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Speaker 1: The volume The Colin Cowherd Podcast brought to you by

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Speaker 1: Fan Duel. It's never been easier to play fantasy on

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Speaker 1: Fan Duel. Whether you love basketball, golf, soccer, or any

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Speaker 1: fantasy sport, there is a contest for every fan Fan

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Speaker 1: Duel more ways to win. Hi, everybody, Welcome to a

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Speaker 1: great Colin Coward podcast on a Friday. Tom Verducci's the

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Speaker 1: best baseball guy in the country when it's baseball. There's

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Speaker 1: two people I want to talk to, Bob cost Us

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Speaker 1: and Tom Verducci. We just had cost Us, now we

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Speaker 1: have Verducci. In five minutes time for another edition of

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Speaker 1: Fake Questions, Real Answers. I got so many questions I

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Speaker 1: want to answer. I don't want to wait for somebody

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Speaker 1: to ask me, so I asked them to myself. Fake Questions,

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Speaker 1: Real Answers. Here we go. Dear Colin, don't you think

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Speaker 1: there should be an award in the NBA like the

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Speaker 1: Con smythe in the NHL that goes to the best

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Speaker 1: player in the playoffs. Great question, Yes, of course. Listen,

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Speaker 1: there's an award for the most outstanding player in the

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Speaker 1: NC Double Attorney and they only plays six games to win.

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Speaker 1: An NBA title, you usually have to play around three

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Speaker 1: and a half times. That Also, sports betting's huge getting bigger.

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Speaker 1: If you can add another area for people to bet on,

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Speaker 1: why not it adds to the fun. My order right

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Speaker 1: now for the NBA Playoff, MVP would be number one,

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Speaker 1: Devin Booker's Sons number two, Trey Young, Hawks number three,

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Speaker 1: honest bucks. Why Booker? Because the West is so much

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Speaker 1: deeper and better than the East. He has more to

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Speaker 1: overcome on a nightly basis. I'm sorry. If you're the

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Speaker 1: best quarterback in the SEC and the best quarterback in

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Speaker 1: the Big ten, nod goes to the guy who has

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Speaker 1: to face the stiffer defenses. Devin Booker, Trey Young, Jannis

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Speaker 1: dear Colin. Other than talent, what's the single most important

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Speaker 1: quality you need to be an NBA superstar? To me,

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Speaker 1: the most successful people are obsessed. Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan,

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Speaker 1: Peyton Manning, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk. They don't talk about

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Speaker 1: work life balance. They have a work work balance. This

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Speaker 1: is partially why people noticed that the play in the

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Speaker 1: NBA bubble last year was so good. Why the players

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Speaker 1: didn't have a life, They focused on work all They

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Speaker 1: had was eat, sleep, play basketball. That's why the quality

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Speaker 1: of play in the bubble, the energy level in the bubble,

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Speaker 1: was so damn high. Dear Colin, would you rather talk

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Speaker 1: about the issue of collegiate athletes being paid or get

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Speaker 1: a root canal at your dentist? Listen. I don't have

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Speaker 1: a problem talking about college athletes being paid. I really don't.

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Speaker 1: It's just very complicated and multilayer. So I think for

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Speaker 1: the audience it's just too damn hard to decipher. And

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Speaker 1: we have to watch how this thing plays out. We

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Speaker 1: really don't know what's going to happen. Here's my guests,

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Speaker 1: the winners in the Supreme Court case. The winners are

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Speaker 1: going to be the media, the agents, a lot of

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Speaker 1: football players, the football coaches, the big boys. Some men's

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Speaker 1: basketball players will make money, and a handful of women's

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Speaker 1: basketball players. The losers will get pinched. Lacrosse, golf, track

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Speaker 1: and field swimming. Just like every other industry, football drives

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Speaker 1: the commerce of college athletics. I'm not gonna lose a

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Speaker 1: ton of sleep if a few golf scholarships go away.

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Speaker 1: By the way, outside of football and basketball, do you

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Speaker 1: know college scholarships are partial scholarships. If it costs fifty

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars to go to Cow and you play lacrosse

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Speaker 1: or swim, you'll get a full right scholarship. Your parents

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Speaker 1: have to be able to afford forty three thousand of

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Speaker 1: the fifty thousand annual bill. These are kids chasing dreams,

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Speaker 1: having fun. But I don't believe giving up on some

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Speaker 1: golf and lacrosse scholarships in the big picture is taking

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Speaker 1: away tens of thousands of opportunities over the next decade.

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Speaker 1: Football drives the bus. Football should be the biggest beneficiary

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Speaker 1: anytime we're talking finances in college athletics. Dear Colin, if

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Speaker 1: you had to name the single most powerful person in

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Speaker 1: all of sports, who would it be? You know, this

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Speaker 1: has always been fairly easy to me, Phil Knight, the

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Speaker 1: founder of Nike. Commissioners aren't that powerful. They can be fired.

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Speaker 1: They're well compensated. Commissioners are sort of like political talk

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Speaker 1: show hosts like Mark Levin or Sean Hannity. They make

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Speaker 1: a lot of money, but they have bosses. They can

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Speaker 1: be fired. Phil Knight's not going to get fired. Think

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Speaker 1: about the impact he's had on college sport. It's not

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Speaker 1: just the University of Oregon football program college sports. You

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Speaker 1: have to understand Phil Knight briefly stepped down about twenty

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Speaker 1: five years ago, and Nike immediately struggled. He came back.

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Speaker 1: He realized his vision, his brain power was too much,

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Speaker 1: even for America and the world's greatest athletic brand to

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Speaker 1: overcome without him. I think he's the smartest guy in

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Speaker 1: the history of sports. I think he's the most important

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Speaker 1: person in the history of sports and who spans college

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Speaker 1: and professional sports. And by the way, despite conservatives in

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Speaker 1: the alt right saying Kaepernick to Nike would ruin the company,

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Speaker 1: check their stock price, they're just fine. Well, when there's

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Speaker 1: a baseball topic, I call two people, Bob cost Us

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Speaker 1: or Tom Verducci. And since we had cost Us, we

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Speaker 1: would have taken Verducci ahead of Bob obviously. But Tom

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Speaker 1: is joining us Sports Illustrated senior baseball writer reporter for

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Speaker 1: Fox Baseball and Major League Baseball. He is the premier

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Speaker 1: baseball writer in my opinion, in the last ten fifteen

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Speaker 1: years minimum. And Tom's joining us. So let's get to

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Speaker 1: the sticky stuff controversy. Because you've been somebody who's been

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Speaker 1: willing if you hear stuff that's not necessarily great news

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Speaker 1: for the sport, to be honest about it, and upfront,

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Speaker 1: you talked very early on the steroids. When did you

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Speaker 1: hear about tack? Was it last year? Was it around

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Speaker 1: a batting cage? Did you read about it? When did

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Speaker 1: you hear about it? Well, con you got to go

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Speaker 1: back a few years to find out about the whole

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Speaker 1: suntan lotion and rosin combo that was going on. Yes,

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Speaker 1: that probably I want to go you know, even maybe

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Speaker 1: six seven years ago started hearing about that, and if

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Speaker 1: you watched the game, you saw guys playing at night

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Speaker 1: with their arms lathered with suntan lotion and they're going

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Speaker 1: through it after every pitch, right, So that's when I

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Speaker 1: first realized there's something going on here besides just you know,

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Speaker 1: grabbing the rosin bag and using some sweat or licking

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Speaker 1: your fingers to put something out of baseball. But it

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Speaker 1: was really in the last i want to say three

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Speaker 1: to four years that you started seeing ridiculous spin rates,

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Speaker 1: because we started tracking those in twenty fifteen, so now

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Speaker 1: we had actual data besides what we were watching to

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Speaker 1: say there's something really interesting, if not fishy, going on here.

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Speaker 1: And then after talking to pictures, pitching coaches and whatnot,

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Speaker 1: you realize that they are now chasing spin rate more

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Speaker 1: than they're chasing velocity. That was mind blowing concept to

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Speaker 1: me because we've always been in love with the radar gun. Right,

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Speaker 1: the guy throws hard, it's hard to hit. But they

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Speaker 1: figured out that actually spin rate has a greater effect

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Speaker 1: on limiting hitting than velocity. And now because they have slow,

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Speaker 1: high speed cameras, they can figure out all the spin

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Speaker 1: rates and how to generate that to maximum purpose. And

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Speaker 1: that's why I started making these combinations of pine tar,

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Speaker 1: diet coke, melting pine tar down, all kinds of scientific

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Speaker 1: things going on to maximize spin rates. And might say

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Speaker 1: this is going on, Colin, This has been going on

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Speaker 1: even in the minor leagues, systematically in organizations. So I

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Speaker 1: would say the last two to three years is when

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Speaker 1: I started hearing that this had jumped really from maybe

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Speaker 1: a few guys to something that was industry wide. So

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Speaker 1: after the astro scandal, and of course the steroid scandal

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Speaker 1: predated that, it's pretty obvious that baseball once this started

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Speaker 1: getting talked about in mainstream media, they jumped on it.

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Speaker 1: You love to figure this out in the offseason. It

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Speaker 1: looks esthetically pretty choppy to frisk guys during a game.

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Speaker 1: The optics are not great. The other day I said,

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Speaker 1: I compared it to the NFL catch rule, where guys

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Speaker 1: made catches. They'd go to super SloMo, the ball would

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Speaker 1: move a little in the elbow crease and you'd say,

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Speaker 1: no catch. It looked really bad. It's obviously a catch.

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Speaker 1: And Roger Goodell had come on my radio show and

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Speaker 1: acknowledged it's bad television. It looks bad. So is it

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Speaker 1: fair to say Manfred was if you knew about it

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Speaker 1: three years ago. Other players knew about it, probably three

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Speaker 1: and a half years ago. Was baseball reticent to get involved?

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Speaker 1: Slow because it kind of feels like now they're being

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Speaker 1: reactive in the middle of a season and kind of

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Speaker 1: it's clunky as they make it up as they go, right.

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Speaker 1: But I think you have to rewind the tape here

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Speaker 1: because go back to preseason twenty twenty when MLB really

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Speaker 1: did know that there was a lot more than just

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Speaker 1: a few guys doing something to baseball, So they sent

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Speaker 1: out a memo. It was Chris Young, at the time

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Speaker 1: vice president of Baseball Operations for MLB to all the

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Speaker 1: clubs addressed to all the managers and general managers, essentially saying,

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Speaker 1: knock it off. Here's the rule that's in the books,

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Speaker 1: and there is a rule that you can't have it

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Speaker 1: on your possession. Obviously you can't put it on a baseball.

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Speaker 1: It was a warning to the players to knock it off,

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Speaker 1: but there was really no enforcement into it, right, so

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Speaker 1: behavior is not going to change without enforcement. And this

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Speaker 1: year they sent another memo out and they said, and

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Speaker 1: we're also going to have monitors down at the field

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Speaker 1: to see that nothing fishy is going on. We are

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Speaker 1: going to take samples of baseballs out of the game

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Speaker 1: and look at what's on them and figure out what

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Speaker 1: you're putting on baseballs. And we're going to monitor your

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Speaker 1: individual spin rate because it really shouldn't change that much,

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Speaker 1: not by going up three four, five hundred RPMs is

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Speaker 1: what we've seen. That was another case where MLB is

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Speaker 1: trying to get players to change their behavior on their own,

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Speaker 1: and they didn't. So now they went past the warning phase,

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Speaker 1: the evidentiary phase, to finally the enforcement phase, and they

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Speaker 1: gave them a few weeks here to make the adjustment, right,

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Speaker 1: because the word went out there early in June. They

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Speaker 1: gave two or three weeks to say, we're not going

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Speaker 1: to start been forcing this, but here's our time now

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Speaker 1: to start cleaning things up and make the adjustment. So

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Speaker 1: I do not buy the argument that this was dropped

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Speaker 1: on the players out of the blue mid season. Oh

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Speaker 1: my goodness, we can't change No, you've been warned for

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Speaker 1: two years to knock get off, and it's like your

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Speaker 1: kids disciplining them, right, you threaten them with a curfew,

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Speaker 1: but until you actually do it, it doesn't have any effect.

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Speaker 1: So it took now the enforcement phase to start the

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Speaker 1: change behavior. And I agree with you, Colin. It's not

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Speaker 1: a great look. They're trying to do it as unobtrusively

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Speaker 1: as they can, but there's no other way around it.

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Speaker 1: It is obtrusive, but it needs to be done. There's

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Speaker 1: a certain amount of theater to it, sort of like

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Speaker 1: TSA at the airport. It just has to be done,

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Speaker 1: and there's going to be one time where someone's going

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Speaker 1: to be foolish enough to be caught. But it's more

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Speaker 1: about making sure that now there's an enforcement phase to

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Speaker 1: this and that changes behavior, not just a warning. You know, Tom,

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Speaker 1: there's been studies done that. The death penalty in America

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Speaker 1: does not curb crime. But that is because, in my opinion,

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Speaker 1: the people that are committing many of the more heinous

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Speaker 1: crimes don't have a lot to lose. Socioeconomically, it's different,

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Speaker 1: but it's different with pro athletes. You're losing millions of dollars,

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Speaker 1: your name and sponsors. So I do think punitive action

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Speaker 1: and suspensions work for the wealthy, for the well to

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Speaker 1: do with people that have a lot to lose. Why

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Speaker 1: doesn't baseball just say, and it's probably a union issue, Tom,

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Speaker 1: you're out for the year. And remember Tom. In the

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Speaker 1: NBA with COVID, none of the players tested positive because

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Speaker 1: the peer pressure to screw up your team. There's a

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Speaker 1: lot of peer pressure, Max Scherzer, if the natural playoff team,

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Speaker 1: you're not going to throw your team overboard by using it,

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Speaker 1: wouldn't just suspensions, intense suspensions curb this quickly. Well, the

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Speaker 1: answer to that is yes, but you touched on something.

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Speaker 1: They basically can't do anything without the union's approval or

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Speaker 1: at least looping them into what's going on. So the

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Speaker 1: penalty in past years has been eight games for a

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Speaker 1: relief pitcher, ten games for a starting pitcher, essentially two starts.

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Speaker 1: So the president was there that that's what's going to

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Speaker 1: happen once you're found to be doctoring a baseball. So

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Speaker 1: they couldn't really go to I don't think it couldn't

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Speaker 1: really go to a bigger penalty than that. So they're

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Speaker 1: limited somewhat by the union. But I also think they're

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Speaker 1: counting on and you kind of touched on this column,

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Speaker 1: the public shame of being caught doctoring a baseball. Think

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Speaker 1: about Michael Pineda. What's the first thing you think about?

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Speaker 1: Michael Pineda pine tar on the neck, right, And that

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Speaker 1: was eight years ago. And if you're any kind of

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Speaker 1: a pitcher, whether a big name pitcher or you know,

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Speaker 1: guy just trying to make it the big leagues, you

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Speaker 1: don't want that sting on your reputation. Now that they're

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Speaker 1: actually enforcing this. And let's face it, I think about

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Speaker 1: that video. If that happens, column, If they're going through

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Speaker 1: the umpires are going through these checks and all of

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Speaker 1: a sudden, it's bingo, we got something here in the glove,

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Speaker 1: in the belt whatever, that video is going to last forever.

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Speaker 1: So I think the shame of public embarrassment right now

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Speaker 1: is what stopping Pictures from doing what they had been

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Speaker 1: doing for three to five years. The Call on Coward

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Speaker 1: Now I will say this, I mean d Grom's stats

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Speaker 1: are insane. He hasn't allowed to urn running his last

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Speaker 1: five starts. There is also something here we can't just

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Speaker 1: blame tack And I noticed this about five to six

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Speaker 1: years ago, the size of the pitchers. There's so many

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Speaker 1: six Randy Johnson used to look odd. He was an outlier.

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Speaker 1: Tom and you know this more than I do. But

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Speaker 1: they're six six guys on every staff and are throwing downhill.

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Speaker 1: Some of this to me is these big, tall athletes

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Speaker 1: moms don't want them playing football. It's too violent. Many

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Speaker 1: are not perhaps super athletes to make the NBA. These

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Speaker 1: six six kids, especially in the lefties, they're going into baseball.

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Speaker 1: They're too big for lacrosse, too big for hockey. We

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Speaker 1: have arms now in baseball they are throwing downhill. Tom,

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Speaker 1: I would make an argument we may have to lower

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Speaker 1: the mound because just simply the makeup of the people

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Speaker 1: pitching now in the last six seven years, to me

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Speaker 1: visually has changed. I know you're one hundred percent right,

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Speaker 1: there's no doubt about it. You know that the general

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Speaker 1: American population is getting bigger, but especially the elite athletes.

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Speaker 1: And what we've learned now, this is the first generation

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Speaker 1: that is growing up knowing that we can now teach velocity.

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Speaker 1: When you and I were growing up, there was always

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Speaker 1: that kid who threw hard, and everybody said, man, he's

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Speaker 1: just blessed with a great arm. Yeah. By the way,

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Speaker 1: his name was Mike Polk, and he threw eighty eight

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Speaker 1: at my little league game and hit me in the head. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I remember, that guy carried the pants off of you.

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Speaker 1: We all had that guy at little league, right, and

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Speaker 1: we all said, you know what, he's just blessed with

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Speaker 1: a great arm. You know, it's just a natural thing.

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Speaker 1: Some guys have great arms, some guys don't. But we

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Speaker 1: have found out you actually can teach and instruct velocity.

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Speaker 1: Now you're not gonna take a guy throwing sixty in

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Speaker 1: tournament to ninety, but we've seen plenty of cases now

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Speaker 1: with mechanics, cameras, instruction, all this stuff. Now high tech stuff,

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Speaker 1: you can throw harder. So across the board, it was big.

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Speaker 1: Big guys you're talking about are maxing out on v low.

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Speaker 1: That's a big part of what's going on here. I

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Speaker 1: think it's the most difficult hitting environment in the history

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Speaker 1: of this game. The numbers actually show that too, but

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Speaker 1: a big part of that is because of the size

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Speaker 1: of the pictures and what they're throwing. Now, I will

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Speaker 1: tell you this, since the crackdown, or at least let's

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Speaker 1: say June third, was when the owners had the meeting

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Speaker 1: to say, we need to really get a handle on

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Speaker 1: the spin rates stuff going on with the sticky substances.

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Speaker 1: Since then, batting average has gone up nine points, spin

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Speaker 1: rates have gone down. There's a direct correlation between right

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Speaker 1: and batting average. So part of this was Yeah, we

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Speaker 1: need to clean up the game because it's the right

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Speaker 1: thing to do. A big part of it is, man,

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Speaker 1: we got to get some more offense back in this game.

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Speaker 1: On June third, the Major League batting average was two

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Speaker 1: thirty six. That is the lowest in history cal and

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Speaker 1: lower than nineteen sixty eight when the game was really

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Speaker 1: at its bottom point. And they have to change the

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Speaker 1: strikes so on. You know, they went to expand in playoffs,

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Speaker 1: they brought in the DH in a few years, they

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Speaker 1: lowered the mound. It anything to try to get offense

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Speaker 1: back in the game. We're getting that point. Now. This

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Speaker 1: is just a start in terms of cracking down on

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Speaker 1: spin ray. But there's no doubt you will continue to

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Speaker 1: see offense go up. I'm not sure how much, but

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Speaker 1: it will go up as spin ray goes down. All right, Tom,

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Speaker 1: what I'm about to say, you cover baseball intensely, so

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Speaker 1: this is gonna sound ridiculous, and I'm you can take

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Speaker 1: shots at me. But what Shoho Tani is doing is

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Speaker 1: Babe Ruthian. He throws a hundred and leads baseball and homers. Now,

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Speaker 1: throughout the course of my life, there have been athletes

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Speaker 1: Dave Winfield who really could have played multiple sports. I

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Speaker 1: mean Will Chamberlain and basketball, multiple sports. We know Lebron

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Speaker 1: was All State in Ohio as a football player. That's understood.

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Speaker 1: But to throw it a hundred and to lead baseball

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Speaker 1: in home runs, that is Ruthian. Give me the players, Tom,

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Speaker 1: since you've covered baseball, I mean, nobody's doing it. But

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Speaker 1: but you thought it could get into that sphere in

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Speaker 1: that because I can't think of anybody. No, it's zero.

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Speaker 1: First of all, I go back to Bo Jackson when

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Speaker 1: he was playing baseball, right, amazing athlete. There was nobody

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Speaker 1: on the field who looked like Bo Jackson. But I

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Speaker 1: wouldn't say his skill set, you know, as far as

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Speaker 1: high average hitter was really extraordinary. This is what's amazing

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Speaker 1: about Otani. He's a great athlete, and yet his skill

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Speaker 1: set in multiple phases of the game is elite, elite hitter,

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Speaker 1: elite runner, elite pitcher. We have not seen this since

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Speaker 1: Babe Ruth. This is the most underappreciated story in baseball

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Speaker 1: easy and I don't know how long, maybe since Babe

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Speaker 1: Ruth a hundred years ago. Let me put this, let

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Speaker 1: me put this in context for you. This year Otani

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00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:57,560
Speaker 1: is hitting the baseball harder than Juan Soda. He is

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00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:03,760
Speaker 1: throwing the baseball harder than Walker Bueller, and I mean

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00:21:03,840 --> 00:21:07,960
Speaker 1: it's crazy. And he's running faster than Breck Gardner. So

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Speaker 1: he's doing things out of baseball field that we literally

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Speaker 1: haven't seen in a hundred years. And it's amazing. Now,

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Speaker 1: Tom was he eachy Roll was a developed star when

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Speaker 1: the Mariners on the Pacific Rim went out and got him,

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Speaker 1: knowing if I recall, they wanted to have they wanted

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Speaker 1: to buy rights in his home country. It was really

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Speaker 1: it was really smart by the Mariners. Actually, the Seattle's

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Speaker 1: always had a higher Asian population. Each ye row to

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Speaker 1: the Mariners was so smart. But I remember him being

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Speaker 1: more established. I don't know Otani's background. Was he a

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Speaker 1: phenomen in high school? Where was he in his career

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Speaker 1: when he entered major League baseball? Tom, Yeah, he was

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Speaker 1: a big time star in Japan. He was doing the

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Speaker 1: two way thing. Great pitcher, great hitter. He was someone

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Speaker 1: over there you kept your eyes on it every night. Now,

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Speaker 1: he did have some injury histories over there as well,

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Speaker 1: so he wasn't able to do the two way thing

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Speaker 1: on a consistent basis. But when he was on the

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Speaker 1: market as a free agent like Ichiro was, there were

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Speaker 1: scouts telling me that this guy's one of the three

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Speaker 1: to five best players in the world. I actually think

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Speaker 1: they might have underestimated how good he is, because he's

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Speaker 1: a middle of the order hitter with tremendous power, and

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Speaker 1: he's a number one, a legit number one starting pitcher.

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Speaker 1: At the same time, and if your member Colin, the

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00:22:31,560 --> 00:22:36,800
Speaker 1: Yankees desperately wanted Otani. This is the year after judge

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Speaker 1: It's fifty two home runs. He just took baseball by storm,

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00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:45,359
Speaker 1: very heavily right handed. Here comes Otani, the perfect compliment

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Speaker 1: to DH and they needed a picture as well. Perfect guy.

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Speaker 1: They cleared up as much international scouting money bonus money

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Speaker 1: as they could, and then after the first round, when

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Speaker 1: they were taking bids on Otani, he said he didn't

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Speaker 1: want to play in the East coast of the goats

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Speaker 1: to a smaller market on the West coast. The Angels

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Speaker 1: wound up winning the bidding, and the day after he signed,

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00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:11,040
Speaker 1: the Yankees traded for John Carlos stant So that's how

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00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:13,280
Speaker 1: Stanton wound up with the Yankees. They really had their

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00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:17,240
Speaker 1: eyes as a lot of teams did an Otani Tom

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Speaker 1: speaking of the Yankees. You know, it's interesting and sometimes

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00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:23,520
Speaker 1: I wonder, you know, like a Gary Sanchez, it felt

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00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:25,720
Speaker 1: like three years ago they were just hyping him, and

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Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, you'd watch and he struggles

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Speaker 1: to hit major league pitching. Now a lot of people

405
00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:34,520
Speaker 1: are struggling to hit major league pitching. But you watch

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00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:37,159
Speaker 1: the Yankees this year and the division's pretty good. But

407
00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:41,320
Speaker 1: did we overvalue two or three years ago their players

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00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:44,920
Speaker 1: or are those players under performing? Because it's very easy.

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Speaker 1: We do this with Lakers, we do this with Yankees,

410
00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:52,280
Speaker 1: that we just overvalue players or are these truly gifted

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00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:55,800
Speaker 1: players who just aren't performing well. They do have some

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00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:58,199
Speaker 1: young players Colin who should be in the prime of

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00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:01,399
Speaker 1: their careers who have either regressed or plateau. When you

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Speaker 1: think about labor tourists, Clint Fraser, Gary Sanchez, maybe Aaron Judge,

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Speaker 1: but I think he's been consistent, you know, maybe not

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Speaker 1: fifty two home runs, but he's been pretty rock solid.

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Speaker 1: But there's a whole group of players there that just

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Speaker 1: haven't taken that next level, that next step. Here's what

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Speaker 1: I think happened. The Yankees are still playing twenty nineteen baseball.

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Speaker 1: If you remember in nineteen the ball was a rabbit baseball.

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Speaker 1: It was going out left and right, record number of

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Speaker 1: home runs, and the Yankees could just beat up people

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Speaker 1: with home runs, especially fastballs, hitting them out to the

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Speaker 1: opposite field. Short portrait Yankee Stadium, night in and night out.

425
00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:36,800
Speaker 1: That's how they won this year. As you know, they

426
00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:38,960
Speaker 1: deaden the ball a little bit. So the ball, I

427
00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:41,119
Speaker 1: wouldn't say it's a dead ball, but it just doesn't

428
00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:43,720
Speaker 1: carry us far. And we're seeing that in opposite field

429
00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:46,000
Speaker 1: home runs. Ball is just not going out the same way.

430
00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:48,960
Speaker 1: So they got this team that's terrible running the basis

431
00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:53,159
Speaker 1: really is not good situational hitting wise, their path to

432
00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:55,719
Speaker 1: win is hitting home runs, and they're just not hitting

433
00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:59,600
Speaker 1: enough of them. Now they've got great hitters, they're going

434
00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:01,159
Speaker 1: to be times where they just hit a ton of

435
00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:03,359
Speaker 1: home runs and you say, wow, the Yankees are as

436
00:25:03,359 --> 00:25:06,040
Speaker 1: good as I thought. But there's a lot of times

437
00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:08,080
Speaker 1: when they faced good pitching and when they need to

438
00:25:08,119 --> 00:25:09,960
Speaker 1: find a way to win a game without a home run,

439
00:25:10,359 --> 00:25:13,560
Speaker 1: you're gonna say that's not, you know, a really good

440
00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:16,560
Speaker 1: elite team, because they do have I don't think they

441
00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:18,320
Speaker 1: have a lot of balance left handed right. They have

442
00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:20,840
Speaker 1: like no left handed power at all, just shocking for

443
00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:23,520
Speaker 1: a Yankee team. And they don't run the base as well.

444
00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:26,520
Speaker 1: So there again, their path to victory is very narrow.

445
00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:32,440
Speaker 1: They hit home runs, they're good, they don't they're in trouble. Similarly,

446
00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:35,720
Speaker 1: the Dodgers were a team that many, myself included, thought

447
00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:37,399
Speaker 1: this is a this is a I don't know what

448
00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:39,440
Speaker 1: they're over under was, but they felt like one hundred

449
00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:41,720
Speaker 1: and five win team. I mean, outside of the bullpen,

450
00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:44,800
Speaker 1: we had no holes we knew of. Now, some of

451
00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:47,439
Speaker 1: that is you watch them and Mookie Bets and the

452
00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:50,240
Speaker 1: energy and how they played last year. Early in the

453
00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:53,600
Speaker 1: year there were a lot of injuries. Cody Bellinger didn't play,

454
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:57,439
Speaker 1: bullpen struggled, but a lot of it was just Mookie

455
00:25:57,480 --> 00:26:01,520
Speaker 1: Bets was out, Bellinger's out. Well, then they returned. They're

456
00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:06,919
Speaker 1: still not quite right. You know, if they paid a

457
00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:11,920
Speaker 1: lot of money for this team, they drive a lot

458
00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:16,400
Speaker 1: of revenue. Dave Roberts, you know, it feels like he's

459
00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:19,119
Speaker 1: Frank Vogel. If you don't win with Lebron, you're in

460
00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:22,800
Speaker 1: big trouble. I look at this Dodger team and they're

461
00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:26,320
Speaker 1: maybe The Giants are surprising people, but they're not quite right.

462
00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:30,040
Speaker 1: You think there's concern in that clubhouse and that executive

463
00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:34,760
Speaker 1: level suite. No, I don't think there's concerned, Colin, because

464
00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:37,439
Speaker 1: they won last year with essentially the same group of

465
00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:40,480
Speaker 1: guys with Bauer added to him, Price coming back. So

466
00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:44,119
Speaker 1: I still think they have tremendous belief and confidence in

467
00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:46,720
Speaker 1: the twenty six man roster and in the end that

468
00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:49,479
Speaker 1: will play out. But just watching them, I'd be a

469
00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:52,919
Speaker 1: little concern because, first of all, San Diego is legit

470
00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:57,200
Speaker 1: star players, and if you watch when they play the Dodgers,

471
00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:00,320
Speaker 1: they own the game. They are the more rest of

472
00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:02,320
Speaker 1: team on the field. If you came in and knew

473
00:27:02,359 --> 00:27:05,920
Speaker 1: nothing about baseball and you watched the Dodgers play the Padres,

474
00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:08,879
Speaker 1: you would say, Wow, the Padres are way better because

475
00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:10,959
Speaker 1: they just are so much more aggressive in the way

476
00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:13,080
Speaker 1: they play the game. Swing the bat, run the bases,

477
00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:16,520
Speaker 1: you name it. The Giants, we didn't figure them in

478
00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:19,280
Speaker 1: this equation here, Colin. When the season started we thought

479
00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:22,919
Speaker 1: this is greatest rivalry of baseball as Padres Dodgers, and

480
00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:26,119
Speaker 1: you'd here are the Giants who are throwing nothing but groundballs,

481
00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:30,520
Speaker 1: eating them up on defense, scoring enough runs offensively by

482
00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:34,520
Speaker 1: hitting some home runs, and Brandon Crawford and Buster Posey

483
00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:37,160
Speaker 1: have found the fountain of youth here. So the Giants

484
00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:40,480
Speaker 1: now look like they're a legitimate ninety plus win team.

485
00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:44,280
Speaker 1: So the division is much better, and the Dodgers now

486
00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:46,080
Speaker 1: are gonna have to play with some pressure around them,

487
00:27:46,119 --> 00:27:48,880
Speaker 1: not that they always don't, but playing from behind now

488
00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:50,399
Speaker 1: when we all thought they'd be out in front of

489
00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:53,000
Speaker 1: the pack, is a little bit of a different environment.

490
00:27:53,080 --> 00:27:56,200
Speaker 1: So Mookie hasn't really hit with the same kind of power.

491
00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:59,399
Speaker 1: I wouldn't worry about him too much. As you mentioned,

492
00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:01,800
Speaker 1: Bellinger's and out haven't really been at full strength. And

493
00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:04,120
Speaker 1: you have to wonder what is Trevor Bauer at this point.

494
00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:06,000
Speaker 1: You know, they spent a ton of money to paying

495
00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:07,920
Speaker 1: him forty million dollars a year based on the spin

496
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:09,560
Speaker 1: rate he had last year when he won the Cy

497
00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:12,480
Speaker 1: Young Award. Well we're saying that's not possible now with

498
00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:15,080
Speaker 1: the crackdown. They've got to have a little bit of

499
00:28:15,119 --> 00:28:18,119
Speaker 1: a buyer's remorse if this is not the same Trevor

500
00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:20,560
Speaker 1: Bauer that they paid for. And don't get me wrong,

501
00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:23,239
Speaker 1: he's still a really good pitcher, but he was like

502
00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:27,399
Speaker 1: otherworldly last year in terms of just suppressing offense, and

503
00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:31,080
Speaker 1: it's not quite the same this year. Is there a

504
00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:37,200
Speaker 1: story in baseball that you that's a little underreported, A team,

505
00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:41,280
Speaker 1: a pitching staff, something out there? You know, sometimes we

506
00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:44,000
Speaker 1: see this in sports tom where a team gets house money,

507
00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:46,600
Speaker 1: there's no pressure. There's pressure on the Dodgers, there's pressure

508
00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:49,440
Speaker 1: on the Astros or the Yankees. Then you get a

509
00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:51,400
Speaker 1: team like the Rays and they come in and they're

510
00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:54,920
Speaker 1: athletic as hell, and you know about every four years

511
00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:58,880
Speaker 1: the Rays are really good. Is do we have a raise?

512
00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:00,680
Speaker 1: Do we have a team that doesn't get a lot

513
00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:03,640
Speaker 1: of publicity, not a lot of household names, but just

514
00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:07,320
Speaker 1: has the makeup to be really good up and after

515
00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:11,000
Speaker 1: the break? I believe that. I think it's the Rays again. Colin.

516
00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:14,320
Speaker 1: It's crazy to say that, especially in that division, because

517
00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:17,720
Speaker 1: Toronto is a better team with the year vlad Brero's having.

518
00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:20,880
Speaker 1: We just talked about the Yankees. The Red Sox are

519
00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:24,040
Speaker 1: better than we thought. It's a really good division. But

520
00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:27,200
Speaker 1: the Rays just keep coming at you with more pitchers

521
00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:30,360
Speaker 1: than anybody else has. I'm talking about just pure stuff

522
00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:32,960
Speaker 1: and maybe not pitching nine innings, but they can just

523
00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:35,600
Speaker 1: throw so many guys at you on a nightly basis,

524
00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:39,040
Speaker 1: and positional flexibility where they just have very athletic players

525
00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:41,360
Speaker 1: who can play anywhere on the field. And now they

526
00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:44,600
Speaker 1: brought up this kid, Wander Fronco, the best hitting prospect

527
00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:47,880
Speaker 1: in baseball, and I just heard I heard a baseball

528
00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:52,240
Speaker 1: show talking about him yesterday and raving about him. Colin,

529
00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:55,400
Speaker 1: I think that the hype on prospects has got way

530
00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:58,360
Speaker 1: out of hand. Everybody coming up now is the next

531
00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:01,520
Speaker 1: Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, you know, Albert Poohles, you name

532
00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:04,240
Speaker 1: it right. We saw that with Jared Kelnick. I actually

533
00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:06,600
Speaker 1: felt sorry for him. The Mariners called him up to me,

534
00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:09,440
Speaker 1: he wasn't quite ready and he was built up as

535
00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:12,440
Speaker 1: the next Junior Griffy in Seattle. Good player, but not

536
00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:14,480
Speaker 1: on that level. But the hype has gotten way out

537
00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:18,880
Speaker 1: of hand. The hype on Wander Franco is legit. It deserved.

538
00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:22,200
Speaker 1: This guy's special a guy who really he walked more

539
00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:25,520
Speaker 1: than he struck out in the minors, switch hits incredible

540
00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:29,800
Speaker 1: contact ability with power. And here's what I'm seeing. You

541
00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:32,000
Speaker 1: talk about trends in the game guys are getting the

542
00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:35,080
Speaker 1: big leagues now and their impact players at twenty one

543
00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:38,200
Speaker 1: and twenty two. You think about Juan Soto and the

544
00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:44,400
Speaker 1: impact teammate Ronald Acunia Junior, Fernando Tatis Junior, Vladimir Guerrero Junior,

545
00:30:44,960 --> 00:30:48,200
Speaker 1: and now we have Wander Franco. These guys are dominating

546
00:30:48,240 --> 00:30:50,800
Speaker 1: at twenty one and twenty two. We used to see

547
00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:52,920
Speaker 1: one or two of those guys when Bryce Harper and

548
00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:55,280
Speaker 1: Mike Trout came along. We were like, Wow, this is

549
00:30:55,320 --> 00:30:57,960
Speaker 1: like freaky. These guys are so good this young. It's

550
00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:01,840
Speaker 1: happening a lot now. When I see Wander Franco, I

551
00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:04,880
Speaker 1: say he can be a dominant player. To me. The

552
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:07,280
Speaker 1: day he showed up in Tampa Bay, he was the

553
00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:09,920
Speaker 1: best hitter on their team. And listen, they've got some

554
00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:12,880
Speaker 1: really good hitters, but I think he's that good. Well,

555
00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:16,400
Speaker 1: you know, Tom, We're seeing this in all the sports mahomes,

556
00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:18,720
Speaker 1: justin Herbert. We're seeing it in the NBA with John

557
00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:22,160
Speaker 1: Morant and Trey Young. Is that there's so much money

558
00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:25,240
Speaker 1: in sports, and there's so much money in coaching sports

559
00:31:25,280 --> 00:31:29,640
Speaker 1: now that these kids go to seminars on media when

560
00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:33,240
Speaker 1: they're sixteen how to deal with me or you, and

561
00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:37,560
Speaker 1: I think we're seeing a time the maturity of athletes.

562
00:31:37,800 --> 00:31:42,320
Speaker 1: I find it remarkable. At twenty two years old, I

563
00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:45,760
Speaker 1: was pulling fire extinguishers in college dormitories. I was a

564
00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:49,600
Speaker 1: complete regrettable idiot. These kids run franchises and they are

565
00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:54,560
Speaker 1: so focused their work habits. When you say that about him,

566
00:31:54,560 --> 00:31:56,080
Speaker 1: and I don't know much about him, I heard somebody

567
00:31:56,080 --> 00:31:58,680
Speaker 1: talking about him on the matri League Baseball Network. I

568
00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:01,560
Speaker 1: think we have a renaissance going on in American sports

569
00:32:02,040 --> 00:32:05,320
Speaker 1: that not only are the players better, but the nutrition,

570
00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:08,520
Speaker 1: the coaching. At the youth level. Kids are now going

571
00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:12,200
Speaker 1: all in on one sport, so it is one voice,

572
00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:16,120
Speaker 1: one message. These kids come in they're twenty one, they

573
00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:18,520
Speaker 1: are pros. There are are thirty I mean, there are

574
00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:20,560
Speaker 1: a twenty nine year I mean, Tom, I'm seeing it everywhere.

575
00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:23,480
Speaker 1: Just your thoughts on that, one hundred percent agree And

576
00:32:23,560 --> 00:32:26,640
Speaker 1: I see that's obviously in baseball, where it used to be, oh,

577
00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:28,720
Speaker 1: you have to play get five hundred innings in the

578
00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:30,840
Speaker 1: minor league or you need fifteen hundred at bats in

579
00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:33,280
Speaker 1: the minor leagues. That was just kind of a rule

580
00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:35,920
Speaker 1: of thumb based on nothing to be honest with you.

581
00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:37,600
Speaker 1: It was just the way guys used to think back

582
00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:41,720
Speaker 1: in the day, and that has been just completely obliterated

583
00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:45,080
Speaker 1: by what you've got we're talking to there, the amount,

584
00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:48,640
Speaker 1: the detail, the quality of instruction, the opportunity to play

585
00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:51,160
Speaker 1: at elite level. Don't forget most of the time you're

586
00:32:51,160 --> 00:32:53,320
Speaker 1: playing in high school baseball, I say, you're playing in

587
00:32:53,360 --> 00:32:55,720
Speaker 1: the Northeast. You're at the mercy of playing against these

588
00:32:55,720 --> 00:32:59,000
Speaker 1: other kids who most ninety nine percent are not professional

589
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:02,360
Speaker 1: athletes future leads. Now you can go play on travel

590
00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:05,760
Speaker 1: teams in different states. The amount of competition showcases on

591
00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:10,600
Speaker 1: national levels. It's amazing how polished these players are. They've

592
00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:14,400
Speaker 1: essentially shortened the learning curve, and to me, baseball, of

593
00:33:14,480 --> 00:33:17,120
Speaker 1: all the sports, has the longest learning curve. It is

594
00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:21,440
Speaker 1: a very skill specific sport where experience does matter, but

595
00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:25,400
Speaker 1: they've shortened that learn occurred by a lot via instruction

596
00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:30,400
Speaker 1: and playing top quality competition. So we're gonna see more

597
00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:32,640
Speaker 1: of this. We're gonna see more phenoms, if you will,

598
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:35,600
Speaker 1: Guys just really dominating the big leagues one twenty two,

599
00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:38,960
Speaker 1: twenty three. You know, Tom, it's not too late to

600
00:33:39,040 --> 00:33:42,240
Speaker 1: join Twitter. It's quite a Barnyard Musical. You're really missing out?

601
00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:44,880
Speaker 1: Oh really, so you recommend it? You're so happy with

602
00:33:44,920 --> 00:33:47,920
Speaker 1: it because I know it's always looking for the person

603
00:33:47,960 --> 00:33:50,520
Speaker 1: that says I love it. Oh, it's great every day.

604
00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:53,320
Speaker 1: It puts a smile on my face. No, it's a

605
00:33:53,440 --> 00:34:02,480
Speaker 1: discouraging tunnel of vitriol. But from my work is it

606
00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:06,960
Speaker 1: makes a used car feel like a value. It is

607
00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:09,040
Speaker 1: what it is. Well, you and cost Us aren't on it,

608
00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:11,359
Speaker 1: and you're my two favorite baseball guys of all time.

609
00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:13,680
Speaker 1: Thank Tomm. You're a busy dude. Thank you so much

610
00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:15,719
Speaker 1: for coming on. It's always fun with you, Colin. I

611
00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:22,960
Speaker 1: enjoyed it all right, Tom Verducci, He's just fantastic. My

612
00:34:23,080 --> 00:34:26,719
Speaker 1: Action Network pick of the week. I'm gonna take the

613
00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:29,960
Speaker 1: Hawks plus seven and a half against the Bucks in

614
00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:33,279
Speaker 1: Game two. I think Milwaukee wins, but Atlanta is one

615
00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:37,719
Speaker 1: of those teams keeps it close, competitive, hard to get

616
00:34:37,760 --> 00:34:41,520
Speaker 1: your arms around what they're doing, and I don't trust Milwaukee. Late.

617
00:34:41,640 --> 00:34:45,640
Speaker 1: You can foul them, they miss free throws. Atlanta can

618
00:34:45,680 --> 00:34:49,600
Speaker 1: be outplayed, lose by five or six. I'll take Atlanta

619
00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:55,799
Speaker 1: plus the points all right at the Volume Sports, Twitter, Instagram,

620
00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:58,360
Speaker 1: Join us rate, review, and subscribe. I hope you loved it.

621
00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:00,640
Speaker 1: That was fun. Baseball talk cost Us in Verducci in

622
00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:34,880
Speaker 1: the last month, All good talk. Soon the volume