4: bleacher section there and this is certainly an upgrade to that.

619
00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:58,400
Speaker 4: And below that are our front offices, so we have

620
00:31:58,520 --> 00:32:01,040
Speaker 4: that that area now which is nificantly larger than what

621
00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:04,320
Speaker 4: it was before for growing our growing team to be

622
00:32:04,360 --> 00:32:06,640
Speaker 4: able to have the space to work, and also a

623
00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:07,960
Speaker 4: new team store.

624
00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:09,960
Speaker 3: As well on the on the ground floor of the

625
00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:11,400
Speaker 3: right field building there.

626
00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:15,480
Speaker 4: Part of the center field plaza before before I skip

627
00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:18,520
Speaker 4: over that, we also added three shrimp boats as specialty seats.

628
00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:20,240
Speaker 4: To the right of that batter's eye there behind that

629
00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:23,600
Speaker 4: Jacksonville postcard is that you can kind of see right

630
00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:25,920
Speaker 4: when you walk into the ballpark, a really cool striking piece.

631
00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:27,920
Speaker 4: But to the right of that, which would hang right

632
00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:30,560
Speaker 4: over the left center field wall, or three shrimp boats

633
00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:32,920
Speaker 4: that we rent out for games that people can sit

634
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:35,760
Speaker 4: up there and have a very unique experience to watch

635
00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:39,080
Speaker 4: games and enjoy a great view. So it's been pretty

636
00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:41,840
Speaker 4: cool something that we've enjoyed having as a unique piece.

637
00:32:41,880 --> 00:32:45,520
Speaker 4: Feels very Jacksonville, very very team oriented, since their shrimp

638
00:32:45,520 --> 00:32:48,000
Speaker 4: boats themselves. It was a cool, important piece that we

639
00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:51,520
Speaker 4: wanted to add. But finally, another part of the project

640
00:32:51,600 --> 00:32:55,040
Speaker 4: that's been been very well received too has been the

641
00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:59,280
Speaker 4: PNC home Plate Club. Our former offices were off Adams Street.

642
00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:02,520
Speaker 4: They're kind of on this map, you know, probably a

643
00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:05,640
Speaker 4: little bit behind the visitors on deck circles where under

644
00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:09,000
Speaker 4: the stands or where our offices used to be, and

645
00:33:09,040 --> 00:33:10,880
Speaker 4: we were able to renovate that space and turn it

646
00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:14,040
Speaker 4: into a high end, high end fan experience club where

647
00:33:14,440 --> 00:33:17,120
Speaker 4: fans that have those tickets there when they when they

648
00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:21,000
Speaker 4: buy a ticket is all inclusive food and beer and wine.

649
00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:24,920
Speaker 4: So it's a it's a pretty cool, unique, speed, unique

650
00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:29,240
Speaker 4: space and leads to the first four rows behind home

651
00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:32,040
Speaker 4: plate that about one hundred and fifty seats in total

652
00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:35,840
Speaker 4: and have an unbelievable view of the game. So those fans,

653
00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:38,760
Speaker 4: the fan in the in the first row of the

654
00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:41,080
Speaker 4: home plate club is actually closer to the catcher than

655
00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:44,960
Speaker 4: the pitcher is obviously a unique thing that you could

656
00:33:44,960 --> 00:33:46,800
Speaker 4: get to say, I know a couple other Paul parks

657
00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:49,440
Speaker 4: have that too, but the view there of the game

658
00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:52,600
Speaker 4: is unbelievable, unmatch anybody that sits in the seat there

659
00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:55,360
Speaker 4: is completely blown away that wants to wants to watch

660
00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:57,800
Speaker 4: the game, that watched the game as their primary focus.

661
00:33:58,040 --> 00:34:00,640
Speaker 4: But really having a space that you can two where

662
00:34:00,840 --> 00:34:04,400
Speaker 4: there's a catered meal, again, it is in meaning that

663
00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:06,880
Speaker 4: it's not just like kind of regular ballpark fair our

664
00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:10,120
Speaker 4: food and beverage to team here in Jacksonville goes above

665
00:34:10,160 --> 00:34:13,319
Speaker 4: and beyond trying to make creative menus to rotate out

666
00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:15,360
Speaker 4: throughout a series. So fans that are in that space

667
00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:18,720
Speaker 4: regularly are eating different kinds of foods and different themes

668
00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:21,680
Speaker 4: connected to it. And again a domestic beer and wine

669
00:34:21,719 --> 00:34:24,080
Speaker 4: is covered in that package too, so be able to

670
00:34:24,120 --> 00:34:27,440
Speaker 4: get a drink from the bartender. Obviously, non alcoholic beverages

671
00:34:27,480 --> 00:34:30,279
Speaker 4: included with that as well, so a cool space that

672
00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:32,520
Speaker 4: has multiple TVs with different games going on that they'll

673
00:34:32,520 --> 00:34:34,919
Speaker 4: be able to hang out and watch while they're maybe

674
00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:36,799
Speaker 4: waiting for the game to start and then make.

675
00:34:36,680 --> 00:34:37,200
Speaker 3: Their way out.

676
00:34:37,239 --> 00:34:39,680
Speaker 4: But if they want to hang out for an extra

677
00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:42,080
Speaker 4: bite or a drink during the game too, maybe if

678
00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:44,040
Speaker 4: it's a little bit hot, or we're getting a little

679
00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:47,200
Speaker 4: bit of a rain shower or something like that, they

680
00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:49,719
Speaker 4: might pop back in there and enjoy themselves. So those

681
00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:51,279
Speaker 4: have been the primary things that we're part of the

682
00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:54,520
Speaker 4: renovation that we're really cool to be part of, and

683
00:34:55,200 --> 00:34:58,239
Speaker 4: I think everybody has been really excited when they've come

684
00:34:58,280 --> 00:34:59,960
Speaker 4: out to the ballpark and seen them in their completetion,

685
00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:03,680
Speaker 4: and myself and our teams are certainly proud of how

686
00:35:03,680 --> 00:35:05,959
Speaker 4: they've all turned out, and hopefully everybody.

687
00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:06,120
Speaker 3: Else is too.

688
00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:10,439
Speaker 2: One very niche question I have is that as part

689
00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:12,160
Speaker 2: of the renovations and some of the things that we're

690
00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:14,719
Speaker 2: added beyond the right field wall, I know that like

691
00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:17,799
Speaker 2: the height of the wall in various spots changed and

692
00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:20,920
Speaker 2: that maybe some very minor alterations to the dimensions. Is

693
00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:22,839
Speaker 2: that the sort of thing that you have to run

694
00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:25,640
Speaker 2: by the marlins before moving forward with it, just because

695
00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:28,160
Speaker 2: it slightly changes the way that the ballpark plays and

696
00:35:28,200 --> 00:35:28,920
Speaker 2: therefore the way that.

697
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:33,120
Speaker 3: Yeah, we not only them, but major League Baseball.

698
00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:36,760
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, when we changed the dimensions of the field,

699
00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:41,120
Speaker 4: ELI hit it right on the head. Yes, the Marlins particularly,

700
00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:43,680
Speaker 4: but major League Baseball as well want to know those

701
00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:47,520
Speaker 4: things and make sure that they fit into a certain specification.

702
00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:49,560
Speaker 3: I think it's important to note.

703
00:35:49,640 --> 00:35:51,640
Speaker 4: I think from what I learned in the process that

704
00:35:51,680 --> 00:35:58,160
Speaker 4: there aren't specific like there aren't specific rules in place

705
00:35:58,200 --> 00:36:00,680
Speaker 4: of like the distance of a certain fence or the

706
00:36:00,719 --> 00:36:02,920
Speaker 4: height of a certain fence, as you can probably understand

707
00:36:02,920 --> 00:36:05,160
Speaker 4: when you look at the different architecture of different major

708
00:36:05,239 --> 00:36:08,040
Speaker 4: league parks and other minor league parks that you'd see.

709
00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:14,080
Speaker 4: But I think generally speaking, there's more of a concept

710
00:36:14,239 --> 00:36:17,040
Speaker 4: of where people are comfortable and they want to make

711
00:36:17,040 --> 00:36:19,560
Speaker 4: sure and major League Baseball, and I would imagine the

712
00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:22,360
Speaker 4: Marlins and anybody just for the playability of the field

713
00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:25,760
Speaker 4: want to make sure that nothing really goes wildly outside

714
00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:26,240
Speaker 4: of that scope.

715
00:36:26,280 --> 00:36:28,200
Speaker 1: If that makes sense, Yeah, it does.

716
00:36:28,239 --> 00:36:31,560
Speaker 2: And I still appreciate the fact that this ballpark and

717
00:36:31,680 --> 00:36:34,279
Speaker 2: most others are still distinct from one another. That it's

718
00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:37,440
Speaker 2: not it's on a replica of what the Marlins have

719
00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:39,640
Speaker 2: at Lone de Bill Park, for example, people that watch

720
00:36:39,719 --> 00:36:42,560
Speaker 2: Jimbo Shrimp games. Something that was true before that's still

721
00:36:42,560 --> 00:36:44,600
Speaker 2: true is how much space there is at center field.

722
00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:47,560
Speaker 2: So it's lends itself to a lot of triples that

723
00:36:47,680 --> 00:36:50,120
Speaker 2: make games, in my opinion, more entertaining, and it gives

724
00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:53,680
Speaker 2: us better gauge in terms of how much speed certain

725
00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:56,600
Speaker 2: players have both the defender and the actually hit the ball.

726
00:36:57,080 --> 00:37:00,560
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's as long as there's ways so still

727
00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:03,719
Speaker 2: have variety and unique aspects.

728
00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:05,920
Speaker 1: Without but that everybody's comfortable with.

729
00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:09,160
Speaker 2: That's I guess it is an interesting balancing act that

730
00:37:09,160 --> 00:37:10,080
Speaker 2: you have to do too.

731
00:37:10,920 --> 00:37:13,439
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, hopefully I explained that. Well.

732
00:37:14,360 --> 00:37:17,760
Speaker 4: It's I think that's a really really cool part about

733
00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:21,399
Speaker 4: baseball and baseball stadiums, and I think really a big

734
00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:25,240
Speaker 4: reason why you probably hear a lot more of baseball

735
00:37:25,280 --> 00:37:29,360
Speaker 4: fans making pilgrimages to different parks and you know, making

736
00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:31,640
Speaker 4: it making it something, Oh, I want to see a

737
00:37:31,680 --> 00:37:34,000
Speaker 4: bunch of different stadiums because of how unique they are

738
00:37:34,239 --> 00:37:37,760
Speaker 4: and how different they all can be compared to maybe

739
00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:38,439
Speaker 4: you know.

740
00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:41,719
Speaker 3: Arenas that you know have more.

741
00:37:41,560 --> 00:37:43,200
Speaker 4: Or less the same thing going on in the field,

742
00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:46,000
Speaker 4: because the basketball court or the ice rank or the

743
00:37:46,040 --> 00:37:49,520
Speaker 4: football field, they're all the same wherever you play. That

744
00:37:49,880 --> 00:37:51,799
Speaker 4: I think is a very special part about baseball is

745
00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:54,200
Speaker 4: even though generally speaking the field is the same, there

746
00:37:54,239 --> 00:37:58,560
Speaker 4: are unique quirks almost to every park amongst the thirty

747
00:37:58,719 --> 00:38:00,400
Speaker 4: in the big leagues, and I'm sure it's the one

748
00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:03,960
Speaker 4: twenty in the minors as well, and makes it makes

749
00:38:03,960 --> 00:38:04,840
Speaker 4: it fun and exciting.

750
00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:09,000
Speaker 2: A couple of questions about attendance, That's a topic that

751
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:11,120
Speaker 2: comes up quite a bit for me covering the Marlins

752
00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:12,799
Speaker 2: major league team, and you don't have to comment on

753
00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:14,799
Speaker 2: this part of it, but people have poked fun in

754
00:38:14,840 --> 00:38:17,640
Speaker 2: recent years about how on certain occasions that Jumbo Shrimp

755
00:38:17,719 --> 00:38:21,040
Speaker 2: may outdraw the Marlins themselves in terms of official announced

756
00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:23,280
Speaker 2: attendance on a particular day during the course of the season.

757
00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:24,480
Speaker 1: That's more so it's.

758
00:38:24,440 --> 00:38:26,840
Speaker 2: Just a testament to how popular the Shrimp are and

759
00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:29,560
Speaker 2: what the job that you guys are doing on all

760
00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:32,799
Speaker 2: fronts to keep it busy there. I'm just curious what

761
00:38:33,200 --> 00:38:37,000
Speaker 2: approximate number for you qualifies as a sellout when it

762
00:38:37,040 --> 00:38:39,600
Speaker 2: comes to attendance wise in this.

763
00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:49,200
Speaker 4: Ballpark we're billed at I believe eleven thousand seats eleven

764
00:38:49,239 --> 00:38:51,520
Speaker 4: thousand capacity. I want to be careful with the words

765
00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:55,359
Speaker 4: that he is eleven thousand capacity for the ballpark, but

766
00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:58,160
Speaker 4: that's that's quite a bit of general emission space and

767
00:38:58,239 --> 00:39:01,920
Speaker 4: kind of standing room space. That's that's in the ballpark itself.

768
00:39:03,600 --> 00:39:09,759
Speaker 4: I believe we've in certain circumstances, considered us to sell

769
00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:13,000
Speaker 4: out at about about eight thousand, nine thousand. I want

770
00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:17,799
Speaker 4: to say, I'm you know that that's what I believe.

771
00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:19,840
Speaker 4: It's been the last couple of years in the games

772
00:39:19,840 --> 00:39:22,160
Speaker 4: that we've called to sell out, and it's really trying

773
00:39:22,200 --> 00:39:28,399
Speaker 4: to make a informed judgment on will people in these

774
00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:33,680
Speaker 4: general admission areas have a bad experience, even though like

775
00:39:33,719 --> 00:39:37,359
Speaker 4: we have the true capacity to be able to take

776
00:39:37,360 --> 00:39:39,520
Speaker 4: you on and have you in the ballpark, and we

777
00:39:39,560 --> 00:39:43,360
Speaker 4: can legally do it. To be fair, if you're standing

778
00:39:43,360 --> 00:39:44,960
Speaker 4: behind that batter's eye of the whole game and you

779
00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:47,239
Speaker 4: really wouldn't be able to move anywhere else because there's

780
00:39:47,239 --> 00:39:48,879
Speaker 4: nowhere else to see the game, that's not a great

781
00:39:48,920 --> 00:39:52,440
Speaker 4: experience for our fans or anybody that's even purchasing a

782
00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:54,960
Speaker 4: general admission ticket at five dollars to be able to

783
00:39:55,000 --> 00:39:58,640
Speaker 4: come in and not have a have an experience where

784
00:39:58,640 --> 00:40:01,279
Speaker 4: they could see much of the game. There's obviously circumstances

785
00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:03,759
Speaker 4: where the game's really important and you might want to

786
00:40:04,280 --> 00:40:06,960
Speaker 4: might want to push the limit on that a little bit.

787
00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:09,160
Speaker 4: But I think I think really in the eight nine,

788
00:40:09,320 --> 00:40:12,839
Speaker 4: you know, high eight low nine thousand ranges where we're

789
00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:15,680
Speaker 4: most comfortable with having people in the ballpark and considering

790
00:40:15,719 --> 00:40:19,000
Speaker 4: it considering it a sellout. There are many occasions eli

791
00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:20,960
Speaker 4: where all of our seats are sold and we're just

792
00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:24,040
Speaker 4: selling those general admission tickets. So that's kind of where

793
00:40:24,080 --> 00:40:27,759
Speaker 4: you get to have that where you're kind of determining

794
00:40:27,800 --> 00:40:30,560
Speaker 4: what's that magic number to make sure that we're not

795
00:40:30,680 --> 00:40:35,520
Speaker 4: impacting all of our fans negatively by inviting another six

796
00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:37,600
Speaker 4: or seven hundred people into the ballpark. So that's something

797
00:40:37,640 --> 00:40:39,360
Speaker 4: that we have to think about on the business side

798
00:40:39,520 --> 00:40:42,000
Speaker 4: on what makes sense. But you of course want to

799
00:40:42,040 --> 00:40:43,719
Speaker 4: be ahead of it so you can just you know,

800
00:40:43,840 --> 00:40:46,319
Speaker 4: cut off the ticket sales, announce that it's a sell out,

801
00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:48,040
Speaker 4: and invite people to come out to another game.

802
00:40:49,160 --> 00:40:51,640
Speaker 2: You have alluded to it several times already about how

803
00:40:51,640 --> 00:40:54,040
Speaker 2: successful the team was this past season on the field.

804
00:40:54,800 --> 00:40:56,840
Speaker 2: The ultimate success not only being the best team in

805
00:40:56,840 --> 00:40:59,920
Speaker 2: the International League, but winning the national champion, the triple

806
00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:03,399
Speaker 2: national championship itself in Vergion, macfashion does that sort of thing,

807
00:41:03,920 --> 00:41:07,840
Speaker 2: any sort of notge anything when it comes to ticket

808
00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:11,120
Speaker 2: sales in twenty twenty six compared to just an ordinary year,

809
00:41:11,280 --> 00:41:15,480
Speaker 2: because you can tell these accolades.

810
00:41:14,320 --> 00:41:15,439
Speaker 3: From what we've seen so far.

811
00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:19,400
Speaker 4: Yes, I mean, the enthusiasm around the team is certainly

812
00:41:21,560 --> 00:41:24,040
Speaker 4: much higher than I'd ever seen in previous years. And

813
00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:27,880
Speaker 4: you know, I think generally speaking, and it's true that

814
00:41:28,800 --> 00:41:32,040
Speaker 4: you know, minor league baseball as a whole, you know,

815
00:41:32,160 --> 00:41:34,719
Speaker 4: doesn't focus as much on the success of the team

816
00:41:34,760 --> 00:41:38,200
Speaker 4: on the field, probably first and foremost that they don't

817
00:41:38,200 --> 00:41:39,840
Speaker 4: have any impact on it, which.

818
00:41:39,600 --> 00:41:40,400
Speaker 3: Is which is true.

819
00:41:40,400 --> 00:41:44,400
Speaker 4: Again, We're we're we are the fortunate recipients of of

820
00:41:45,040 --> 00:41:48,200
Speaker 4: having a very successful team in twenty twenty five. Again,

821
00:41:48,760 --> 00:41:51,120
Speaker 4: it was nothing that we that we constructed or had

822
00:41:51,120 --> 00:41:54,880
Speaker 4: anything to do with, so we're fortunate to benefit from it.

823
00:41:55,040 --> 00:41:58,480
Speaker 4: But yeah, we've most certainly seen in our season ticket

824
00:41:58,480 --> 00:42:01,120
Speaker 4: renewals and people that are interested in coming by the

825
00:42:01,120 --> 00:42:03,879
Speaker 4: ballpark and purchasing something in the team store that might

826
00:42:03,920 --> 00:42:09,080
Speaker 4: have national championship logo and Moniker on it. So we're

827
00:42:09,120 --> 00:42:14,400
Speaker 4: certainly expecting to see more enthusiasm in the ballpark as

828
00:42:14,400 --> 00:42:16,680
Speaker 4: we move into twenty twenty six, but it's not something

829
00:42:16,680 --> 00:42:19,200
Speaker 4: that we plan for and it's not something that we

830
00:42:19,719 --> 00:42:23,040
Speaker 4: really factor too much in our strategy on trying to

831
00:42:23,560 --> 00:42:25,320
Speaker 4: enhance the fan experience here at the ballpark.

832
00:42:25,320 --> 00:42:26,960
Speaker 3: If that makes sense. M hmm.

833
00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:29,920
Speaker 2: That's a good transition. One of the last questions they

834
00:42:29,960 --> 00:42:32,399
Speaker 2: wanted to get with you on you.

835
00:42:32,360 --> 00:42:33,799
Speaker 1: Have two children? Is that right?

836
00:42:34,400 --> 00:42:34,759
Speaker 3: I do?

837
00:42:35,400 --> 00:42:37,239
Speaker 2: Are that the age where if they go to a

838
00:42:37,239 --> 00:42:39,520
Speaker 2: lot of Jumbo Shrimp games.

839
00:42:39,360 --> 00:42:42,200
Speaker 4: They're out here for I'd say they probably we have

840
00:42:42,239 --> 00:42:44,480
Speaker 4: a seventy five home game schedule. I'd say they probably

841
00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:47,600
Speaker 4: come out to ten or twelve of them. Yeah, six,

842
00:42:47,719 --> 00:42:51,040
Speaker 4: six and four knock some LEXI, So yeah, they come out.

843
00:42:51,160 --> 00:42:53,160
Speaker 4: They come out probably ten to twelve times a year.

844
00:42:53,200 --> 00:42:54,839
Speaker 4: So that's a good handful for sure.

845
00:42:56,360 --> 00:42:57,600
Speaker 1: I'll say this carefully.

846
00:42:58,080 --> 00:43:00,680
Speaker 2: Have they have you Have you been able to use

847
00:43:00,760 --> 00:43:04,680
Speaker 2: them effectively as to kind of test drive certain promotions

848
00:43:04,760 --> 00:43:06,799
Speaker 2: or to get to get actual feedback on the fan

849
00:43:06,840 --> 00:43:07,600
Speaker 2: experience from them.

850
00:43:07,680 --> 00:43:09,160
Speaker 1: Have they helped in any way.

851
00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:12,759
Speaker 2: Guide some of the decisions that you make to optimize

852
00:43:12,760 --> 00:43:13,640
Speaker 2: that fan experience.

853
00:43:15,320 --> 00:43:17,000
Speaker 4: They're they're not shy to tell me what kind of

854
00:43:17,040 --> 00:43:18,839
Speaker 4: ice cream they like and what kind of food they

855
00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:22,840
Speaker 4: like and things like that. So I guess in the

856
00:43:22,880 --> 00:43:24,360
Speaker 4: new role I'm in, maybe I'll want to be a

857
00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:26,879
Speaker 4: little bit more cognizant of some of those things here.

858
00:43:26,920 --> 00:43:31,520
Speaker 3: But they they haven't, they haven't impacted too much of.

859
00:43:31,520 --> 00:43:34,879
Speaker 4: The decision making yet, but their their opinions are are

860
00:43:34,920 --> 00:43:37,719
Speaker 4: certainly clear and widely known when they have them. So

861
00:43:38,000 --> 00:43:40,360
Speaker 4: we we love having them out and getting them the

862
00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:44,680
Speaker 4: chance to experience experience the game in the ballpark. They

863
00:43:45,960 --> 00:43:50,040
Speaker 4: they really enjoy just all the pump and circumstances. I

864
00:43:50,040 --> 00:43:52,760
Speaker 4: think that is around being at a at a Jumbo

865
00:43:52,840 --> 00:43:55,960
Speaker 4: Shrimp baseball game. They love coming out and getting their

866
00:43:55,960 --> 00:43:59,480
Speaker 4: face painted by on a Sunday and running the bases

867
00:43:59,520 --> 00:44:01,600
Speaker 4: after the game. Game on a Sunday, we do Sunday

868
00:44:01,600 --> 00:44:04,080
Speaker 4: Family Fun Day here at the ballpark, and that's the

869
00:44:04,160 --> 00:44:07,440
Speaker 4: date where where my kids tend to tend to.

870
00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:08,240
Speaker 3: Come out and enjoy.

871
00:44:08,520 --> 00:44:12,080
Speaker 4: But you know, when they run into Scampion South Park mascots,

872
00:44:12,120 --> 00:44:14,400
Speaker 4: they love, you know, getting a picture and giving them

873
00:44:14,440 --> 00:44:16,640
Speaker 4: a hug and a high five and looking at the

874
00:44:16,640 --> 00:44:18,040
Speaker 4: teams toward all the different stuff.

875
00:44:18,360 --> 00:44:19,720
Speaker 3: So they.

876
00:44:21,440 --> 00:44:22,719
Speaker 4: I guess when you when you kind of put it

877
00:44:22,719 --> 00:44:25,359
Speaker 4: that way, maybe I've never given it enough credit. They're

878
00:44:25,400 --> 00:44:27,600
Speaker 4: kind of the ideal fan that we're looking for, you know,

879
00:44:27,640 --> 00:44:30,200
Speaker 4: They're they're they're they're the they're the type of person

880
00:44:30,200 --> 00:44:32,360
Speaker 4: that we're trying to please, because anytime I try to

881
00:44:32,360 --> 00:44:33,880
Speaker 4: get them to sit down and watch an ending of

882
00:44:33,920 --> 00:44:36,560
Speaker 4: the game, they're they're they're not too interested in that

883
00:44:36,640 --> 00:44:38,960
Speaker 4: quite yet at six and four years old, but all

884
00:44:38,960 --> 00:44:41,640
Speaker 4: those other things that are around it are ore their

885
00:44:41,680 --> 00:44:46,120
Speaker 4: primary concerns, and they certainly are excited to come, you know,

886
00:44:46,239 --> 00:44:48,480
Speaker 4: see their dad at work and and be part of

887
00:44:48,520 --> 00:44:50,799
Speaker 4: the experience. And I hope that continues as they grow

888
00:44:50,880 --> 00:44:53,160
Speaker 4: up and get the chance to see more and more

889
00:44:53,239 --> 00:44:55,879
Speaker 4: Jumbo Shrimp games out here. But yeah, listening to them

890
00:44:55,960 --> 00:44:58,840
Speaker 4: is certainly going to be a good idea as a

891
00:44:58,840 --> 00:45:00,640
Speaker 4: as we move on, and we'll need to make sure

892
00:45:00,640 --> 00:45:04,279
Speaker 4: that we consider it, consider not only their feedback, but

893
00:45:05,040 --> 00:45:07,000
Speaker 4: you know, a lot of our fans aren't trying to

894
00:45:07,239 --> 00:45:09,319
Speaker 4: let us know what they think, and that's always that's

895
00:45:09,320 --> 00:45:11,400
Speaker 4: always a good thing for us. You know, sometimes you

896
00:45:11,440 --> 00:45:14,360
Speaker 4: hear about things that can be improved but that all

897
00:45:14,400 --> 00:45:16,719
Speaker 4: helps us get better, So it's always good stuff to

898
00:45:16,760 --> 00:45:17,840
Speaker 4: keep in mind, that's for sure.

899
00:45:18,280 --> 00:45:18,480
Speaker 1: Yeah.

900
00:45:18,600 --> 00:45:20,799
Speaker 2: One thing that I sped past that I want to

901
00:45:20,800 --> 00:45:23,200
Speaker 2: touch on is that I know that in the past

902
00:45:23,560 --> 00:45:27,440
Speaker 2: when Marlin's affiliates have won league championships, they actually receive

903
00:45:28,200 --> 00:45:31,279
Speaker 2: championship rings of some kind. Does that get extended to

904
00:45:31,520 --> 00:45:33,880
Speaker 2: people in your position or is it only players?

905
00:45:34,280 --> 00:45:36,080
Speaker 3: We collaborated with.

906
00:45:36,000 --> 00:45:38,920
Speaker 4: The Marlins on on the rings and and what they'd

907
00:45:38,960 --> 00:45:41,600
Speaker 4: look like and who would get them and all that.

908
00:45:41,760 --> 00:45:44,080
Speaker 4: So the team's going to get them, our front office

909
00:45:44,080 --> 00:45:46,160
Speaker 4: staff members or are going to have the chance to

910
00:45:46,160 --> 00:45:48,800
Speaker 4: get them and everything like that. So I think everybody

911
00:45:48,800 --> 00:45:50,439
Speaker 4: here on our staff already knows that, so that won't

912
00:45:50,440 --> 00:45:51,279
Speaker 4: be a surprise if.

913
00:45:51,160 --> 00:45:56,239
Speaker 3: They end up checking out our interview. But but yeah, so.

914
00:45:56,000 --> 00:45:58,960
Speaker 4: Everybody on our ends obviously super excited at that, right

915
00:45:59,000 --> 00:46:01,759
Speaker 4: That's you know, Eberber, Really, that's the crown jewel of

916
00:46:01,800 --> 00:46:04,359
Speaker 4: working in sports is being able to have one of those.

917
00:46:04,400 --> 00:46:06,920
Speaker 4: So I'm proud to know that I'll get one, and

918
00:46:06,960 --> 00:46:08,920
Speaker 4: that all our all of our team out here on

919
00:46:08,960 --> 00:46:12,840
Speaker 4: our side, we'll get them, and certainly the coaches and players,

920
00:46:12,960 --> 00:46:16,160
Speaker 4: you know, and Marlin's personnel to deserve a most we'll

921
00:46:16,200 --> 00:46:18,200
Speaker 4: get them as well, and we look.

922
00:46:18,040 --> 00:46:19,000
Speaker 3: Forward to uh.

923
00:46:19,160 --> 00:46:21,280
Speaker 4: I think we're planning on doing something down in Jupiter

924
00:46:21,360 --> 00:46:24,360
Speaker 4: during spring training to issue him to the team, and

925
00:46:24,480 --> 00:46:25,879
Speaker 4: hopefully our front office.

926
00:46:25,560 --> 00:46:26,960
Speaker 3: Can be part of that in some small way.

927
00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:29,600
Speaker 4: But we'll certainly be celebrating it in Jacksonville when the

928
00:46:29,640 --> 00:46:33,000
Speaker 4: season starts too, so we'll be collaborating on how to

929
00:46:33,000 --> 00:46:35,520
Speaker 4: make that impactful for not only the players, but our

930
00:46:35,560 --> 00:46:38,879
Speaker 4: front office and let our fans relation in a bit too.

931
00:46:40,400 --> 00:46:42,799
Speaker 2: The last couple of things to get with you, almost sure,

932
00:46:42,880 --> 00:46:46,040
Speaker 2: maybe a week or two after your promotion was announced,

933
00:46:46,160 --> 00:46:48,200
Speaker 2: is when the sale of the team became final, the

934
00:46:48,239 --> 00:46:51,799
Speaker 2: Jumbos going previously owned by Ken Babby for about ten

935
00:46:51,880 --> 00:46:55,360
Speaker 2: years and now being sold to the Prospector Baseball Group,

936
00:46:55,600 --> 00:46:58,359
Speaker 2: both of both of the affiliates that Ken owens going

937
00:46:58,360 --> 00:47:01,040
Speaker 2: in this transaction. He also owns it on the Cleveland

938
00:47:01,080 --> 00:47:05,640
Speaker 2: Guardians affiliates if I remember that correct, Ackmann Rubber Ducks, right.

939
00:47:05,719 --> 00:47:09,480
Speaker 2: So if first, before we're talking about the new folks,

940
00:47:09,800 --> 00:47:11,520
Speaker 2: I'm sure you got to know Ken quite a bit

941
00:47:11,840 --> 00:47:13,839
Speaker 2: over these last four and a half years or so,

942
00:47:13,840 --> 00:47:16,640
Speaker 2: so he's now for anyone that's unfamiliar. He's not part

943
00:47:16,680 --> 00:47:19,400
Speaker 2: of the Tampa Bay Rays ownership group. He's their CEO,

944
00:47:20,120 --> 00:47:23,960
Speaker 2: and forgot that is still relatively young for somebody in

945
00:47:24,000 --> 00:47:26,440
Speaker 2: that position. He could be years down the road. It

946
00:47:26,440 --> 00:47:30,320
Speaker 2: could be one of the more influential businessmen in baseball eventually.

947
00:47:30,360 --> 00:47:33,480
Speaker 2: So anything that you could tell us about Ken that

948
00:47:33,560 --> 00:47:37,400
Speaker 2: you feel made him very successful with his shrimp, anything

949
00:47:37,560 --> 00:47:40,200
Speaker 2: in particular that you learned from him along your professional

950
00:47:40,280 --> 00:47:41,640
Speaker 2: journey these last few years.

951
00:47:42,120 --> 00:47:44,839
Speaker 4: Oh man, I mean that that'd be a thirty minute

952
00:47:44,880 --> 00:47:49,360
Speaker 4: conversation on him on its own. Ken has been so

953
00:47:49,560 --> 00:47:52,680
Speaker 4: impactful on everything that we've been doing here in Jacksonville

954
00:47:53,080 --> 00:47:54,759
Speaker 4: over the four and a half years that I've been

955
00:47:54,760 --> 00:47:58,359
Speaker 4: here so far. Such a thought leader and helping us

956
00:47:58,400 --> 00:48:02,560
Speaker 4: plan and devise these ballpark plans that we've done over

957
00:48:02,560 --> 00:48:07,480
Speaker 4: the last few years. Hands on, enthusiastic, somebody that you know,

958
00:48:08,239 --> 00:48:12,200
Speaker 4: really brought just so much energy and pride and you know,

959
00:48:12,360 --> 00:48:14,680
Speaker 4: positive ideas to the table to try and help us

960
00:48:14,719 --> 00:48:17,640
Speaker 4: improve along the way. I know he's he's been a

961
00:48:17,680 --> 00:48:20,799
Speaker 4: big part of the success and growth. He's he's I mean,

962
00:48:20,840 --> 00:48:24,640
Speaker 4: he's been the driving force, along with Harold CARRR the

963
00:48:24,680 --> 00:48:27,560
Speaker 4: our GM too, that had been that that I'm I'm

964
00:48:27,560 --> 00:48:30,560
Speaker 4: filling his shoes of So that's also gonna move move

965
00:48:30,560 --> 00:48:33,040
Speaker 4: out to Tampa and work work with Kenn at the Rays.

966
00:48:34,280 --> 00:48:38,160
Speaker 4: They've they've done so much for for this franchise and

967
00:48:38,360 --> 00:48:41,719
Speaker 4: for this community. It's a it's hard to quantify it

968
00:48:41,760 --> 00:48:44,760
Speaker 4: and put and put it all into into a succinct

969
00:48:44,760 --> 00:48:47,960
Speaker 4: thing to say, But I'm super proud to know Ken

970
00:48:48,040 --> 00:48:50,360
Speaker 4: and and had the chance to work for him for

971
00:48:50,400 --> 00:48:52,840
Speaker 4: four and a half years, and the I learned so

972
00:48:53,000 --> 00:48:56,520
Speaker 4: much about how to conduct myself and to work through

973
00:48:56,560 --> 00:48:57,919
Speaker 4: tough situations and.

974
00:48:57,840 --> 00:49:01,799
Speaker 3: How to lead through you know, important.

975
00:49:01,239 --> 00:49:03,239
Speaker 4: Things that are that are happening, things that I hope

976
00:49:03,760 --> 00:49:06,360
Speaker 4: have prepared me very well to now be the president

977
00:49:06,360 --> 00:49:08,280
Speaker 4: and GM of the team as we sit here today.

978
00:49:08,560 --> 00:49:13,080
Speaker 4: So I'm super proud of of Ken and getting getting

979
00:49:13,120 --> 00:49:14,799
Speaker 4: the chance to know him and all the things that

980
00:49:14,840 --> 00:49:17,600
Speaker 4: they'll bring to Tampa. I know a lot of is

981
00:49:18,000 --> 00:49:21,279
Speaker 4: expected of him and his team over there now there.

982
00:49:21,640 --> 00:49:23,520
Speaker 4: You know, they've been trying to get a stadium built

983
00:49:23,600 --> 00:49:26,279
Speaker 4: for for a long time, and I know he, he

984
00:49:26,400 --> 00:49:28,680
Speaker 4: and the group that they're assembling over there are going

985
00:49:28,719 --> 00:49:31,400
Speaker 4: to be the right the right crew to get that

986
00:49:31,480 --> 00:49:34,279
Speaker 4: over the finish line and make things happen. So uh,

987
00:49:35,080 --> 00:49:37,600
Speaker 4: wishing them the best and certainly always going to offer

988
00:49:37,640 --> 00:49:40,960
Speaker 4: my assistance when whenever it can be helpful and useful.

989
00:49:41,000 --> 00:49:45,040
Speaker 4: But Ken, Harold and and the Fast Forward Sports Group

990
00:49:45,040 --> 00:49:48,080
Speaker 4: where and an ultimate pleasure to work with. And I

991
00:49:48,160 --> 00:49:50,600
Speaker 4: learned so much from them and and and oh a

992
00:49:50,600 --> 00:49:53,120
Speaker 4: lot too, So I'm very thankful for my time getting

993
00:49:53,160 --> 00:49:56,040
Speaker 4: to know them and and you know, hopefully the continued

994
00:49:56,040 --> 00:49:58,080
Speaker 4: relationships still beyond mm hmm.

995
00:49:58,680 --> 00:50:02,000
Speaker 2: Have you had a chance ahead any conversations with these

996
00:50:02,160 --> 00:50:05,280
Speaker 2: new ownership folks at this point from Prospective Baseball group?

997
00:50:05,600 --> 00:50:08,000
Speaker 1: And yeah, any could.

998
00:50:07,800 --> 00:50:10,440
Speaker 2: You guys in this group that people might want to

999
00:50:10,440 --> 00:50:13,960
Speaker 2: be familiar with moving forward, and if there's just any

1000
00:50:14,200 --> 00:50:17,600
Speaker 2: early indications in terms of things that they might want

1001
00:50:17,640 --> 00:50:19,239
Speaker 2: to change or things that they might want to keep

1002
00:50:19,280 --> 00:50:20,400
Speaker 2: the same with the franchise.

1003
00:50:22,000 --> 00:50:25,359
Speaker 4: John Abamondi and Ben Boyer are kind of the two

1004
00:50:25,640 --> 00:50:32,200
Speaker 4: front front line leaders of Prospector Baseball. They're there, They've

1005
00:50:32,360 --> 00:50:35,879
Speaker 4: they've purchased us an Akron and the Lancaster Stormers as well,

1006
00:50:36,239 --> 00:50:37,760
Speaker 4: so they own the three teams.

1007
00:50:37,760 --> 00:50:37,920
Speaker 3: Now.

1008
00:50:37,960 --> 00:50:41,160
Speaker 4: I've certainly had a good chance over the last few

1009
00:50:41,200 --> 00:50:43,239
Speaker 4: weeks month, maybe a little bit over a month to

1010
00:50:43,600 --> 00:50:46,839
Speaker 4: get to know John and Ben very well, and they're

1011
00:50:46,920 --> 00:50:50,200
Speaker 4: very excited to UH to now own on the Jacksonville

1012
00:50:50,280 --> 00:50:53,319
Speaker 4: Jumbo Shrimp and UH and those other clubs as well.

1013
00:50:53,880 --> 00:50:58,560
Speaker 4: They're certainly given given us the impression that they're they're

1014
00:50:58,600 --> 00:51:01,000
Speaker 4: proud of the asset that they've wired and wanted to

1015
00:51:02,000 --> 00:51:05,840
Speaker 4: wanted to continue down the positive path that it's already on.

1016
00:51:06,080 --> 00:51:08,839
Speaker 4: So that certainly was music to my ears, and I

1017
00:51:08,920 --> 00:51:11,960
Speaker 4: was thrilled to know that they that they thought that

1018
00:51:12,000 --> 00:51:13,520
Speaker 4: I would be the right type of guy to be

1019
00:51:13,520 --> 00:51:17,719
Speaker 4: able to lead this team moving forward. So they're they're,

1020
00:51:18,520 --> 00:51:20,879
Speaker 4: you know, interested in trying to make us as as

1021
00:51:21,120 --> 00:51:25,440
Speaker 4: good as we can be, to continue the fan experience

1022
00:51:25,520 --> 00:51:28,000
Speaker 4: that we have here and to continue to welcome people

1023
00:51:28,520 --> 00:51:31,200
Speaker 4: in Jacksonville and beyond to come to come out to

1024
00:51:31,280 --> 00:51:34,279
Speaker 4: Jumbo Shront baseball games and enjoy the experience that that

1025
00:51:34,320 --> 00:51:37,600
Speaker 4: we've put on there. They're certainly interested in helping us

1026
00:51:37,600 --> 00:51:40,360
Speaker 4: improve in many different ways, a few of which that

1027
00:51:40,360 --> 00:51:43,160
Speaker 4: we've talked about have have been through the use of technology,

1028
00:51:43,200 --> 00:51:45,799
Speaker 4: which is really exciting to try and help make things

1029
00:51:45,840 --> 00:51:48,480
Speaker 4: easier and more efficient for our team here. When we

1030
00:51:48,800 --> 00:51:52,160
Speaker 4: when we try to conduct business, and I know all

1031
00:51:52,200 --> 00:51:54,759
Speaker 4: of our front office staff is very excited at the

1032
00:51:55,280 --> 00:51:58,200
Speaker 4: at the opportunity I had to work with John Ben

1033
00:51:58,440 --> 00:52:02,080
Speaker 4: and Prospector Baseball from this time moving forward. Yeah, it's

1034
00:52:02,080 --> 00:52:04,279
Speaker 4: been it's been a busy couple of weeks here and

1035
00:52:04,440 --> 00:52:07,680
Speaker 4: me transitioning into the new role, and.

1036
00:52:06,920 --> 00:52:09,799
Speaker 3: And knowing you know, and and the and the new

1037
00:52:09,800 --> 00:52:11,080
Speaker 3: ownership group taking over.

1038
00:52:11,200 --> 00:52:15,760
Speaker 4: But our team is super excited and and and ready

1039
00:52:15,760 --> 00:52:19,120
Speaker 4: to put put our best foot forward and continue to

1040
00:52:19,160 --> 00:52:22,319
Speaker 4: deliver on the Jumbo ship Jumbo Shrimp experience that I

1041
00:52:22,320 --> 00:52:24,720
Speaker 4: think most of our fans are accustomed to and certainly

1042
00:52:24,800 --> 00:52:27,759
Speaker 4: hopefully the Marlins that have seen from us. So we're

1043
00:52:27,800 --> 00:52:30,960
Speaker 4: expecting a lot of continuity there and it's a it's

1044
00:52:31,000 --> 00:52:33,319
Speaker 4: a really exciting time for us to uh to move

1045
00:52:33,360 --> 00:52:36,600
Speaker 4: forward with Prospector into into into new things that we

1046
00:52:36,680 --> 00:52:40,680
Speaker 4: hope will elevate what we're doing currently into into the

1047
00:52:40,719 --> 00:52:41,920
Speaker 4: best version that we've ever been.

1048
00:52:43,160 --> 00:52:45,120
Speaker 2: I'll get you out of here on this last note

1049
00:52:45,200 --> 00:52:49,200
Speaker 2: because heading into twenty six, outside of Jumbo Shrimp games,

1050
00:52:49,960 --> 00:52:53,360
Speaker 2: you host plenty of events at Vice Ballpark that are

1051
00:52:53,840 --> 00:52:57,120
Speaker 2: some sports related and even some otherwise. Where are a

1052
00:52:57,120 --> 00:52:59,640
Speaker 2: few of them top of your head that you're really

1053
00:53:00,200 --> 00:53:04,359
Speaker 2: about and optimistic about regular games themselves.

1054
00:53:04,640 --> 00:53:07,799
Speaker 4: We've got we've got three pretty big events that will

1055
00:53:07,800 --> 00:53:11,600
Speaker 4: be here this season. You know, obviously always actively seeing

1056
00:53:11,600 --> 00:53:14,160
Speaker 4: if anything else can fit it into our schedule, but

1057
00:53:15,160 --> 00:53:19,000
Speaker 4: a baseball tournament that will be here in February, that

1058
00:53:19,160 --> 00:53:26,759
Speaker 4: is that's gonna have four different college teams LSU, Notre Dame, Indiana,

1059
00:53:26,920 --> 00:53:29,359
Speaker 4: and UCF. They'll they'll do kind of a round robin

1060
00:53:29,400 --> 00:53:32,920
Speaker 4: tournament here the middle of February hosted by Peak Events,

1061
00:53:33,120 --> 00:53:35,680
Speaker 4: So they'll be I believe it's called the Live Like

1062
00:53:35,719 --> 00:53:39,960
Speaker 4: Low Classic and uh February twentieth through the twenty second.

1063
00:53:39,960 --> 00:53:42,680
Speaker 4: I believe Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, all four of those

1064
00:53:42,680 --> 00:53:45,520
Speaker 4: teams will each play each other over those three days.

1065
00:53:45,520 --> 00:53:49,680
Speaker 4: So LSU, of course, coming off their College World Series championship,

1066
00:53:49,800 --> 00:53:52,400
Speaker 4: will be cool to have some other champions in the

1067
00:53:52,400 --> 00:53:56,000
Speaker 4: park this year to play play ball. And then furthermore,

1068
00:53:56,000 --> 00:53:59,520
Speaker 4: we're gonna have the Cosmic Baseball Tour here here in

1069
00:53:59,560 --> 00:54:01,480
Speaker 4: mid Mark, which I believe that's the nineteenth through the

1070
00:54:01,520 --> 00:54:04,960
Speaker 4: twenty first, and that's where they have a very unique

1071
00:54:04,960 --> 00:54:07,759
Speaker 4: experience where I think they play a little bit more

1072
00:54:07,800 --> 00:54:09,719
Speaker 4: of a traditional game at first, and then when it

1073
00:54:09,760 --> 00:54:12,640
Speaker 4: becomes nighttime, they actually turn black light on into the

1074
00:54:12,640 --> 00:54:15,399
Speaker 4: ballpark and it becomes a glow in the dark baseball game.

1075
00:54:15,480 --> 00:54:16,879
Speaker 3: So their jerseys are going.

1076
00:54:16,880 --> 00:54:19,840
Speaker 4: To glow, the ball will glow, and it'll be a

1077
00:54:19,920 --> 00:54:22,600
Speaker 4: really cool, unique experience. I know the first two days

1078
00:54:22,880 --> 00:54:24,800
Speaker 4: of that have sold out, and I believe we've announced

1079
00:54:24,840 --> 00:54:27,520
Speaker 4: a third day on the nineteenth, and I think those

1080
00:54:27,560 --> 00:54:30,240
Speaker 4: tickets might be going on sale either today or sometime

1081
00:54:30,280 --> 00:54:33,360
Speaker 4: this weekend. So if you're looking to come out to

1082
00:54:33,360 --> 00:54:35,319
Speaker 4: one of those games, make sure you don't hesitate, and

1083
00:54:35,360 --> 00:54:37,200
Speaker 4: when that third game goes on sale, to grab it.

1084
00:54:37,600 --> 00:54:40,800
Speaker 4: And then a third one would be Banana Ball coming

1085
00:54:40,840 --> 00:54:43,759
Speaker 4: back to the ballpark. It's not the Savannah Bananas themselves,

1086
00:54:44,160 --> 00:54:46,760
Speaker 4: but I believe it's the Indianapolis Clown and the Loco

1087
00:54:46,800 --> 00:54:50,440
Speaker 4: Beach Coconuts, two of their teams. They have six teams

1088
00:54:50,480 --> 00:54:54,200
Speaker 4: under the Savannah Bananas umbrella now in July second through fourth,

1089
00:54:54,360 --> 00:54:56,279
Speaker 4: they're going to be here by a Star ballpark. So

1090
00:54:57,719 --> 00:55:00,279
Speaker 4: we were at first a bit disappointed to learned that

1091
00:55:00,320 --> 00:55:02,080
Speaker 4: we wouldn't be hosting baseball on the fourth of July

1092
00:55:02,440 --> 00:55:04,640
Speaker 4: that's something that typically in the minor leagues.

1093
00:55:05,000 --> 00:55:08,240
Speaker 3: We had navigated in a way that either July.

1094
00:55:08,040 --> 00:55:09,920
Speaker 4: Third or fourth you would host, but the way the

1095
00:55:10,000 --> 00:55:13,080
Speaker 4: calendar falls, it's a it's a rotation year where one

1096
00:55:13,640 --> 00:55:16,480
Speaker 4: year you're gonna have it, the next year you're not. Unfortunately,

1097
00:55:16,520 --> 00:55:18,160
Speaker 4: in twenty twenty six was the year that we weren't,

1098
00:55:18,160 --> 00:55:21,040
Speaker 4: and you know you you'll get in twenty twenty seven.

1099
00:55:21,080 --> 00:55:22,680
Speaker 4: It's just kind of how it's going to go. Sixty

1100
00:55:22,680 --> 00:55:25,280
Speaker 4: Other teams are dealing with that. But we were fortunate

1101
00:55:25,280 --> 00:55:27,800
Speaker 4: to be able to book a series with with Banana

1102
00:55:27,800 --> 00:55:31,040
Speaker 4: Ball to be here and uh we certainly at all

1103
00:55:31,160 --> 00:55:33,360
Speaker 4: three of those events. I know they're all baseball centric,

1104
00:55:33,400 --> 00:55:35,680
Speaker 4: but uh, we're expecting to have great energy in the

1105
00:55:35,719 --> 00:55:38,680
Speaker 4: park and uh a lot of people to to enjoy

1106
00:55:38,719 --> 00:55:40,960
Speaker 4: those and and see a little bit something different than

1107
00:55:41,320 --> 00:55:44,120
Speaker 4: from baseball here in Jacksonville, which is cool. But we

1108
00:55:44,280 --> 00:55:46,879
Speaker 4: we've we've hosted unique events and movie nights and things

1109
00:55:46,880 --> 00:55:48,719
Speaker 4: like that on the on the field where people come

1110
00:55:48,719 --> 00:55:51,600
Speaker 4: out and see different movies that are that have that

1111
00:55:51,640 --> 00:55:54,879
Speaker 4: have recently come out. We typically charge charge people only

1112
00:55:54,920 --> 00:55:56,799
Speaker 4: a dollar to come in and they can sit on

1113
00:55:56,800 --> 00:55:59,799
Speaker 4: the field and watch a movie, and we're also we've

1114
00:55:59,800 --> 00:56:02,640
Speaker 4: had some unique events, like we recently had a twelve

1115
00:56:02,680 --> 00:56:05,680
Speaker 4: hundred person Christmas party where we set up tables and

1116
00:56:05,760 --> 00:56:08,040
Speaker 4: chairs on the concourse so they could they could eat

1117
00:56:08,080 --> 00:56:10,640
Speaker 4: and drink and enjoy while while they.

1118
00:56:10,600 --> 00:56:12,560
Speaker 3: Were celebrating their company holiday party.

1119
00:56:12,680 --> 00:56:15,279
Speaker 4: So we do a lot of unique stuff here if

1120
00:56:15,320 --> 00:56:17,520
Speaker 4: I start ballpark, and we're looking forward to doing a

1121
00:56:17,560 --> 00:56:20,279
Speaker 4: lot more, especially since a lot of these renovations now

1122
00:56:20,280 --> 00:56:22,400
Speaker 4: are starting to become in the rearview mirror.

1123
00:56:23,239 --> 00:56:25,200
Speaker 3: We're excited to activate them and get as much from

1124
00:56:25,239 --> 00:56:25,839
Speaker 3: them as we can.

1125
00:56:25,880 --> 00:56:28,759
Speaker 4: But it'll be an exciting twenty twenty six here and

1126
00:56:29,040 --> 00:56:31,840
Speaker 4: those events will be fun. I'm sure there'll be others

1127
00:56:31,840 --> 00:56:34,960
Speaker 4: that will come onto the calendar as well that our

1128
00:56:35,000 --> 00:56:37,319
Speaker 4: team are looking forward to taking on and bringing some

1129
00:56:37,719 --> 00:56:41,319
Speaker 4: additional excitement for the Jacksonville residents to be able to

1130
00:56:41,320 --> 00:56:42,480
Speaker 4: come out and enjoy.

1131
00:56:43,640 --> 00:56:47,200
Speaker 2: All Right, Well, Matt, I learned a ton from this conversation.

1132
00:56:47,280 --> 00:56:50,000
Speaker 2: Thanks a lot for squeezing the in Oh, happy to

1133
00:56:50,040 --> 00:56:53,960
Speaker 2: do it. Yeah, congrats again on the promotion. Thank you, President,

1134
00:56:54,080 --> 00:56:57,800
Speaker 2: General manager of Jacksonville Drumbet Trip. And as we have concluded,

1135
00:56:57,840 --> 00:57:01,200
Speaker 2: he can call himself a triple A national champion himself,

1136
00:57:01,280 --> 00:57:05,799
Speaker 2: because that's right above the in the situation where you'll

1137
00:57:05,840 --> 00:57:09,400
Speaker 2: get a ring for that, So yeah, congrats.

1138
00:57:08,960 --> 00:57:11,040
Speaker 3: On that for that.

1139
00:57:11,080 --> 00:57:15,520
Speaker 2: Thank you, a little bit of credit to the players

1140
00:57:15,560 --> 00:57:18,600
Speaker 2: and the coaches themselves and everybody else involved there. So yeah,

1141
00:57:18,600 --> 00:57:20,360
Speaker 2: this is great having you on the show. I appreciate

1142
00:57:20,360 --> 00:57:23,160
Speaker 2: all the updates and what you have moving forward. So yeah,

1143
00:57:23,200 --> 00:57:25,480
Speaker 2: good luck with the best of the off season, good

1144
00:57:25,520 --> 00:57:28,560
Speaker 2: luck with the championship defense heading into twenty twenty six,

1145
00:57:28,600 --> 00:57:32,400
Speaker 2: and ye have everything else that is going into the

1146
00:57:32,440 --> 00:57:35,040
Speaker 2: future of a Jumbo Shrimp baseball. Long time affiliated of

1147
00:57:35,040 --> 00:57:37,840
Speaker 2: the Marlins and expected to be affiliated with them for

1148
00:57:37,880 --> 00:57:38,640
Speaker 2: many years to come.

1149
00:57:38,720 --> 00:57:40,600
Speaker 1: So it's been right, Yeah, it's been.

1150
00:57:40,640 --> 00:57:42,920
Speaker 2: It's been a lot of fun to cover and to watch,

1151
00:57:43,040 --> 00:57:46,600
Speaker 2: and I've heard good things about the players and everybody

1152
00:57:46,760 --> 00:57:48,520
Speaker 2: that has come through Jacksonville on their way up to

1153
00:57:48,680 --> 00:57:51,919
Speaker 2: Miami themselves. So yeah, just keep up the good work, Matt,

1154
00:57:52,000 --> 00:57:53,840
Speaker 2: and once again, thanks a lot for coming on the show.

1155
00:57:54,280 --> 00:57:56,280
Speaker 3: Thank you, look forward to seeing you at the ballpark

1156
00:57:56,320 --> 00:57:56,680
Speaker 3: this year.

1157
00:58:04,520 --> 00:58:07,680
Speaker 2: We wrap up the show with my Swim around the Diamond,

1158
00:58:07,720 --> 00:58:11,200
Speaker 2: featuring four pieces of Marlin's related content from outside of

1159
00:58:11,200 --> 00:58:14,160
Speaker 2: Fish on first that caught my attention that I recommend

1160
00:58:14,240 --> 00:58:18,680
Speaker 2: to you for representing first base, second base, third base,

1161
00:58:18,680 --> 00:58:21,439
Speaker 2: and home plate. You can find the links to each

1162
00:58:21,480 --> 00:58:24,240
Speaker 2: of these items in the episode description the article page

1163
00:58:24,280 --> 00:58:26,520
Speaker 2: wherever you're watching or listening to this and be able

1164
00:58:26,560 --> 00:58:29,240
Speaker 2: to scroll down and follow directly so that you can

1165
00:58:29,440 --> 00:58:32,080
Speaker 2: check them out yourself. We start at first base with

1166
00:58:32,480 --> 00:58:35,640
Speaker 2: the manager of the Marlins, Clayton McCullough. On Friday, he

1167
00:58:35,720 --> 00:58:38,840
Speaker 2: was invited back to his alma mater, East Carolina University

1168
00:58:39,200 --> 00:58:41,640
Speaker 2: to be their commencement speaker for their fall twenty twenty

1169
00:58:41,720 --> 00:58:46,320
Speaker 2: five graduation. Nearly eighteen hundred students in attendance. McCullough gave

1170
00:58:46,360 --> 00:58:48,880
Speaker 2: it an eleven minute speech, give or take, and I

1171
00:58:48,880 --> 00:58:51,640
Speaker 2: thought he killed it. I thought he did exactly what

1172
00:58:51,760 --> 00:58:54,240
Speaker 2: you expect from someone in that position. He was true

1173
00:58:54,240 --> 00:58:56,520
Speaker 2: to his nature. He was just that's the most important thing.

1174
00:58:56,520 --> 00:59:00,160
Speaker 2: He's just being yourself. He was very self deprecating talking

1175
00:59:00,240 --> 00:59:03,000
Speaker 2: about his struggles as a student a long time it

1176
00:59:03,040 --> 00:59:06,360
Speaker 2: took for him to earn his degree. Even though he's

1177
00:59:06,440 --> 00:59:08,360
Speaker 2: kind of a high profile figure as the manager of

1178
00:59:08,400 --> 00:59:11,640
Speaker 2: a Major League baseball team, he recognized that the most

1179
00:59:11,720 --> 00:59:14,960
Speaker 2: valuable advice that he could impart was about fighting through

1180
00:59:15,000 --> 00:59:18,920
Speaker 2: adversity and being receptive to the advice that you received.

1181
00:59:19,160 --> 00:59:23,320
Speaker 2: Keep learning, he said, keep growing, and even referenced some

1182
00:59:24,040 --> 00:59:27,680
Speaker 2: lessons that the Marlins themselves employ when it comes to

1183
00:59:27,800 --> 00:59:29,800
Speaker 2: their organizational philosophy.

1184
00:59:30,480 --> 00:59:31,800
Speaker 1: So I thought he did a great job with this.

1185
00:59:31,960 --> 00:59:35,400
Speaker 2: You'll be able to listen to the whole thing, assuming

1186
00:59:35,400 --> 00:59:38,880
Speaker 2: that you weren't watching it live on Friday. It was

1187
00:59:38,920 --> 00:59:42,480
Speaker 2: a yeah, cool moment for McCulla to be honored that

1188
00:59:42,560 --> 00:59:45,360
Speaker 2: way by the university that put him on track to

1189
00:59:45,440 --> 00:59:48,960
Speaker 2: be initially a professional baseball player and then soon after

1190
00:59:49,000 --> 00:59:52,480
Speaker 2: that professional coach and for the last couple decades, now

1191
00:59:52,880 --> 00:59:55,960
Speaker 2: moving up the ranks to finally become the skipper of

1192
00:59:56,040 --> 01:00:00,480
Speaker 2: the Fish on second base, fittingly Marlin's second base. Xavier

1193
01:00:00,560 --> 01:00:04,680
Speaker 2: Edwards he hosted his eighth annual baseball skills camp, the

1194
01:00:04,840 --> 01:00:07,920
Speaker 2: XC nine Skills Camp. As a guy that grew up

1195
01:00:07,920 --> 01:00:11,400
Speaker 2: in South Florida, he continues to hold that camp down

1196
01:00:11,440 --> 01:00:16,880
Speaker 2: in South Florida, and as he explains, he originally had

1197
01:00:16,920 --> 01:00:21,040
Speaker 2: about eighteen kids eighteen total campers the first year of

1198
01:00:21,120 --> 01:00:24,800
Speaker 2: the event when he had just become a minor leaguer

1199
01:00:25,080 --> 01:00:27,760
Speaker 2: and now it has grown to over two hundred campers.

1200
01:00:28,080 --> 01:00:31,000
Speaker 2: It includes guest instructors from all around Major League Baseball,

1201
01:00:31,280 --> 01:00:35,320
Speaker 2: including current Marlins teammates like Anthony Bender, Braxton, Garrett Tyler,

1202
01:00:35,400 --> 01:00:40,000
Speaker 2: Phillips It and it included guys from across the majors,

1203
01:00:40,040 --> 01:00:43,880
Speaker 2: including Haesuslizardo and others from other teams. Most of them

1204
01:00:43,920 --> 01:00:48,000
Speaker 2: are based in South Florida themselves, so it's no heavy

1205
01:00:48,000 --> 01:00:49,880
Speaker 2: lifting for them, just to be there for the kids

1206
01:00:49,920 --> 01:00:51,360
Speaker 2: to teach them a thing or two to have a

1207
01:00:51,360 --> 01:00:54,760
Speaker 2: good time. Christina di Nicola MLB dot com. She wrote

1208
01:00:54,800 --> 01:00:58,080
Speaker 2: up the specifics about how the camp has grown to

1209
01:00:58,160 --> 01:01:01,000
Speaker 2: his current size and what X is trying to achieve

1210
01:01:01,440 --> 01:01:05,080
Speaker 2: by continuing to host it and continuing to make it

1211
01:01:05,120 --> 01:01:09,880
Speaker 2: accessible for youth players in the area. So good job

1212
01:01:09,880 --> 01:01:11,880
Speaker 2: by by Edwards to get that.

1213
01:01:11,920 --> 01:01:12,960
Speaker 1: Going on to.

1214
01:01:13,080 --> 01:01:17,240
Speaker 2: Third base, Marlin's Maniac is doing a series highlighting the

1215
01:01:17,240 --> 01:01:21,880
Speaker 2: best Marlins to wear particular jersey numbers. With Marlins entering

1216
01:01:21,880 --> 01:01:25,200
Speaker 2: their thirty fourth season of franchise history, Sean Millrick is

1217
01:01:25,240 --> 01:01:27,280
Speaker 2: counting down from the number thirty four all the way

1218
01:01:27,320 --> 01:01:31,160
Speaker 2: to the number one a couple articles a week throughout

1219
01:01:31,200 --> 01:01:34,479
Speaker 2: the rest of the off season. And a very clever

1220
01:01:34,560 --> 01:01:38,360
Speaker 2: way to appreciate Marlin's history to share with those that

1221
01:01:38,360 --> 01:01:40,600
Speaker 2: don't already aren't ready familiar with some of these key

1222
01:01:40,640 --> 01:01:43,960
Speaker 2: figures that came along during the previous few decades of

1223
01:01:43,960 --> 01:01:47,840
Speaker 2: the franchise's existence. So I thought he's covered just a

1224
01:01:47,840 --> 01:01:50,439
Speaker 2: few of them so far as of this recording, number

1225
01:01:50,480 --> 01:01:53,080
Speaker 2: thirty four, number thirty three, number thirty two, and the

1226
01:01:53,120 --> 01:01:57,440
Speaker 2: countdown will continue at Marlin Maniac and we go home

1227
01:01:58,000 --> 01:02:00,800
Speaker 2: with the same place where we started. This showed word Cabrera.

1228
01:02:01,160 --> 01:02:05,240
Speaker 2: He was on the premiere out podcast that's recorded in

1229
01:02:05,320 --> 01:02:07,880
Speaker 2: the Dominican Republic. Gave them more than an hour of

1230
01:02:07,920 --> 01:02:12,080
Speaker 2: his time, kind of going through his whole history us

1231
01:02:12,200 --> 01:02:15,400
Speaker 2: as a professional baseball player and even before that. So

1232
01:02:15,440 --> 01:02:18,760
Speaker 2: it's in Spanish completely thanks to YouTube. They do provide

1233
01:02:19,240 --> 01:02:23,840
Speaker 2: automatic translations, or I should say an automatic transcript in English.

1234
01:02:23,920 --> 01:02:27,680
Speaker 2: It's not perfect, but for guys like myself, it helped

1235
01:02:27,720 --> 01:02:30,920
Speaker 2: me more than more than enough to follow along and

1236
01:02:30,920 --> 01:02:33,680
Speaker 2: get an idea in terms of what topics they were

1237
01:02:33,680 --> 01:02:37,000
Speaker 2: covering here, starting with how he signed to the Marlins

1238
01:02:37,000 --> 01:02:39,040
Speaker 2: in the first place, how he had offers from the

1239
01:02:39,040 --> 01:02:42,240
Speaker 2: Milwaukee Brewers, from the Colorado Rockies. I think he got

1240
01:02:42,320 --> 01:02:45,200
Speaker 2: especially close to signing with the Rockies before that deal

1241
01:02:45,240 --> 01:02:48,520
Speaker 2: that didn't go through winded up with Marlins. How quickly

1242
01:02:48,560 --> 01:02:52,480
Speaker 2: he added velocity once he got some proper coaching and

1243
01:02:52,760 --> 01:02:55,560
Speaker 2: once he started focusing on pitching full time. He used

1244
01:02:55,560 --> 01:02:58,360
Speaker 2: to have a strong interest in hitting even when he

1245
01:02:58,400 --> 01:03:00,520
Speaker 2: started at the beginning of his pro career, but that

1246
01:03:00,640 --> 01:03:04,120
Speaker 2: quickly changed, and he goes through his whole process of

1247
01:03:04,480 --> 01:03:07,080
Speaker 2: developing in this organization, having the big year that he

1248
01:03:07,120 --> 01:03:09,680
Speaker 2: did in twenty twenty five, how it deals with trade rumors,

1249
01:03:09,680 --> 01:03:12,480
Speaker 2: his interest in pitching the World Baseball Classic. It was

1250
01:03:12,480 --> 01:03:16,560
Speaker 2: a very thoughtful conversation and very lively conversation, I think,

1251
01:03:17,000 --> 01:03:20,640
Speaker 2: four guys and all just chopping it up about various topics.

1252
01:03:21,280 --> 01:03:23,200
Speaker 2: So I enjoyed it a lot. It was a good

1253
01:03:23,320 --> 01:03:27,440
Speaker 2: look inside Caprera's mind for a guy that usually is

1254
01:03:27,800 --> 01:03:30,400
Speaker 2: not all that eager to speak with the media, but

1255
01:03:30,520 --> 01:03:33,320
Speaker 2: in this comfortable environment, he really unloaded on a lot

1256
01:03:33,320 --> 01:03:36,480
Speaker 2: of different subjects that I think Marlin spancer, whether he

1257
01:03:36,520 --> 01:03:38,640
Speaker 2: stays or goes, I guess, especially if he stays, you

1258
01:03:38,680 --> 01:03:41,240
Speaker 2: guys will get a lot out of this, and that's

1259
01:03:41,280 --> 01:03:43,080
Speaker 2: still a possibility despite all the.

1260
01:03:43,120 --> 01:03:45,960
Speaker 1: Rumors that are out there, so there we go.

1261
01:03:46,000 --> 01:03:47,480
Speaker 2: I'll i'll have the links to all those in the

1262
01:03:47,520 --> 01:03:50,600
Speaker 2: description if you haven't checked those out on your own,

1263
01:03:51,160 --> 01:03:53,640
Speaker 2: and that's going to do it here from the official show.

1264
01:03:53,680 --> 01:03:56,680
Speaker 2: Thanks everybody for tuning in to the program as we

1265
01:03:56,960 --> 01:03:59,480
Speaker 2: get close to the end of this year. In the

1266
01:03:59,520 --> 01:04:03,000
Speaker 2: midst of this Marlins off season, we are presented by

1267
01:04:03,120 --> 01:04:06,080
Speaker 2: jet Ski Rentals of South Florida and that will continue

1268
01:04:06,080 --> 01:04:09,000
Speaker 2: to be the case for all of our audio programming

1269
01:04:09,200 --> 01:04:12,920
Speaker 2: on this channel moving forward, So check them out and

1270
01:04:12,960 --> 01:04:15,560
Speaker 2: treat yourself to a great time this holiday season and

1271
01:04:16,920 --> 01:04:19,360
Speaker 2: all sorts of fun adventures on the water through jet

1272
01:04:19,360 --> 01:04:23,400
Speaker 2: Ski Rentals of South Florida. Thanks for your support and

1273
01:04:23,640 --> 01:04:26,240
Speaker 2: be sure to leave a like, subscribe to the podcast

1274
01:04:26,280 --> 01:04:28,440
Speaker 2: wherever you get it, let us know that you're listening

1275
01:04:28,480 --> 01:04:31,760
Speaker 2: and that you're enjoying what we're talking about, and as always,

1276
01:04:31,760 --> 01:04:34,520
Speaker 2: your welcome to leave comments with all your ideas about

1277
01:04:34,560 --> 01:04:36,400
Speaker 2: how the Marlins should proceed with the rest of this

1278
01:04:36,480 --> 01:04:40,600
Speaker 2: offseason and into a very consequential twenty twenty six season.

1279
01:04:41,000 --> 01:05:04,360
Speaker 2: I'll talk to you again soon. As always, go Fish