Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
From the Burke Shears to the sound from wherever you
live in MLB America. This is Inside the Parker. You
give us twenty two minutes and we'll give you the
scoop on Major League Baseball. Now here's Baseball Hall of
Fame voter number one oh three, Rob Parker. Welcome into
Inside the Parker. I'm your host, Rob Parker, and yes
(00:24):
we are back, and we will be here every week
for you through the baseball season. Of course, we hope
that the baseball season will get started here in but
we decided we're gonna kick it off. We have Julian McWilliams,
a beat writer for the Red Sox from the Boston Globe.
Will also have an edition of Foul or Fair. But first,
(00:46):
here's getting Robbed. To lead off, It's getting robbed and
keep him on. Rob's hot take on the three biggest
stories in Major League Baseball. Number one. There is hope
that baseball can be played this year, at least, especially
after three of the biggest states and their governors New York, California,
(01:10):
Texas all said that they're gonna be open for business
in June. From Major League Sports, there won't be any fans,
but they're welcoming major League teams to play games. Now
it's up to the Baseball players Union and the owners
to come together and figure something out. I don't expect
(01:31):
the union to bend over and give up everything that
they've worked for. I don't I get it. They've worked
hard not to have a salary cap, so I don't
expect one. But I also understand the owners from the standpoint.
This won't be baseball as usual. There will be no
money coming from fans. There will be no parking money,
(01:56):
there will be no concession money. There will be no
merchan dising money that this sold at the stadium. That's
big time money that's gonna be lost. So the money
can't be the same. There has to be some happy medium.
We cannot not have baseball. If the states are allowing
(02:18):
during this pandemic for games to be played, Come on, baseball.
This is not We can't accept that. We need you
guys to come to some sort of agreement that's gonna
work for both parties, for baseball, for the players union,
and most of all, for all the baseball fans at
(02:38):
home dying to watch the national pastime this coming summer.
July fourth would be a great day to kick off
Major League Baseball. Yes, Baseball, hot Dogs, apple Pie, and
Chevrolet on July four would be sweet news for all
(02:59):
of us. Number two, I want to pay my respects
to Bob Watson, the former All Star and former general
manager of both the Astros and the Yankees, who passed
last week at age seventy four. Bob Watson somebody I
was around. I was working in New York at the time,
(03:19):
back in nineteen nine when he became the first black
general manager to win a World Series with the nineteen
nineties six Yankees. And he's the man who broke the
long slump the Yankees had him winning a World Series
by the moves he made and the team he put together.
(03:43):
Truth be told, when you look at that Yankee dynasty,
Bob Watson is the guy who was the first engineer
of it. He's the one who put it together. Brian
Cashman took it over from Bob Watson and continued to win.
Bob Watson played fourteen Major league seasons, was a good
(04:07):
ball player, and was a good general manager. When you
think back to that run, I always remember the one
move he made to get Graham Lloyd, the left handed pitcher.
Go look it up. Graham Lloyd was huge in that
World Series getting left handed bats out, especially Ryan Klesko
(04:29):
from the Braves. Just indeed, without that move, who knows
if the Yankees would have won that World Series, but
they did, and Bob Watson should get plenty of credit.
Rust in peace, Bob Watson number three, Bye bye, Alex Bregman. Yes,
(04:51):
that's what he told Clutch Sports. He doesn't want to
be a part of Lebron James is uh group anymore
because Lebron James group is gonna do a documentary about
the Astros cheating. Wait a minute, really, you mean the
one where the general manager and the manager got whacked
(05:15):
from baseball for a year? You mean that one. Now
Bregman doesn't want to be a part of it because
they're going to uh put out the truth about what
went down in that situation. How weak is that? I
thought Bregmant would stand in for the hot stuff, hot
and heavy, uh, the heater, and apparently not. He's not
(05:39):
going to accept that. People are gonna talk about this,
people are going to report on this, people are going
to dissect this. Yes, you guys did at the Houston Astros.
You have to take your lumps. You can't run from everywhere.
Is that what you're gonna do? Anybody who talks about
it or criticized is the Astros and what they did
(06:01):
in their cheating scandal to win that World Series in
team Really, Alex Bregman, that is a weak move. Here
comes the big interview. Listen and Larry good All right,
let's welcome in Julia McWilliams, the Boston Red Sox beat
(06:24):
writer for the Boston Globe. Julian, welcome to the podcast.
What's up, Rob? Thanks for having me, man Man, always
a pleasure, love your knowledge. Let's talk about the Red Sox.
Couple of things. First, the punishment from Baseball in the scandal,
the cheating scandal that wasn't on the proportion of the
(06:44):
Houston Astros. What did the Red Sox uh? How did
they get penalized? Well, you know, they lost the second
round draft pick um. Any other year you might say, hey,
that's not big a deal. But if you consider that
the that the draft has been life the um five rounds,
that's the significance, significant significant loss um. Keep in mind
(07:06):
they have to do all this stuff virtually, so scouting
is a lot different so the Red Soccer UH in
for a long kind of draft process. Um. You know,
they also fired the video coordinator who they said had
something to do with it, who was like that guess
the the person the league in charge. But you know,
that's kind of tough to believe that the manager kind
(07:29):
of got got off Scott's freed in this case, and
this case is Alex Cora um because and they said
he didn't really know about this. So I kind of
find that hard to believe considering um, what he did
in Houston and and and the depths that he went
along with the other managers and I mean the players
and everybody, etcetera. UH to chief. I agree. I just
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don't know how Alice Cora skated. I know he got
fired before this, and they said in Boston they fired
him because of his uh involvement in Houston. But how
could you come and a video guy, really a video
guy is is relaying signs to players and the manager
or whatever it is, and none of that makes any sense.
(08:12):
It's like up in New England when they said it
was the ball boy letting the air out of the
football and Tom Brady had nothing to do with it,
right right, It seems like somebody has to be a
fall guy here, and it's unfortunate because this kid was
I mean, he's thirty years old, he played in this system.
You know this this my cars him more than without score. Yeah,
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this is a bad thing here. All Right, we're gonna
preview the baseball season. We don't know whether we'll get
it or not. If we get it in July July
four could be great, But we want to preview the
Boston Red Sox and what we're expecting in the season,
no matter what kind of season it is. Length Wise,
tell me what you expected the Red Sox. I don't
(08:54):
think they'll make the playoffs, but uh, you tell me,
you know, may expanded or they probably would expand the
fourteen teams, so that might give them a little bit
more room. But I mean, I think this is a
bridge year, and I think this is you know this.
You know, I know that they were in the middle
of a pandemic. But in terms of this, the amount
(09:15):
of games that they're gonna play, this might be the
best thing that's going to happen to the Red Sox
in terms of you know, keep them on. They lost Sale, Uh,
they lost Mookie beat They don't have necessarily a really
number one star. I know the water Rodriguez is there,
but you know they have to spill. They have to
They have to fill those three, those four and five
spots in the rotation. They have zero pitching, so they're
what they're gonna do, rob that we've seen all the time. Oh,
(09:38):
everybody's gonna get go to bullpenning. Now, well you can't
bullpen for a hundred six two games season, but having
a game, having a slice the eighty two games I
think helps them help save their arms as they get
ready for next year with a healthy chrysale. And uh,
we know all the people that they lost, David Price
was lost. What about the distans this year? Any any
(09:59):
help us out? Any additions that I don't know about. Well,
they they got Alxburd do go back in the trade.
I spoke to a couple of scouts that said, um,
but this is a kid that can play. He had
he had back injuries, uh last year, but he seemed
to be um, he seemed none. String training stopped and
he said, he's he's, he's he's he's ready to go
full throttle once they start up again. Uh, they have
(10:21):
you know Xander Bogart's I guess is returning. I mean,
look it's it's they're under new management right there under
him Bloom, who's a raised guy. He came over with
the Rays. We all know the raised like being creative.
Him Bloom is a guy unlike say Dig Dig Dombrowski.
He puts a lot of stock into prospects and and
building up those guys. He spent a lot of time
in spring training on the backfield watching another kid that
(10:44):
they got Jeter downs in the Mookie Betch trade, so Keith.
So I would look for him to make moves and
try to stack their system much like Brian Cashman. Stack
there and build death and as they move into next year.
And when I looked at the Red Sox, I basically said,
with what they did is they saw what the Yankees
were able to do where they were figured that they
(11:05):
can't compete, and they threw the towel. And am I wrong? Right? No,
That's that's exactly what happened. That's exactly what happened. They
threw the towel. And and I think that they've looked
over the years how Cashing and granted the Red Sox,
and there is something to be. You know, David Dombrowski
should get a lot of credit for he built that
World Series champion, right. He got them to a place
Ben Sherrington couldn't get them to. Ben Sherrington got them
(11:28):
properly to the mountaintop. But you know, they Browsy got
him over with the price and sale and J. D.
Martinez and those guys who put it all together. But
I think now with the way baseball is going now,
there's a lot of value and prospects. Um, the Red
Sox have gotten the first time looking like, look, we
want to build for the long term, so you know,
why not stack them on prospects and and and see
(11:49):
who we can get. But you know, the mookie best trade,
that's that's that's the that's the that's the crazy thing
to me. I don't see how you traded grid guy
in his prime. Pay the man, you know. It's it's
just that that was a little crazy me Rather than that. Um,
they're trying to build these protects and and and and
build their systems all right. His name is Julia McWilliams.
He is the excellent beat writer for the Boston Red
(12:11):
Sox for the Boston Globe. Thanks for joining the podcast
Julian always a pleasure. Hey, thanks, Rob, It's time for
the Pocket Protector Central the analytic numbers you need to know? Well,
maybe Anthony Masterson is his name, BS analytics is his game? Alright, Anthony,
(12:31):
what do you got for me today? All right? Rob?
There have now been nine seasons and it will be
history that have been temporarily shut down, be it for
war or labor strife or now global pandemics. Now should
be played. It will certainly look like nothing we have
ever seen before. The last time the season was shortened
was when the players strike in the previous season spilled
over in April of the following year. Now normally be
(12:54):
passing through some advanced metric trying to make Rob's head's
been right now, But today I want to shine a
quick light I one of the most same seasons from
that year the campaign of Indians outfielder Albert Bell. Now,
that year Bell hit three seventeen with ps but the
a L champion Indians. He became the only player in
MLB history still by the way, to hit fifty home
(13:15):
runs and fifty doubles in the same season. And he
did it in a season lasted only one four games
he let the ale and home runs, doubles, runs, starting percentage,
and total basis. But of course the cantankers Bell did
himself no favors with the media. Rob, I'm sure you
can attest, and it cost him the MVP that season
to Boston's move on. Who could have inferior numbers across
(13:36):
the board yet walked away with the hardware. Now, with
a shortened schedule in who knows what extremes could possibly happen. Alright, Anthony,
for the first time, I'm buying what you're selling, my man,
Anthony Masterson, and that is it was a big week
in the Big League? Or is it fair? And now
(14:03):
here's shadow League dot Com MLB insider JR. Gamble. All right,
let's welcome in JR. Gamble from the Shadow League and
Major League Baseball is proposing some health and safety regulations
that will stop players from getting close at all, Jr.
(14:25):
Is it fair or foul these new health regulations? That
is a foul ball. I understand the courting that the government,
post courts and health officials are taken, Rob without fair,
that's cool, But trust I was watching Korean baseball all
week last week and it isn't the same without of
(14:48):
the crowd. I thought I was at a golf tourn him,
and actually I was like, we're Tiger. It's already bad enough,
the crowd noise, they're suggesting Korean baseball, they had a
five a person sharing sections. As you said back when
your hair before your hair started to graze, no way,
no high but to eliminate hugs and high fives and
(15:11):
gatorade gugs from the dugout, and even spitting and sunflower seeds.
It seems like an unreachable goal to me. For one,
base fall celebrations that involve players touching and standing less
than six feet apart, well, that's a selling point of
excitement for the game that most casual fans already considered
(15:31):
more boring than the other major sports. Can't take that away.
The celebrations and the energy and the camaraderie following the
home run for a great play is everything, and a
great contrast to the methodical nature of bate fall and
waving around that it entails. If this is just a
money graph that will be, then say so, because trying
(15:55):
to sell it as they fall isn't gonna work. After
a couple of games, it will really be like watching
and MLP doesn't need that right now, and Dusty Baker
shouldn't be happy because he invented the high five take
out the It's time for trash talk Twitter Twitter with
(16:17):
your chance to trash anyone or anything in Major League
baseball all right now at the inside, the Parker Podcast
is back and we're going weekly all the way through
the baseball season. Hopefully that day we get started the
baseball season, but we'll be here for you every week,
and we also want to hear from you. Trash talking
(16:40):
Twitter is officially open, so you hit me up or
maya Twitter at Rob Parker FS one, trash anyone anything
in Major League baseball. The best tweet that we read
on the air will have a chance to win a
baseball cap from new era. That's right, So you want
to join in my Twitter at Rob Parker FS one
(17:03):
and trash anyone anything in baseball and you could be
a winner. When Rob was a newspaper columnist, he lived
by this motto, if I'm writing, I'm ripping. Let's bring
in a writer or broadcaster older new one team that
will get a break when the baseball season does start.
(17:25):
If it does start in is no doubt that Houston Astros.
Phil Sanchez from WISH TV in Indianapolis has his take. Yeah, hey, Rob.
So when the baseball season does finally get going, to
Houston Astros will no doubt benefit the most from the changes.
It might feel like forever ago, but we all know
(17:45):
the team came under fire earlier this spring, of course,
for using technology to steal signs during the seasons with
the team winning the World Series back in now. Fast
forward to this spring, pre pandemic, and baseball fans obviously
not please. The team was booed in the early games
of spring training and if you search Astros on social media,
(18:10):
you were immediately transported to accessful of negativity. But after
a worldwide pandemic forcing the season to shut down rob
a cheating scandals, it doesn't really sound too bad. So
once the season does get rolling again, because it will happen,
there will be no fans in the stands, no booze
filling the ballpark, and probably a lot fewer reporters asking
(18:31):
the Astros about using cameras and garbage cans to steal signs.
So life may have changed a lot since the news
of the scandal first broke Rob. But for some perspective,
it was such a big deal that it's actually gonna
be the focus of a new documentary being produced by
the one and only Lebron James. The name of that
(18:52):
documentary Rob sign Language. Now bringing the close is why
MLB is better than the NFL or NBA, and it
isn't even close. Baseball songs are better. In fact, I
don't even know if any NBA and NFL songs When
(19:14):
we go to the ballpark, everybody knows enough to pass
out a sheet to sing take me out to the
ball game. We all know it. And when other people
sing about the game, they're great songs that people love.
Come on right now, join in, Willie Mickey and the Duke,
(19:36):
the wiz kids had wanted, Bobby Thompson had done it,
and Yogi read the comics all the one rock and
roll was being born. Marijuana we would scorn so down
on the corner of the national pastime went on traffic
with Talking bays Ball, Klazowski, Campanella, Talking bays Ball, the Man,
(20:00):
Bobby Feller, the Scooter, the Barber, and the Nuke. They
knew him all from Boston to Dubuke, especially Willy Mickey
and the Duke. In the words of New York TV
(20:25):
legend the late Bill Jorgensen, thanking you for your time
this time until next time. Rob Parker out. He can't
get it. This could be an inside the Parker to
see you next weekend, same bad time, same mass station.