March 28, 2023 • 46 mins
The Book of Joe Podcast begins with hosts Tom Verducci and Joe Maddon getting ready for the 2023 season! How does Joe feel about the season getting underway without him being in uniform? Tom rolls through some of the new faces he's looking forward to seeing while Joe reveals how he handled the young prospects out of the gate. Find out the 3 biggest storylines heading into the season, plus how will rule changes affect the season? Joe gives a surprising thought when it comes to one of the best players in the game. We wrap up with Joe and Tom giving their favorite Opening Day stories.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
The Book of Joe podcast is a production of iHeartRadio.
Hey there you found us. It's the most interesting podcast
in the business. It's The Book of Joe with me,
Tom Berducci, and of course Joe Madden. And this is
a special edition twenty twenty three MLB preview issue. Yeah,
(00:30):
opening Day right around the corner, and Joe, we're going
to go through what I've picked out as the five
biggest storylines heading into this season. But before we get there,
I have to ask you how you are doing because
I think about opening Day and I think of wait
a second, Joe Madden is not in a uniform somewhere
on opening Day, So tell me what that feeling is like. Yeah,
(00:53):
that's exactly right. I thought I have thought about that,
excuse me, the last couple of days, but it hasn't
been burning through me by any means. I don't know
what that means. I've been really busy between book signing,
in our podcast and a little bit of golf, and
my kids are over here last night, private events things
like that. So I mean keeping busy. I on the ball.
I mean like this stuff like we're doing today, and
(01:14):
the podcast in general has permitted me to stay on
top of my baseball intellect whatever. But for the most part, Wow,
I'm not as buckled as I you know, you think
I would be. I will watch a couple of games,
I believe I want to start doing that a little
bit in the event that's something would have transpired during
the year. I gotta stay concurrent. But overall, man, I'm
doing okay. Yeah. By the way, opening Day, all thirty
(01:36):
teams are playing. I think that's a great idea. It's
sort of an unofficial national holiday in my book, to
see the teams out there, the foul lines, the anthems,
it's I can't wait for it. And I'm just stoked
about this baseball season, Joe, And we'll get into the
new rules and some of the reasons why it's I
think going to be a very exciting season. But let's
(01:56):
start with what I picked out. We'll go into reverse
order here. By the way, biggest storylines of this season.
Number five is young players making an impact. Now, I
go back to twenty fifteen when you had Chris Bryant
absolutely killing the Cactus League. And back then, of course
he couldn't make the Cubs opening day roster. There were
(02:16):
some issues there with service time, which went pretty much
unsaid from the Cubs end. But now I see last
year you had a guy like Julio Rodriguez to the
Mariners make their opening day roster at twenty one, kind
of scuffled for three weeks, no home runs, hitting under
two hundred, and wow, he came on and had a
huge season, won the American League Rookie of the Year.
(02:37):
This year, I'm gonna throw some names at you. Anthony
Volpi is the shortstop opening day for the New York Yankees. Yeah,
he's twenty one years old, He's from New Jersey. A
lot of Derek Jeter comparisons you will hear. This kid
won the job in spring training. Jordan Walker outfielder Saint
Louis Cardinals six six, two fifty. Originally a third baseman
(02:59):
of course, that belongs to Nolan Arnatto in Saint Louis,
so Walker will be in the outfield. He absolutely tore
it up in spring training. And Oscar Colas of the
Chicago White Sox is their new right fielder. We've heard
a lot about him over the last couple of years.
So Joe, I want to get your take on when
you have a young player, especially someone. Now these days,
we see these guys coming a mile away. Nobody shows
(03:21):
up in spring training, the elite guys anyway unannounced, so
there's expectations right away on every player, but especially that
high profile prospect. Give me a sense of how you
handle these type of young players and trying to get
their feet on the ground. Well, first of all, I
know what the rule was you're talking about with KB
and the fact that I have to wait a couple
of weeks before you clumb up, But overall, that's not
(03:42):
a bad thing to do, because sometimes if you let
these guys go out and start the season the triple.
I know this is counterintuitive and I'm not talking about
the rule at all right now, but if you let
them go out and get their feet on the ground,
get their swing going, get in kind of a nice rhythm,
and then bring them up, that's not a bad thing.
Longori did the same thing with the Rays and then
hit the ground running. I think KB did pretty well
(04:02):
once he came up, so I know the rule was there,
and I know there was a lot of complaining about that. However,
making the team out of spring training is different. There's
a different mental component to it. You come and again,
we can talk about spring training numbers all day long.
I'm not a big fan. It just does not normally
play out unless the guy's got a great track record, whatever.
But spring training can be deceptive. But on that note,
(04:24):
I do like I do like a guy starting out
before he comes up. And then beyond that, how do
you get to these guys? And again, you have to
have them understand and because there's gonna be a lot
of hype. I looked at the New York Post today,
volpay is right up front and they're talking about him,
and I thought to myself, Wow, somebody within that clubhouse,
I'm certain, because the New York's used to it, had
(04:45):
to have gotten to him and say, listen, you're there,
everybody's talking about it, but please just be yourself, go
play your game. And it sounds like that he may
do that, But that would be the biggest thing is
to I get guys. I always got the young guys,
and I would bring him in. I would say, do
you know what I want you to do? Differently now
that you're on the big league team where he made
the team out of spring training, they look at you
and say what, and I said nothing. I really want
(05:07):
you to do nothing differently. I want you to go
out there like you had been in the minor leagues,
how you've been in spring training, and go out there
and try to be the same cat. So those are
the kind of things that early in the season, a
lot of deception going on. People fall in love. But
guys like Bulpi Walker and against Coloss, as you said,
they sound legit, but I don't mind a youngster starting
(05:28):
a trip away before he comes up. Yeah. Of course,
they put some rules in place in the last CBA
to sort of encourage teams to carry these better prospects
from opening day. You can get a draft pick if
someone winds up with support for Rookie of the Year awards.
So I think it is working. I think teams are
more likely to carry their players on the opening game
roster now than they did, say, back in twenty fifteen.
(05:51):
Chris Bryant, by the way, in twenty fifteen, took him
twenty one games to get his first home run, but
he did get his hits. He wasn't really scuffling. The
power came, of course, you know, it's like early in
the season anyway in Chicago. But that certainly turned out
to be his success story. Chris was Rookie of the
Year and then the MVP the next year, and all
good things happened for him. Volpi, it sounds like, and
(06:13):
I've met him before, a great kid. Parents are great
makeup off the charts. I mean, this guy basically played
minor league ball in his home county of New Jersey,
living at home. He had some buddies on the team
staying with him at the time, and it's a great
story because he gets drafted in nineteen. Of course, twenty
the season gets wiped out because of COVID and really,
(06:35):
I Joe, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.
I thought it would really regress a lot of young
prospects to have a year without competitive baseball. As it
turned out, some of them really used it to their advantage,
almost like a year of instructional league. And Volpi is
one of these guys. He hooked up with his personal
hitting coach, he made some swing changes, he gained ten pounds,
(06:56):
so I think playing not playing, but going through that
first year without playing, but training to be a professional.
In this case, give a kid credit. He put it
to use. And I think some times, even with some
of these pictures to work on some things without the
pressure of game environment. I've mixed feelings about whether that
you're hurt or help people. I guess it all dependent
(07:16):
on what approach they took. Yeah, and you know, the
talent level to begin with. I mean, this kid obviously
was good from the beginning. You might be referencing some
pictures are also very good to begin with. I just
Frank Howard said the best teacher of the game of
Baseball's nine innings, and I still believe that. You know,
the instructional leagues have really diminished in over the last
several years in regards to lamp that what's being taught
(07:37):
there and how we go about it, and everybody is
into this training component. But guys like Bulpy, they're probably
regardless if they played instructional league or played in twenty
twenty or twenty twenty one, whever, a lot still would
have been good. You know, some of these guys are
just good. I don't diminish the possibility that having a
little bit more time off possibly getting a little bit
(07:59):
stronger working on something specifically. Listen, you could probably argue
it both ways. But again, the really good guys, I
don't think it's going to matter. On the other side
of it, guys that maybe you're like fence guys, guys
that are trying to ascend, having had an opportunity maybe
to play more often and being seen it might have
impacted them. Again, I don't know. I don't have a
specific answer, but I do know I like guys playing baseball.
(08:22):
I do know I like the game being taught specifically,
fundamentally daily. And then again, you could argue for Volpi's
case because you know him better than I do, the
fact that that timedown really helped them a lot. All right,
Let's move on to number four. The fourth biggest storyline
coming into this season, and it's it's more of a
question than a statement. Who is going to be the
big surprise team come October? And I say that, Joe,
(08:45):
because I've gotten by this sort of rule of thumb
or trend every year when I watch people make their picks,
and it's very easy to pick the twelve best teams
on paper going to the postseason, or stick with the
playoff field from last year. No, folks, it doesn't happen.
Let me give you an amazing stat. In twenty eight
years since we went to the wildcard playoff system. Twenty
(09:07):
seven times there has been at least one team in
the postseason that had a losing record the year before,
and it's happened seventeen straight years. Okay, Alan average, it's
two point three per year that had a losing record
one year, it made the playoffs the next year. It's
(09:28):
just the nature of today's game. So when you make
your picks, folks, you better have a surprise team or
two in your bucket when it comes to these playoff brackets.
It just works that way. It's difficult to acknowledge which
ones you like and don't like. One of the things
I did find though, two biggest denominators, if you will,
in terms of breakout teams, improving on run prevention was
(09:51):
more important than run production and a new manager. Almost
forty percent of these turnaround teams had a new manager.
So that being said, Joe, I'm gonna throw out some
possibility for you. Teams I had losing records last year,
it just might be in the postseason this year. Okay,
You've got the Boston Red Sox, who really shouldn't have
(10:13):
been as down as they were last year, but were
Minnesota Twins Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs, and I'll throw the
Arizona Diamondbacks in there. So there's a handful of teams there,
and we're not going to see the Marlins or the
Nationals or the A's and the Pirates go to the postseason.
So I gave you five teams there, and I'll let
(10:33):
you go first here, and then I'll give you my
choice surprise playoff team this year. Well, I didn't realize
that Minnesota would be considered a surprise, but I kind
of like their pitching staff. That's part of the reason
why I like them, and also like Texas because of
their acquisitions plus Bocchi. So if there's going to be
a surprise between those two teams, I would choose both
(10:57):
of them. And I think they'll both fare a lot
better this year than they had last year. You know,
Texas has made a lot of good stuff. Simeon had
a tough start last year. Seeker's got to make some
adjustments at the play to not just wing it everything.
But again, they've done a nice job. But they're pitching too.
So those are my two teams. I mean, again, the
run prevention part of it. They both are somewhat better,
(11:18):
I think on defense, but I like their pitching, and
you know the Graham going there, he's got to stay healthy.
I get that. And the Minnesota side of things, I
just like that particular group. So glad to choose. I'd
say Minnesota in Texas. That's a great call. I say
that because I agree with you on both of those.
I think the Twins can win the Central and I
think the Rangers can get a wildcard spot. I do.
(11:40):
I love the addition of Bruce Bocci. I think Chris
Young is doing some amazing things there with the culture
and the people he's got in place. You mentioned Degram
difference maker. I know twenty six starts the last two years.
It is all about health, but I literally have not
seen a pitcher throw a baseball at the kind of
velocity in command that Jacob Degram does as a starting pitcher.
(12:03):
Every time he takes the ball. It's amazing to watch,
you know, Nathan of Aaldise there, Jacob Loizi, Andrew Heeney,
they've done a lot to improve their run prevention. So
Texas Rangers to me, coming off a really last couple
of years, really tough years for them, I think I've
got those two teams as well in the mix. So
I like Minnesota as well, the addition of Pablo Lopez,
(12:24):
their pitching staff, some of the things they do behind
the play. Christian Basquez now defense first catcher. I know
you gotta like that, Joe having a guy behind the
plate who is a defense first guy. No, I agree.
I like all of those things that you just said.
I meant to Gram. The Grom to me has the
easiest gas I've ever seen. And a couple years ago
when Zach Wheeler was available, I really like in Zach
(12:45):
Wheeler to de Grom. I know they pitched with the
Mets simultaneously, but I think Wheeler has that same kind
of ability to lift the really easy delivering the ball
comes out hot. And Andrew Heaney. I had Andrew with
the Angels, and I'd go up to him and I say, Andrew,
do you realize I'm telling you this. I tell them
I'm a good scout. You got one of the best
leftendant arms in the game. And I'm not even talking
(13:05):
about I don't care what the gun says. It's the
way the ball gets on the hitter. And for me,
I thought, if he really learned how to pitch with
his fastball primarily and not get hurt with the off
speed stuff. He could be really really good, meaning that
of course he's got to throw the other pitches, but
more like maybe early in the account ball strike and
(13:25):
then later in the catlan had to go strike ball,
but to not get hurt with off speed stuff in
his own because the fastball plays up. And also when
he gets in on right, he's There's a lot to
like about Andrew and just might be the right time
for him to develop. That is a great point. I
think that's a good sleeper candidate. There's been a lot
of teams who looked at Andrew's stuff, whether it's the
metrics of the pitches or just the way the ball
comes out of his hand. I'm talking about when the
(13:47):
Yankees traded for him, and some other teams he's pitched for.
The Dodgers saw it. There's a lot more in Andrew Heeney,
and it's been good, but there's a lot more in there.
And this could be the year. He's got Mike Maddox
as his pitching coach there in Texas as well, so
maybe that is a good combination. Agree, Hey, we're gonna
take a quick break and we come back. We're gonna
go to the number three biggest storylines of the year
(14:08):
and hangout, folks, We're going to Queens. What's up next?
Welcome back to the Book of Joe podcast. This is
our twenty twenty three Major League Baseball preview. We're up
to storyline number three and it has to be the
(14:29):
New York Mets most expensive team in baseball budget not
a problem for Steve Cohen and the New York Mets
coming off a great season last year in which San
Diego took them out really with their pitching in the
postseason after the Mets won one hundred and one games,
Will it end differently this time? It's interesting, Joe, because
(14:50):
I tend to like teams that are loaded, kind of
like your twenty sixteen Cubs team, that are loaded with
players in the prime of their career. Younger players tend
to be more predictable. I'm talking about established younger players
and get hurt less often. The Mets are on the
other end of the age spectrum. They're going older here,
especially at the front of the rotation, which is amazing
(15:12):
with Verlander and Scherzer. You know, the question is are
the Mets better than the Braves. Um, you know, they're
a playoff team, There's no question about it. There are
ninety five plus win team, no question about it. But
remember there's no Edwin Diaz at the back of the
bullpen based on his injury out of the WBC. So
Joe breakdown the Mets for me. I mean, are they
(15:33):
the team to beat in the National League? The payroll
says they are, But what do you think. I like,
the Phillies actually there and the Mets are they're they're
a little bit there's stuff going on there, you know.
Not having das as large, Autovino's gonna have to accept
a much larger role. The guy's done it in the past.
But as you suggest it, some of them are getting
a little bit long into tooth. Even there, they're two
(15:55):
biggest starters. And listen, I'm a huge Scherzery guy, and
no everybody is. However you are, it's longer in your career,
and to rely on these guys all the way through
into a long playoff season, I would almost bet that,
knowing Billy Upper they're they're probably already plotting how to
give them rest during the course of the middle of
the season or as it gets into August, in order
(16:15):
to keep them really strong and solving for the playoff run.
The team on the field, obviously, there's there's some nice
guys out there, but I don't know. I know there's
a lot of money being spent there, and there's a
lot of really good major league professionals. But I like
the Phillies. I like the Philly group. I like what
they did at the end of last year. I just
saw a projected lineup with Brandon Marshitty ninth, which that's
(16:36):
pretty solid. If he said he ninth, then I liked
their rotation. The Kit Suarez. I mean they're talking about
him like as a mid range starter. I like this
guy a lot. This guy has got kind of a
big balls, and he goes after hitters and he knows
how to miss bats right up to the top with
Noah and who's the other start of the really good
starting oh and Wheeler so and their bullpens got some
(16:59):
thunder two and they got they got, like I got
an edge. They have an edge. Planning in Philadelphia. You
have to bring it every day because if you don't,
you can hear about it. So for me, out of
all that national League stuff. This year, I think the
Phillies are going to get back to the World Series. Wow,
it's a big pick right there, knowing Ries Hoskins out
for the year. Bryce Harper maybe back in June. We'll see.
(17:22):
But yeah, I like the vibe there in Philly. They
do get after it, and I think the playoff experience
last years had got them hungry for more. I'm gonna
talk about a roster move the Mets made that will
bring us into our storyline Number two. The Mets say
goodbye to Darren Ruff. They traded for him last year.
He was a right handed half of a platoon, really
(17:42):
didn't hit. They ate three and a half million dollars
on his contract and they kept Tim Lecastro. To me,
you know, Rough didn't hit. Probably he was in danger anyway,
But that speaks to how the game is changing in
twenty twenty three. You have Lecastor on your bench who's
a premier defender and especially a base runner in a
(18:02):
year in which we are changing the rules to encourage
more base stealing and more athleticism. That's a back end
of the roster move, but that is a move that
can win games for the New York Mets. I looked
at that and I said, hmm, that's not going to
get a lot of attention. But the Mets and Billy
Eppler are paying attention to roster constructions so to refresh
(18:24):
for people, and this is our storyline. Number two. Three
big rule changes this year. Number one a pitch clock.
It's fabulous, folks. I'm sure most of you have seen
spring training games. On average, they're taking twenty six minutes
less than they did last year, with slightly more runs.
Who doesn't want that? We all do stolen bases. The
(18:45):
success rate jumped from seventy one percent to seventy seven percent.
Doesn't sound like much, but let me tell you in
an analytical world, that is huge. That will encourage teams
to run more and that's because of the bigger bases.
That was rule number two. And of course there's no
shift this year, and that is just heaven sent for
(19:06):
left handed hitters. You can now hit a groundball hard
to the right side and actually get a hit. So
with those three rules, I think you're going to see
faster games, more stolen bases, more offense this year. So
you can take your pick out of any of those Joe,
which one do you think is going to have the
biggest impact on the twenty three season. Oh? Man, well,
(19:29):
I think the shift. I love the pace clock, but
I think the shift is going to permit or the
lack of the shift that's going to permit left handed
hitters to really some guys that have been kind of
mentally destroyed by the whole thing. I mean, we can't
be evaluated is how many times hit the ball hard
on the pool side and there's three guys standing there
and you go back to the dugout and you're out,
(19:50):
And now you're gonna hit something off the hands, You're
gonna roll something over off the end of the bat.
It's gonna get through contact not nearly as good, but
you're gonna feel really really good about yourself, which then
leads to more hits because you go up to the
plate more confident, and it really just that's just how
hitting works. Sometimes you take the bloop. There's a lot
of guys that will take the broken back that lands
(20:11):
on the left field fall and a left hand hitter
as opposed to the one hot bullet to the second basement.
So I think that's going to have a really big
impact on other stolen basis again, I well, you're talking
about the castro versus rough. I mean, the teams are
gonna have to make the determination do I want to
pinch hitter or a platoon guy, or do I want
somebody to pinch one late in the game that absolutely
(20:33):
can steal a base and put me in scoring position
with nobody out to start off the ninth inning. Perhaps,
So those are the kind of things I think our
pertinent point is though with the larger basis, I'm still
curious with front office is how they the perspective of
the front office and what they're going to permit to
(20:53):
be done there or not done. I mean, if teams
get off for a certain player gets off who they
thought was going to steal and all of a sudden
is not getting thrown out a little bit, they might
put pull the reins in on him. And that's all
I'm with the stolen base. I know the bigger bases,
everybody's saying that. I know the throwers, everybody's saying that.
But I think the pitchout's going to become more prominent.
And I tell you what, if a team though somebody's
(21:14):
going to pitch out that really that's one of the
greatest deterrence as I found when I manage and when
I'm managing the texasly we're playing a five game series,
and I tell my picture, listen, please be patient. I
might pitch out even twice in this game because I
want to put the seed of dot in this team's head.
So I want to do it early in a series,
(21:35):
so other teams think about that. And the other thing
is the backup. So I pick off from the from
the ketcher did the first base when you're gonna see
something more prominent with that, you could even see, you know,
a pitchout, pick it for a space. I mean, there's
different ways to deter these guys from getting really big leads.
So you get to the Okay, we're gonna get to
the point where I've already thrown over two times and
(21:57):
in few showing a propensity to go at that point,
why not just drop a pickoff in, I mean a
pitchout in. And then finally spring training, I don't know this,
but I have to believe they're working on some quick
steps getting to the ball to the catching more quickly,
so bigger basses and the pitcher was average one five
to the plate I mean smaller bases. The guy was
won five, the bigger bases, he's won three. Not the same.
(22:20):
So if they if they, if they're smart enough to
really work on it in camp and get it down
to the point where it becomes comfortable, I think they
can mitigate this. So I'm just I'm curious. Yeah, I
am too, Joe. And I can tell you that, you know,
watching spring training games, two things along those lines jumped
out of me where you really don't know until you
see it in practice, and I mean major league regular season,
(22:41):
because I think with the stolen bases and spring training,
I get the sense of teams we're really testing it. Right,
Sure you might as well. That was the time you
run these plays. See if guys can get bags. I
mean the White Sox for stealing bases. They're not a
team that steals bases, but they took advantage of the rules.
Let's see once the season starts. That I'll wait to see.
I do think there will be more stolen bases. It
(23:01):
may not be earth shaking, that's a I interrupted, that's
one hundred percent right, that's one hundred percent right. Spring
training you try all these different things, and I know
that was like probably the topic of conversation when they
came in the door of the first meeting. Hey, we're
gonna try to steal more bases. My big thing was
going first to third. I wanted guys to get out thrown.
You could get thrown out going first to third as
(23:23):
often as you want, but I want you to try
to go first to third as often as you can.
But with the stolen base gig, they don't care if
you get thrown out in spring training. But I'm telling
you once the season begins and outs are made on
the bases and again, who I'm curious Because if I'm
running that thing, I'm the pitching coach of the manager,
I would insist that they're in camp. If you were,
(23:44):
like I said one five last year, let's bring it
down at least one three to five. To me, that
does not impact your stuff. I actually I think sometimes
it improves it because I like front foot pitcher up
and down. Get that foot up and down just like
you hit or get your front foot down. I don't
think there's any loss of a lossity to actually believe
that there's a potential impact with greater command. So all
these things, to me, I want to see it out
(24:04):
how seriously or how the pitchers themselves, how how much
that they believe it's important. That's really what it's going
to come down to. But it could be it's it
could be done. You could make the adjustments to actually
whatever that length is in regards to time, three inches
on each side. By adjusting your time to the plate,
you could get it back to where it had been. Yeah,
(24:24):
and obviously that was a point of emphasis throughout spraying
on the backfields, getting these pitchers to defend the running
game better. I think you're you're big bodied, max effort
relievers are going to have a really tough time with
the clock and the bass. I look at that and say, oh, oh,
they're in trouble. But here's the other thing that jumped
out of me. And you made a great point about this,
that spring training is so different than having, you know,
(24:47):
things of importance on the line in a regular season game.
That that's the test lab. Now we're getting into the
real play coming up on Thursday, And this is how
it affects starting pitching. The pitch clock. And I've talked
to a lot of baseball people and they have two
different perspectives on this one. Is saying, you know what,
there's less recovery between pitches, which is literally true. Guys
(25:08):
would get in the gym, or maybe they started to
get fatigue. They're twenty five pitches into an inning, they
can walk off the back of the mount and literally
gather themselves physically and get a second win. You cannot
do that now. And then I have other people tell me, well,
you know what, the pitch clock is forcing these guys
to be more efficient. They're going to get quicker outs.
(25:28):
They're going to disarm the hitters who are used to
cracking nuclear codes every time they're wait for a pitch
to see what's coming. And so there's two schools of
thought here. But we may wind up with starting pitchers. Actually,
if you can believe this throwing less, well, I'm talking
about less innings because throwing ninety pitches under a pitch
(25:49):
clock is not the same as throwing ninety pitches when
you can take as much darn time as you want.
I'm curious to see how that plays out, Joe, we
may be looking at shorter starts from starting pitchers. I
agree with that one hundred percent. That was my big
thing from the beginning to anything and I don't know
how much that's been really scrutinized, because again, this is
(26:10):
spring training. These guys can throw. They're gonna throw up
maybe eventually up to ninety pitches by their last start,
but prior to that they're throwing. Maybe they go from
a twenty five, thirty forty up to fifty sixty, up
to seventy eighty, So that's different. And then then again,
let's do it every five or six days all of April, May, June, July,
(26:31):
and then all of a sudden, this this starts adding
up and it takes its toll. That is why I
think I like the six man rotation. I do, and
I believe that sometimes in today's game, by having six starters,
you might find it easier to find six starters that
you like as opposed to five, which is counterintuitive also,
but the point would be that I think it could
(26:53):
reduce the risk of injury. It would reduce the risk
of this thing we're talking about right here, kind of
burn up from having to throw every fifteen twenty seconds
and now you may need and they're not going to
want it to pitch us. No, I'm good. I worked
out differently. I worked out harder. I got it. You know,
you can hear all that kind of stuff too, but
until we actually go through it, you're not going to know. Again,
(27:17):
I love the rule. I think it's that's to me,
that's the one rule, that's the only rule for me
that should have been in place over everything else. But
beyond that, I'm curious because I think the rapidity with
which you have to throw the ball is going to
have an impact. Yeah, and by the way, you're absolutely
a hundred percent right with the six man rotation that
is going to be, based on what I've heard from
(27:37):
around the league standard procedure, at least in the first
two months of the season. I can tell you that
I don't know that there's any team that's locked into
with guys pitching on the fifth day. First of all,
more starts are made on five days rest now than
on four, so we've been in a transition mode anyway.
But I think this is going to make the six
man rotation status quo in the big leagues. I'm in
(27:58):
on that. I think it makes a big difference. And
if you're because the big thing is health, you want
to keep guys healthy, right, And with the Angel situation,
with showy being used to that that was already a
locked in situation. But I would just from the minor
league perspective, you have to start nurturing, you know, not
just a six or the seventh guy. I have to
have up to maybe nine, maybe ten guys that you
(28:19):
could believe could at least get out there and represent
you well on any particular date, because during the course
of the season there's going to be attrition, and you've
got to go way deeper than just looking at five
or six starters at the beginning of the year. One
last thought of the pitch clock, I think overall, especially
when it comes to position players, it will keep players healthier.
I mean, already players are talking about being off their
(28:40):
feet that extra half hour to forty five minutes. Multiply
that over one hundred and sixty two games season. I mean,
Joey Voda talked about getting games back in your career.
I mean literally, the attrition factor in baseball, even if
it's not, you know, an explosive sport so to speak,
like football or basketball. You know this, Joe. You get
(29:01):
these three and a half four hour games night after night,
there's wear and tear. That's when you start having those
lower body injuries, the quads, the hammy's, and I think
it's just my guests here. Let's see again how it
plays out. I think it's going to keep position players healthier.
That's part of my philosophy on more of a limited pregame.
Also Kenny Guy system. I don't want my relief pitcher
(29:24):
standing in the outfield shagging flyballs. As an example, the
guys on the field getting groundballs, the early work to
extra work that a lot of these teams are choreographing
right now, to me, that's just that's just I wash
a lot of times. Yes, we all need work. I
understand that, I get it. But you have to be very,
very vigilant and understand that each guy's got only so
many moments standing on the field working on a particular skill.
(29:45):
The point of diminishing returns is gonna set in. It's
gonna set in, and you have to be wary of that.
And so all of this stuff that we're talking about.
The two superstars of performance are the breath and rest.
Those are the two high performance superstars. And I think
if you pay more attention to that and us to
all these different kinds of choreograph moments that you're everybody
(30:07):
finds interesting. You're gonna get a better result. We just
talked about I think the most monumental rule changes in
baseball since I don't know, maybe going back to the
DH right, baseball will look and be played extremely differently
this year. But that's not even my number one storyline
going into this season. Cool, what is We'll tell you
(30:28):
after this very groovy? All right? What's bigger than major
League Baseball having a clock for the first time? What
is bigger than bigger stall basis? What is bigger than
getting rid of the shift, which, by the way, hurt
(30:50):
Corey seeger more than any hit or the big leagues
last year. Well, he's bigger than anything in the game,
and that is Showhey, Otani, he is the biggest story
of this season. He obviously is a free agent at
the end of the season. Artie Moreno, owner of the Angels,
told me, as long as the Angels are in contention,
he is not trading him at the deadline now already
(31:12):
told me he had five deals on the table last
trade deadline, did not trade his superstar. I asked him
what happens if you're not in contention, and he said
I'm not answering that because we built this team to
contend and you're asking me to create a theory based
on a business plan that's not one that we're adhering to.
(31:35):
So he didn't want to go down that route. I
get that, And actually, Joe, it's hard for me to
believe that in a world with six teams go to
the playoffs in each league, the Angels will be so
bad with the additions they made that they'll be hopelessly
out of the race by the middle of July. So
it looks like Otani is an Angel all year. So
(31:56):
the question now is how much can he really keep
this up and where does he want to go from here? Now,
if you watched the WBC and you watched what he
did in that tournament, this is a guy, and Joe,
I'm not exaggerating here. He may be looking at half
a billion dollars in his next contract. Yeah, ten times fifty.
(32:17):
He raised his hand and not only said I want
to play in a WBC, but I want to start.
And if we're in a situation with a one run
game against Team USA for the championship, while I've been
dhing all night, running the bases and sliding. I want
to warm up in the bullpen like I'm back in
Little league, in between the bats and close the game.
And when he did that, it's this is amazing. The
(32:40):
last pitch that he threw was literally the best breaking
ball he threw as a Major league or to strike
out Mike Trout. When you broke it down in velocity,
spin rate and the break on the pitch, it was
literally the best breaking ball he has ever thrown. And oh,
by the way, the pitch before that was his second
fastest pitch he's ever thrown over one oh one. I mean,
(33:01):
this guy is just a freak. I don't have to
convince Madden of that. You saw it up close. But
I think Joe, what we watched in that WBC is
a guy who more than anything wants to win. That
environment brought out the best in Shohei Otani, and I
think with just a taste of that anyone he went
(33:23):
over there too. In Japan. It wasn't like it was
the first time he won. But the US fan I
got a chance to see Shohei Otani pitching in important
games and hitting in important games, and they saw this
guy go next level. That's why I say He is
the story of this season. No argument, zero argument. He is. Wow.
I was watching that whole thing unfold, And of course
(33:45):
he's not gonna be able to do that every day
because he was that jacked up. I've never seen him
that animated. Ever. He may have done that looked that
way in Japan at some point. He's always been Um,
you know, he's he's high energy all the time, but
not that animated he was. He was wanting to get
that done. He was playing for his country there and
he's played against his teammate and his friend, and wow,
(34:05):
it was that is that is as good as show
can throw the baseball. No question longevity wise, how long
could he do this? Everybody always, any scout's going to
start that that question off with with good health, right, Um,
there's there's no time limit on this fella. And if
you had to pick one or the other, he probably
would probably think if he's gonna get hurt, it's going
(34:26):
to be as a pitcher as opposed to a pitch
position player first. But I don't know he is. He
is like so locked in mentally right now. He takes
such great care of himself. He's already been through some surgeries. Um,
he's gonna he just he's very instinctive. He knows himself
really well. Longevity wise, you know, nobody knows. But um, yeah,
(34:48):
half a billion. I think it could exceed that. Actually,
I think at the end of the day, there's gonna
be such a bidding word for this fella. And part
of that is the fact that I think he'll go
anywhere now and not just stay on the West Coast.
So this opens up other venues for him. Um, So
I think all of that is in play final point,
trade him or not. Yeah, I think from the Eagles perspective,
I do like a lot of what they have done
(35:09):
this year, like the like the couple of the kind
of like the veteran players that they've included, like Drury
as an example in renfro or Shell. I like that
a lot because Pray and I had talked about those
guys in the past, and I like, I like their
pitchkins have always liked the young starters there. But I mean,
if you don't feel as though you legitimately have a
chance to go all the way to the World Series,
(35:29):
you still have to consider trading him, I believe. I
mean the take on that is going to be pretty
pretty darn large. It's kind of herschel Walker esque. I
think at that point, when you get to the latter
part of the year and the team is in it,
you're going to really come home with some really nice players.
So it's gonna be difficult, I think, to walk away
from that and just eventually get nothing for him except
(35:50):
for a pick. So that's going to be interesting to watch.
But yeah, okay. I think the big things are the
fact that now he's been more Americanized, he will go anywhere.
This is my opinion. He hasn't told me that longevity
like anybody else. It's just sometimes it's just a flip
of the coin. But the trade value, wow. And I
(36:10):
know it's it's hard to do that regarding your home
fan base whatever. But I think unless unless they really
feel by that time that they have a shot to
do it all, i'd really feel strong consideration to trade him. Wow.
That's interesting. A couple of things they are. Number One,
obviously have known show Hey since he got to the
big leagues, and just standing next to him in the
clubhouse during the WBC, Joe and you've seen this too,
(36:32):
he has literally grown. Oh yeah, and he has his
man muscles now, and I think you are actually going
to see better from Shohiotani than what we've already seen,
which is amazing. And you know how hard this guy works.
This guy is so focused on preparing his body. Basically,
baseball is his hobby and I'll play video games, I
(36:52):
get that, but he devotes his downtime, if you will,
to the game of baseball and preparing himself. Just so
impressed by how large he is and has maintained hand flexibility.
That's the key. You watch him throw a baseball, I
don't feel like it's max effort. I feel like the
way his body moves, he's like Michael Phelps. The way
he's built, with the long levers and total like off
(37:16):
the charts flexibility. Those a bode well going forward. But
you made I want to get back to your point.
This is not a small thing because if you remember
when Shohei came over as an international free agent, one
of the first things he did was rule out the
big market teams on the East Coast. I mean, the
Yankees had set aside as much international signing money as
they could. They wanted out any more than anything in
(37:37):
the world. Why not and he basically said, Nope, I
don't want New York. I don't want Boston, not going
East coast. The Yankees turned around and traded for John
Carlos Stanton. Now you're telling me that he's been here,
now this will be a sixth year, you think he's
more open to markets and teams. That's my opinion. I
really haven't had that conversation. But if you think about
(37:57):
it when he first came over, because I sat across
from him at that table at his agency there and
I was there with deal and the Cup contingency, and
you know, this is a great kid, a humble kid,
but you can see there was still like a reticence.
This is like a big deal, and I got to
come here, and he probably thought at that point some
thing closer to home was important. And I get it.
(38:18):
That's like by six hours, which dust doesn't seem like
a whole lot, but if you're gonna be flying back
and forth, that does turn out to be a lot
over the course of time, family members coming by. But
now the fact that he's kind of like taken over them,
not just the West Coast or the United States, He's
taken over the world baseball wise, he's right now the
(38:38):
most grand attraction there is. I think he's Uh. You
saw him, like I said, you saw him when they
won the game. You saw his attitude, his confidence level,
his animation, all these things. Now I think Tommy opens
everything up, opens everything up. I don't think he'll be
as intimidated possibly by playing in a New York or
(38:59):
Boston or whatever, like maybe he probably had in the
beginning because he didn't know and he was Rookie of
the Year and all that stuff. But I was there
in twenty twenty when he had a really hard year. Man,
it was not easy hitting the ball, throwing the ball.
It was a very tough year for him, and which
you saw in twenty twenty one was not at all
like what I saw in twenty twenty. So there may
have been some kind of like a doubt in his head.
(39:21):
Who knows based on all of that. But now I
think any any sumission of doubt has been eradicated, and
so now he's ready to conquer the world. And I
think you could do it anywhere. Well, I know, watching
the WBC and we knew this already, but it really
convinced me that if you're a fan of baseball. We
(39:42):
need to see show Hey Otani and Mike Trout in
the postseason. I thought it brought out the best of them. Trout,
as you know, another super even keeled guy, has a
great attitude about playing the game. He was jacked up.
I mean he called it the most fun experience of
his life playing those two weeks with Team USA. And
as you mentioned, you saw us Showhy more and made
(40:04):
it than he's ever been before. You put things on
the line, the great players find another level and you
saw that with shoe Hey and Mike and it's kind
it's a shame. There's no other word to say this, Joe,
but it's a shame that baseball hasn't been able to
see these guys on the biggest stage for everybody to
appreciate them. And whether it's with the Angels or somebody else,
(40:27):
I hope that that day comes soon. I agree. I mean,
the talent is oppressive. You've got to be with these
guys every day, and i'd, like you alluded to, we're
talking like not only great athletes, but big great athletes.
I mean, Mikey could definitely be playing for the Eagles.
I mean, there's no question in my mind and show
if he was if he wanted to, you could play
the basketball or or football. They're that great of athletes.
(40:49):
They could run, they got great bodies that moved. The
body moved so well. And yeah, i'd love to see
them both there at the end of the season. And
like you're suggesting here, saying that baseball fantasy to see
stuff like that. That's that's also part of the allure.
We're trying to attract more fans. We're trying to get
more people not only in the stands, but just to watch.
You just got to get eyeballs on these guys, and
(41:11):
so yeah, I'd love to see that happen for them.
I'm such a big fan of these these guys and
all those fellas in the Angel locker room. I mean
that there's so many good dudes in that locker room.
So it'd be wonderful to see that. And yes, it'd
be wonderful for baseball. Well, Joe, before we get out
of here, Opening Day is Thursday. As I mentioned, it's
sort of an unofficial national holiday, at least in my book.
And I'm wondering if you have a favorite Opening Day
(41:35):
memory that stands out, because there's something about opening Day.
That I mean, yeah, everybody's got hopes and dreams and
all those things, but it seems like things to happen
on opening day. Whether it's Toughie Roads hitting three home
runs or Emilio Botifasio getting inside the ballpark home run,
it's indelible if it happens on opening day. So something
in your mind that stands out above some others as
(41:57):
far as opening Day goes, well, I have to if
you don't mind opening day is, as you know, that's special.
My first one I didn't have because in ninety four
I just got called up during the season. But starting
in ninety five, I had one. And what it is
to me, you actually got nerves. I got nervous going
out to the line, just just running to the line
(42:17):
on opening day. Whether it's my first year in ninety
five up to my last year to this point in
twenty nineteen or twenty twenty one, twenty one, twenty two,
there's this there's this this buzz nervousness throughout your body
that it is opening day. So that's the first part.
The second part is when I run up there. Since
(42:40):
my dad passed away and my uncle Rick, I always
go up there to the line and I put him
in a seat. I put him in a seat. Look
in the stands, there might be an empty seat here there.
And I put my dad there and my uncle Rick there.
Uncle Rick because I lived the creek in Long Beach
when I first got my job with the Angels in
nineteen ninety four. But that's it. That's that's my gig
on opening day. So they all kind of like are
(43:03):
the same, because there's this nervousness about it that's hard
to describe. But you go out there and then you're
all looking around. You're looking around. Who comes the anthem?
Let's get this going. Come on, let's get back inside
the dug out, Let's go. But the big thing for
me is looking to the stance, picking out two seats
next to one another so these guys can sit there
and enjoy the game. So that's my opening days and
(43:26):
the major league level is to fight through the jitters
and then place my papam Uncle Rick in his seats
where I can see them. That is such a cool story.
I've never heard that before, and I knew you to
come up with something that was just fascinating and that
you did not disappoint for me. I'll go back to
my first opening day as a beat writer. I've been
covering Major League Baseball for a few years, but I'm
(43:48):
on the Yankees in nineteen eighty five, and I wake
up and it's in Boston. The Yankees are opening in
Boston against the Red Sox, and it's snowing, which was
kind of cool. It wasn't the snow that would wipe
out the game, but it was like being in a
snow globe. It was just a bright sunny day. It
happened to have a snow storm come through. I got
out to the ballpark super early, as the first time.
(44:10):
I walked on the warning track in front of the
Monster in left field, and it was quiet, almost like
a cathedral, being there in church before the doors open.
And then I'll never forget looking up at the Green
Monster and seeing the face of the Green Monster looks
like a titleist. It's got all these dents and dimples
in it from balls say. I could not never saw
that on television, but seeing it up close in the
(44:30):
quiet moment that that just struck me. And I felt
so privileged to be there walking the outfield at Fenway
before opening day. By the way, the Yankees that lose
the game nine to two. They lose the next day
Sunding like fourteen to five. And it was after that
second game I got my indoctrine into being a Yankee.
Beat writer. George Steinbreder gets the press together after the
(44:52):
game and he says, tomorrow is a critical, crucial game.
It was the third game of the season. Joe, welcome
to cover and the Yankees. Of course they lost game
three as well. That's awesome, but yeah, that's looking forward
to some new memories again on Thursday, opening day for
the twenty twenty three Major League season. Beautiful, We'll enjoy yourself, buddy,
(45:15):
I'll be watching. Yeah, it'll be fun, there's no doubt
about it. We went through the five biggest storylines and
it's it's going to be exciting, no question about it.
So beyond that, Joe, you got something to take us
home as we get these twenty three season underway. Yeah,
you kind of made me pointing me in this direction.
It has something else. But once you talked about Showhey
and Mike, you know the fact that the way that
(45:36):
Showhey reacted in the fact that he has some success
in Japan but really has not had it as readily
here in the United States, and Mike's still searching for
that postseason game and success. But both were so impacted
by the atmosphere around the WBC and it had a
great impact on their psyche. So for me, I love
(45:57):
this line. I don't know I got it from or
what's an attribute to, but a mind once stretched has
a very difficult time going back to its original form.
So they definitely had their minds stretched during the WBC,
whether it was competitively against one another's show a versus trot,
just the fact that showe wanted the vibe within that ballpark.
I want more of this. It's kind of a drug. Man.
(46:19):
That's there's nothing like Major League playoff baseball. I can't
agree more. You know, I'm very fortunate. I've done that often.
I'm looking forward to doing it again. But a mind
one stretched as a very difficult time going back to
its original form, and I think Show and Michael both
experienced that. I love that thought. Very cool. Happy opening day, Joe,
will see you next time, you two, brother. Thank you.
(46:47):
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The Book of Joe podcast is a production of iHeartRadio.
Hey there you found us. It's the most interesting podcast
in the business. It's The Book of Joe with me,
Tom Berducci, and of course Joe Madden. And this is
a special edition twenty twenty three MLB preview issue. Yeah,
(00:30):
opening Day right around the corner, and Joe, we're going
to go through what I've picked out as the five
biggest storylines heading into this season. But before we get there,
I have to ask you how you are doing because
I think about opening Day and I think of wait
a second, Joe Madden is not in a uniform somewhere
on opening Day, So tell me what that feeling is like. Yeah,
(00:53):
that's exactly right. I thought I have thought about that,
excuse me, the last couple of days, but it hasn't
been burning through me by any means. I don't know
what that means. I've been really busy between book signing,
in our podcast and a little bit of golf, and
my kids are over here last night, private events things
like that. So I mean keeping busy. I on the ball.
I mean like this stuff like we're doing today, and
(01:14):
the podcast in general has permitted me to stay on
top of my baseball intellect whatever. But for the most part, Wow,
I'm not as buckled as I you know, you think
I would be. I will watch a couple of games,
I believe I want to start doing that a little
bit in the event that's something would have transpired during
the year. I gotta stay concurrent. But overall, man, I'm
doing okay. Yeah. By the way, opening Day, all thirty
(01:36):
teams are playing. I think that's a great idea. It's
sort of an unofficial national holiday in my book, to
see the teams out there, the foul lines, the anthems,
it's I can't wait for it. And I'm just stoked
about this baseball season, Joe, And we'll get into the
new rules and some of the reasons why it's I
think going to be a very exciting season. But let's
(01:56):
start with what I picked out. We'll go into reverse
order here. By the way, biggest storylines of this season.
Number five is young players making an impact. Now, I
go back to twenty fifteen when you had Chris Bryant
absolutely killing the Cactus League. And back then, of course
he couldn't make the Cubs opening day roster. There were
(02:16):
some issues there with service time, which went pretty much
unsaid from the Cubs end. But now I see last
year you had a guy like Julio Rodriguez to the
Mariners make their opening day roster at twenty one, kind
of scuffled for three weeks, no home runs, hitting under
two hundred, and wow, he came on and had a
huge season, won the American League Rookie of the Year.
(02:37):
This year, I'm gonna throw some names at you. Anthony
Volpi is the shortstop opening day for the New York Yankees. Yeah,
he's twenty one years old, He's from New Jersey. A
lot of Derek Jeter comparisons you will hear. This kid
won the job in spring training. Jordan Walker outfielder Saint
Louis Cardinals six six, two fifty. Originally a third baseman
(02:59):
of course, that belongs to Nolan Arnatto in Saint Louis,
so Walker will be in the outfield. He absolutely tore
it up in spring training. And Oscar Colas of the
Chicago White Sox is their new right fielder. We've heard
a lot about him over the last couple of years.
So Joe, I want to get your take on when
you have a young player, especially someone. Now these days,
we see these guys coming a mile away. Nobody shows
(03:21):
up in spring training, the elite guys anyway unannounced, so
there's expectations right away on every player, but especially that
high profile prospect. Give me a sense of how you
handle these type of young players and trying to get
their feet on the ground. Well, first of all, I
know what the rule was you're talking about with KB
and the fact that I have to wait a couple
of weeks before you clumb up, But overall, that's not
(03:42):
a bad thing to do, because sometimes if you let
these guys go out and start the season the triple.
I know this is counterintuitive and I'm not talking about
the rule at all right now, but if you let
them go out and get their feet on the ground,
get their swing going, get in kind of a nice rhythm,
and then bring them up, that's not a bad thing.
Longori did the same thing with the Rays and then
hit the ground running. I think KB did pretty well
(04:02):
once he came up, so I know the rule was there,
and I know there was a lot of complaining about that. However,
making the team out of spring training is different. There's
a different mental component to it. You come and again,
we can talk about spring training numbers all day long.
I'm not a big fan. It just does not normally
play out unless the guy's got a great track record, whatever.
But spring training can be deceptive. But on that note,
(04:24):
I do like I do like a guy starting out
before he comes up. And then beyond that, how do
you get to these guys? And again, you have to
have them understand and because there's gonna be a lot
of hype. I looked at the New York Post today,
volpay is right up front and they're talking about him,
and I thought to myself, Wow, somebody within that clubhouse,
I'm certain, because the New York's used to it, had
(04:45):
to have gotten to him and say, listen, you're there,
everybody's talking about it, but please just be yourself, go
play your game. And it sounds like that he may
do that, But that would be the biggest thing is
to I get guys. I always got the young guys,
and I would bring him in. I would say, do
you know what I want you to do? Differently now
that you're on the big league team where he made
the team out of spring training, they look at you
and say what, and I said nothing. I really want
(05:07):
you to do nothing differently. I want you to go
out there like you had been in the minor leagues,
how you've been in spring training, and go out there
and try to be the same cat. So those are
the kind of things that early in the season, a
lot of deception going on. People fall in love. But
guys like Bulpi Walker and against Coloss, as you said,
they sound legit, but I don't mind a youngster starting
(05:28):
a trip away before he comes up. Yeah. Of course,
they put some rules in place in the last CBA
to sort of encourage teams to carry these better prospects
from opening day. You can get a draft pick if
someone winds up with support for Rookie of the Year awards.
So I think it is working. I think teams are
more likely to carry their players on the opening game
roster now than they did, say, back in twenty fifteen.
(05:51):
Chris Bryant, by the way, in twenty fifteen, took him
twenty one games to get his first home run, but
he did get his hits. He wasn't really scuffling. The
power came, of course, you know, it's like early in
the season anyway in Chicago. But that certainly turned out
to be his success story. Chris was Rookie of the
Year and then the MVP the next year, and all
good things happened for him. Volpi, it sounds like, and
(06:13):
I've met him before, a great kid. Parents are great
makeup off the charts. I mean, this guy basically played
minor league ball in his home county of New Jersey,
living at home. He had some buddies on the team
staying with him at the time, and it's a great
story because he gets drafted in nineteen. Of course, twenty
the season gets wiped out because of COVID and really,
(06:35):
I Joe, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.
I thought it would really regress a lot of young
prospects to have a year without competitive baseball. As it
turned out, some of them really used it to their advantage,
almost like a year of instructional league. And Volpi is
one of these guys. He hooked up with his personal
hitting coach, he made some swing changes, he gained ten pounds,
(06:56):
so I think playing not playing, but going through that
first year without playing, but training to be a professional.
In this case, give a kid credit. He put it
to use. And I think some times, even with some
of these pictures to work on some things without the
pressure of game environment. I've mixed feelings about whether that
you're hurt or help people. I guess it all dependent
(07:16):
on what approach they took. Yeah, and you know, the
talent level to begin with. I mean, this kid obviously
was good from the beginning. You might be referencing some
pictures are also very good to begin with. I just
Frank Howard said the best teacher of the game of
Baseball's nine innings, and I still believe that. You know,
the instructional leagues have really diminished in over the last
several years in regards to lamp that what's being taught
(07:37):
there and how we go about it, and everybody is
into this training component. But guys like Bulpy, they're probably
regardless if they played instructional league or played in twenty
twenty or twenty twenty one, whever, a lot still would
have been good. You know, some of these guys are
just good. I don't diminish the possibility that having a
little bit more time off possibly getting a little bit
(07:59):
stronger working on something specifically. Listen, you could probably argue
it both ways. But again, the really good guys, I
don't think it's going to matter. On the other side
of it, guys that maybe you're like fence guys, guys
that are trying to ascend, having had an opportunity maybe
to play more often and being seen it might have
impacted them. Again, I don't know. I don't have a
specific answer, but I do know I like guys playing baseball.
(08:22):
I do know I like the game being taught specifically,
fundamentally daily. And then again, you could argue for Volpi's
case because you know him better than I do, the
fact that that timedown really helped them a lot. All right,
Let's move on to number four. The fourth biggest storyline
coming into this season, and it's it's more of a
question than a statement. Who is going to be the
big surprise team come October? And I say that, Joe,
(08:45):
because I've gotten by this sort of rule of thumb
or trend every year when I watch people make their picks,
and it's very easy to pick the twelve best teams
on paper going to the postseason, or stick with the
playoff field from last year. No, folks, it doesn't happen.
Let me give you an amazing stat. In twenty eight
years since we went to the wildcard playoff system. Twenty
(09:07):
seven times there has been at least one team in
the postseason that had a losing record the year before,
and it's happened seventeen straight years. Okay, Alan average, it's
two point three per year that had a losing record
one year, it made the playoffs the next year. It's
(09:28):
just the nature of today's game. So when you make
your picks, folks, you better have a surprise team or
two in your bucket when it comes to these playoff brackets.
It just works that way. It's difficult to acknowledge which
ones you like and don't like. One of the things
I did find though, two biggest denominators, if you will,
in terms of breakout teams, improving on run prevention was
(09:51):
more important than run production and a new manager. Almost
forty percent of these turnaround teams had a new manager.
So that being said, Joe, I'm gonna throw out some
possibility for you. Teams I had losing records last year,
it just might be in the postseason this year. Okay,
You've got the Boston Red Sox, who really shouldn't have
(10:13):
been as down as they were last year, but were
Minnesota Twins Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs, and I'll throw the
Arizona Diamondbacks in there. So there's a handful of teams there,
and we're not going to see the Marlins or the
Nationals or the A's and the Pirates go to the postseason.
So I gave you five teams there, and I'll let
(10:33):
you go first here, and then I'll give you my
choice surprise playoff team this year. Well, I didn't realize
that Minnesota would be considered a surprise, but I kind
of like their pitching staff. That's part of the reason
why I like them, and also like Texas because of
their acquisitions plus Bocchi. So if there's going to be
a surprise between those two teams, I would choose both
(10:57):
of them. And I think they'll both fare a lot
better this year than they had last year. You know,
Texas has made a lot of good stuff. Simeon had
a tough start last year. Seeker's got to make some
adjustments at the play to not just wing it everything.
But again, they've done a nice job. But they're pitching too.
So those are my two teams. I mean, again, the
run prevention part of it. They both are somewhat better,
(11:18):
I think on defense, but I like their pitching, and
you know the Graham going there, he's got to stay healthy.
I get that. And the Minnesota side of things, I
just like that particular group. So glad to choose. I'd
say Minnesota in Texas. That's a great call. I say
that because I agree with you on both of those.
I think the Twins can win the Central and I
think the Rangers can get a wildcard spot. I do.
(11:40):
I love the addition of Bruce Bocci. I think Chris
Young is doing some amazing things there with the culture
and the people he's got in place. You mentioned Degram
difference maker. I know twenty six starts the last two years.
It is all about health, but I literally have not
seen a pitcher throw a baseball at the kind of
velocity in command that Jacob Degram does as a starting pitcher.
(12:03):
Every time he takes the ball. It's amazing to watch,
you know, Nathan of Aaldise there, Jacob Loizi, Andrew Heeney,
they've done a lot to improve their run prevention. So
Texas Rangers to me, coming off a really last couple
of years, really tough years for them, I think I've
got those two teams as well in the mix. So
I like Minnesota as well, the addition of Pablo Lopez,
(12:24):
their pitching staff, some of the things they do behind
the play. Christian Basquez now defense first catcher. I know
you gotta like that, Joe having a guy behind the
plate who is a defense first guy. No, I agree.
I like all of those things that you just said.
I meant to Gram. The Grom to me has the
easiest gas I've ever seen. And a couple years ago
when Zach Wheeler was available, I really like in Zach
(12:45):
Wheeler to de Grom. I know they pitched with the
Mets simultaneously, but I think Wheeler has that same kind
of ability to lift the really easy delivering the ball
comes out hot. And Andrew Heaney. I had Andrew with
the Angels, and I'd go up to him and I say, Andrew,
do you realize I'm telling you this. I tell them
I'm a good scout. You got one of the best
leftendant arms in the game. And I'm not even talking
(13:05):
about I don't care what the gun says. It's the
way the ball gets on the hitter. And for me,
I thought, if he really learned how to pitch with
his fastball primarily and not get hurt with the off
speed stuff. He could be really really good, meaning that
of course he's got to throw the other pitches, but
more like maybe early in the account ball strike and
(13:25):
then later in the catlan had to go strike ball,
but to not get hurt with off speed stuff in
his own because the fastball plays up. And also when
he gets in on right, he's There's a lot to
like about Andrew and just might be the right time
for him to develop. That is a great point. I
think that's a good sleeper candidate. There's been a lot
of teams who looked at Andrew's stuff, whether it's the
metrics of the pitches or just the way the ball
comes out of his hand. I'm talking about when the
(13:47):
Yankees traded for him, and some other teams he's pitched for.
The Dodgers saw it. There's a lot more in Andrew Heeney,
and it's been good, but there's a lot more in there.
And this could be the year. He's got Mike Maddox
as his pitching coach there in Texas as well, so
maybe that is a good combination. Agree, Hey, we're gonna
take a quick break and we come back. We're gonna
go to the number three biggest storylines of the year
(14:08):
and hangout, folks, We're going to Queens. What's up next?
Welcome back to the Book of Joe podcast. This is
our twenty twenty three Major League Baseball preview. We're up
to storyline number three and it has to be the
(14:29):
New York Mets most expensive team in baseball budget not
a problem for Steve Cohen and the New York Mets
coming off a great season last year in which San
Diego took them out really with their pitching in the
postseason after the Mets won one hundred and one games,
Will it end differently this time? It's interesting, Joe, because
(14:50):
I tend to like teams that are loaded, kind of
like your twenty sixteen Cubs team, that are loaded with
players in the prime of their career. Younger players tend
to be more predictable. I'm talking about established younger players
and get hurt less often. The Mets are on the
other end of the age spectrum. They're going older here,
especially at the front of the rotation, which is amazing
(15:12):
with Verlander and Scherzer. You know, the question is are
the Mets better than the Braves. Um, you know, they're
a playoff team, There's no question about it. There are
ninety five plus win team, no question about it. But
remember there's no Edwin Diaz at the back of the
bullpen based on his injury out of the WBC. So
Joe breakdown the Mets for me. I mean, are they
(15:33):
the team to beat in the National League? The payroll
says they are, But what do you think. I like,
the Phillies actually there and the Mets are they're they're
a little bit there's stuff going on there, you know.
Not having das as large, Autovino's gonna have to accept
a much larger role. The guy's done it in the past.
But as you suggest it, some of them are getting
a little bit long into tooth. Even there, they're two
(15:55):
biggest starters. And listen, I'm a huge Scherzery guy, and
no everybody is. However you are, it's longer in your career,
and to rely on these guys all the way through
into a long playoff season, I would almost bet that,
knowing Billy Upper they're they're probably already plotting how to
give them rest during the course of the middle of
the season or as it gets into August, in order
(16:15):
to keep them really strong and solving for the playoff run.
The team on the field, obviously, there's there's some nice
guys out there, but I don't know. I know there's
a lot of money being spent there, and there's a
lot of really good major league professionals. But I like
the Phillies. I like the Philly group. I like what
they did at the end of last year. I just
saw a projected lineup with Brandon Marshitty ninth, which that's
(16:36):
pretty solid. If he said he ninth, then I liked
their rotation. The Kit Suarez. I mean they're talking about
him like as a mid range starter. I like this
guy a lot. This guy has got kind of a
big balls, and he goes after hitters and he knows
how to miss bats right up to the top with
Noah and who's the other start of the really good
starting oh and Wheeler so and their bullpens got some
(16:59):
thunder two and they got they got, like I got
an edge. They have an edge. Planning in Philadelphia. You
have to bring it every day because if you don't,
you can hear about it. So for me, out of
all that national League stuff. This year, I think the
Phillies are going to get back to the World Series. Wow,
it's a big pick right there, knowing Ries Hoskins out
for the year. Bryce Harper maybe back in June. We'll see.
(17:22):
But yeah, I like the vibe there in Philly. They
do get after it, and I think the playoff experience
last years had got them hungry for more. I'm gonna
talk about a roster move the Mets made that will
bring us into our storyline Number two. The Mets say
goodbye to Darren Ruff. They traded for him last year.
He was a right handed half of a platoon, really
(17:42):
didn't hit. They ate three and a half million dollars
on his contract and they kept Tim Lecastro. To me,
you know, Rough didn't hit. Probably he was in danger anyway,
But that speaks to how the game is changing in
twenty twenty three. You have Lecastor on your bench who's
a premier defender and especially a base runner in a
(18:02):
year in which we are changing the rules to encourage
more base stealing and more athleticism. That's a back end
of the roster move, but that is a move that
can win games for the New York Mets. I looked
at that and I said, hmm, that's not going to
get a lot of attention. But the Mets and Billy
Eppler are paying attention to roster constructions so to refresh
(18:24):
for people, and this is our storyline. Number two. Three
big rule changes this year. Number one a pitch clock.
It's fabulous, folks. I'm sure most of you have seen
spring training games. On average, they're taking twenty six minutes
less than they did last year, with slightly more runs.
Who doesn't want that? We all do stolen bases. The
(18:45):
success rate jumped from seventy one percent to seventy seven percent.
Doesn't sound like much, but let me tell you in
an analytical world, that is huge. That will encourage teams
to run more and that's because of the bigger bases.
That was rule number two. And of course there's no
shift this year, and that is just heaven sent for
(19:06):
left handed hitters. You can now hit a groundball hard
to the right side and actually get a hit. So
with those three rules, I think you're going to see
faster games, more stolen bases, more offense this year. So
you can take your pick out of any of those Joe,
which one do you think is going to have the
biggest impact on the twenty three season. Oh? Man, well,
(19:29):
I think the shift. I love the pace clock, but
I think the shift is going to permit or the
lack of the shift that's going to permit left handed
hitters to really some guys that have been kind of
mentally destroyed by the whole thing. I mean, we can't
be evaluated is how many times hit the ball hard
on the pool side and there's three guys standing there
and you go back to the dugout and you're out,
(19:50):
And now you're gonna hit something off the hands, You're
gonna roll something over off the end of the bat.
It's gonna get through contact not nearly as good, but
you're gonna feel really really good about yourself, which then
leads to more hits because you go up to the
plate more confident, and it really just that's just how
hitting works. Sometimes you take the bloop. There's a lot
of guys that will take the broken back that lands
(20:11):
on the left field fall and a left hand hitter
as opposed to the one hot bullet to the second basement.
So I think that's going to have a really big
impact on other stolen basis again, I well, you're talking
about the castro versus rough. I mean, the teams are
gonna have to make the determination do I want to
pinch hitter or a platoon guy, or do I want
somebody to pinch one late in the game that absolutely
(20:33):
can steal a base and put me in scoring position
with nobody out to start off the ninth inning. Perhaps,
So those are the kind of things I think our
pertinent point is though with the larger basis, I'm still
curious with front office is how they the perspective of
the front office and what they're going to permit to
(20:53):
be done there or not done. I mean, if teams
get off for a certain player gets off who they
thought was going to steal and all of a sudden
is not getting thrown out a little bit, they might
put pull the reins in on him. And that's all
I'm with the stolen base. I know the bigger bases,
everybody's saying that. I know the throwers, everybody's saying that.
But I think the pitchout's going to become more prominent.
And I tell you what, if a team though somebody's
(21:14):
going to pitch out that really that's one of the
greatest deterrence as I found when I manage and when
I'm managing the texasly we're playing a five game series,
and I tell my picture, listen, please be patient. I
might pitch out even twice in this game because I
want to put the seed of dot in this team's head.
So I want to do it early in a series,
(21:35):
so other teams think about that. And the other thing
is the backup. So I pick off from the from
the ketcher did the first base when you're gonna see
something more prominent with that, you could even see, you know,
a pitchout, pick it for a space. I mean, there's
different ways to deter these guys from getting really big leads.
So you get to the Okay, we're gonna get to
the point where I've already thrown over two times and
(21:57):
in few showing a propensity to go at that point,
why not just drop a pickoff in, I mean a
pitchout in. And then finally spring training, I don't know this,
but I have to believe they're working on some quick
steps getting to the ball to the catching more quickly,
so bigger basses and the pitcher was average one five
to the plate I mean smaller bases. The guy was
won five, the bigger bases, he's won three. Not the same.
(22:20):
So if they if they, if they're smart enough to
really work on it in camp and get it down
to the point where it becomes comfortable, I think they
can mitigate this. So I'm just I'm curious. Yeah, I
am too, Joe. And I can tell you that, you know,
watching spring training games, two things along those lines jumped
out of me where you really don't know until you
see it in practice, and I mean major league regular season,
(22:41):
because I think with the stolen bases and spring training,
I get the sense of teams we're really testing it. Right,
Sure you might as well. That was the time you
run these plays. See if guys can get bags. I
mean the White Sox for stealing bases. They're not a
team that steals bases, but they took advantage of the rules.
Let's see once the season starts. That I'll wait to see.
I do think there will be more stolen bases. It
(23:01):
may not be earth shaking, that's a I interrupted, that's
one hundred percent right, that's one hundred percent right. Spring
training you try all these different things, and I know
that was like probably the topic of conversation when they
came in the door of the first meeting. Hey, we're
gonna try to steal more bases. My big thing was
going first to third. I wanted guys to get out thrown.
You could get thrown out going first to third as
(23:23):
often as you want, but I want you to try
to go first to third as often as you can.
But with the stolen base gig, they don't care if
you get thrown out in spring training. But I'm telling
you once the season begins and outs are made on
the bases and again, who I'm curious Because if I'm
running that thing, I'm the pitching coach of the manager,
I would insist that they're in camp. If you were,
(23:44):
like I said one five last year, let's bring it
down at least one three to five. To me, that
does not impact your stuff. I actually I think sometimes
it improves it because I like front foot pitcher up
and down. Get that foot up and down just like
you hit or get your front foot down. I don't
think there's any loss of a lossity to actually believe
that there's a potential impact with greater command. So all
these things, to me, I want to see it out
(24:04):
how seriously or how the pitchers themselves, how how much
that they believe it's important. That's really what it's going
to come down to. But it could be it's it
could be done. You could make the adjustments to actually
whatever that length is in regards to time, three inches
on each side. By adjusting your time to the plate,
you could get it back to where it had been. Yeah,
(24:24):
and obviously that was a point of emphasis throughout spraying
on the backfields, getting these pitchers to defend the running
game better. I think you're you're big bodied, max effort
relievers are going to have a really tough time with
the clock and the bass. I look at that and say, oh, oh,
they're in trouble. But here's the other thing that jumped
out of me. And you made a great point about this,
that spring training is so different than having, you know,
(24:47):
things of importance on the line in a regular season game.
That that's the test lab. Now we're getting into the
real play coming up on Thursday, And this is how
it affects starting pitching. The pitch clock. And I've talked
to a lot of baseball people and they have two
different perspectives on this one. Is saying, you know what,
there's less recovery between pitches, which is literally true. Guys
(25:08):
would get in the gym, or maybe they started to
get fatigue. They're twenty five pitches into an inning, they
can walk off the back of the mount and literally
gather themselves physically and get a second win. You cannot
do that now. And then I have other people tell me, well,
you know what, the pitch clock is forcing these guys
to be more efficient. They're going to get quicker outs.
(25:28):
They're going to disarm the hitters who are used to
cracking nuclear codes every time they're wait for a pitch
to see what's coming. And so there's two schools of
thought here. But we may wind up with starting pitchers. Actually,
if you can believe this throwing less, well, I'm talking
about less innings because throwing ninety pitches under a pitch
(25:49):
clock is not the same as throwing ninety pitches when
you can take as much darn time as you want.
I'm curious to see how that plays out, Joe, we
may be looking at shorter starts from starting pitchers. I
agree with that one hundred percent. That was my big
thing from the beginning to anything and I don't know
how much that's been really scrutinized, because again, this is
(26:10):
spring training. These guys can throw. They're gonna throw up
maybe eventually up to ninety pitches by their last start,
but prior to that they're throwing. Maybe they go from
a twenty five, thirty forty up to fifty sixty, up
to seventy eighty, So that's different. And then then again,
let's do it every five or six days all of April, May, June, July,
(26:31):
and then all of a sudden, this this starts adding
up and it takes its toll. That is why I
think I like the six man rotation. I do, and
I believe that sometimes in today's game, by having six starters,
you might find it easier to find six starters that
you like as opposed to five, which is counterintuitive also,
but the point would be that I think it could
(26:53):
reduce the risk of injury. It would reduce the risk
of this thing we're talking about right here, kind of
burn up from having to throw every fifteen twenty seconds
and now you may need and they're not going to
want it to pitch us. No, I'm good. I worked
out differently. I worked out harder. I got it. You know,
you can hear all that kind of stuff too, but
until we actually go through it, you're not going to know. Again,
(27:17):
I love the rule. I think it's that's to me,
that's the one rule, that's the only rule for me
that should have been in place over everything else. But
beyond that, I'm curious because I think the rapidity with
which you have to throw the ball is going to
have an impact. Yeah, and by the way, you're absolutely
a hundred percent right with the six man rotation that
is going to be, based on what I've heard from
(27:37):
around the league standard procedure, at least in the first
two months of the season. I can tell you that
I don't know that there's any team that's locked into
with guys pitching on the fifth day. First of all,
more starts are made on five days rest now than
on four, so we've been in a transition mode anyway.
But I think this is going to make the six
man rotation status quo in the big leagues. I'm in
(27:58):
on that. I think it makes a big difference. And
if you're because the big thing is health, you want
to keep guys healthy, right, And with the Angel situation,
with showy being used to that that was already a
locked in situation. But I would just from the minor
league perspective, you have to start nurturing, you know, not
just a six or the seventh guy. I have to
have up to maybe nine, maybe ten guys that you
(28:19):
could believe could at least get out there and represent
you well on any particular date, because during the course
of the season there's going to be attrition, and you've
got to go way deeper than just looking at five
or six starters at the beginning of the year. One
last thought of the pitch clock, I think overall, especially
when it comes to position players, it will keep players healthier.
I mean, already players are talking about being off their
(28:40):
feet that extra half hour to forty five minutes. Multiply
that over one hundred and sixty two games season. I mean,
Joey Voda talked about getting games back in your career.
I mean literally, the attrition factor in baseball, even if
it's not, you know, an explosive sport so to speak,
like football or basketball. You know this, Joe. You get
(29:01):
these three and a half four hour games night after night,
there's wear and tear. That's when you start having those
lower body injuries, the quads, the hammy's, and I think
it's just my guests here. Let's see again how it
plays out. I think it's going to keep position players healthier.
That's part of my philosophy on more of a limited pregame.
Also Kenny Guy system. I don't want my relief pitcher
(29:24):
standing in the outfield shagging flyballs. As an example, the
guys on the field getting groundballs, the early work to
extra work that a lot of these teams are choreographing
right now, to me, that's just that's just I wash
a lot of times. Yes, we all need work. I
understand that, I get it. But you have to be very,
very vigilant and understand that each guy's got only so
many moments standing on the field working on a particular skill.
(29:45):
The point of diminishing returns is gonna set in. It's
gonna set in, and you have to be wary of that.
And so all of this stuff that we're talking about.
The two superstars of performance are the breath and rest.
Those are the two high performance superstars. And I think
if you pay more attention to that and us to
all these different kinds of choreograph moments that you're everybody
(30:07):
finds interesting. You're gonna get a better result. We just
talked about I think the most monumental rule changes in
baseball since I don't know, maybe going back to the
DH right, baseball will look and be played extremely differently
this year. But that's not even my number one storyline
going into this season. Cool, what is We'll tell you
(30:28):
after this very groovy? All right? What's bigger than major
League Baseball having a clock for the first time? What
is bigger than bigger stall basis? What is bigger than
getting rid of the shift, which, by the way, hurt
(30:50):
Corey seeger more than any hit or the big leagues
last year. Well, he's bigger than anything in the game,
and that is Showhey, Otani, he is the biggest story
of this season. He obviously is a free agent at
the end of the season. Artie Moreno, owner of the Angels,
told me, as long as the Angels are in contention,
he is not trading him at the deadline now already
(31:12):
told me he had five deals on the table last
trade deadline, did not trade his superstar. I asked him
what happens if you're not in contention, and he said
I'm not answering that because we built this team to
contend and you're asking me to create a theory based
on a business plan that's not one that we're adhering to.
(31:35):
So he didn't want to go down that route. I
get that, And actually, Joe, it's hard for me to
believe that in a world with six teams go to
the playoffs in each league, the Angels will be so
bad with the additions they made that they'll be hopelessly
out of the race by the middle of July. So
it looks like Otani is an Angel all year. So
(31:56):
the question now is how much can he really keep
this up and where does he want to go from here? Now,
if you watched the WBC and you watched what he
did in that tournament, this is a guy, and Joe,
I'm not exaggerating here. He may be looking at half
a billion dollars in his next contract. Yeah, ten times fifty.
(32:17):
He raised his hand and not only said I want
to play in a WBC, but I want to start.
And if we're in a situation with a one run
game against Team USA for the championship, while I've been
dhing all night, running the bases and sliding. I want
to warm up in the bullpen like I'm back in
Little league, in between the bats and close the game.
And when he did that, it's this is amazing. The
(32:40):
last pitch that he threw was literally the best breaking
ball he threw as a Major league or to strike
out Mike Trout. When you broke it down in velocity,
spin rate and the break on the pitch, it was
literally the best breaking ball he has ever thrown. And oh,
by the way, the pitch before that was his second
fastest pitch he's ever thrown over one oh one. I mean,
(33:01):
this guy is just a freak. I don't have to
convince Madden of that. You saw it up close. But
I think Joe, what we watched in that WBC is
a guy who more than anything wants to win. That
environment brought out the best in Shohei Otani, and I
think with just a taste of that anyone he went
(33:23):
over there too. In Japan. It wasn't like it was
the first time he won. But the US fan I
got a chance to see Shohei Otani pitching in important
games and hitting in important games, and they saw this
guy go next level. That's why I say He is
the story of this season. No argument, zero argument. He is. Wow.
I was watching that whole thing unfold, And of course
(33:45):
he's not gonna be able to do that every day
because he was that jacked up. I've never seen him
that animated. Ever. He may have done that looked that
way in Japan at some point. He's always been Um,
you know, he's he's high energy all the time, but
not that animated he was. He was wanting to get
that done. He was playing for his country there and
he's played against his teammate and his friend, and wow,
(34:05):
it was that is that is as good as show
can throw the baseball. No question longevity wise, how long
could he do this? Everybody always, any scout's going to
start that that question off with with good health, right, Um,
there's there's no time limit on this fella. And if
you had to pick one or the other, he probably
would probably think if he's gonna get hurt, it's going
(34:26):
to be as a pitcher as opposed to a pitch
position player first. But I don't know he is. He
is like so locked in mentally right now. He takes
such great care of himself. He's already been through some surgeries. Um,
he's gonna he just he's very instinctive. He knows himself
really well. Longevity wise, you know, nobody knows. But um, yeah,
(34:48):
half a billion. I think it could exceed that. Actually,
I think at the end of the day, there's gonna
be such a bidding word for this fella. And part
of that is the fact that I think he'll go
anywhere now and not just stay on the West Coast.
So this opens up other venues for him. Um, So
I think all of that is in play final point,
trade him or not. Yeah, I think from the Eagles perspective,
I do like a lot of what they have done
(35:09):
this year, like the like the couple of the kind
of like the veteran players that they've included, like Drury
as an example in renfro or Shell. I like that
a lot because Pray and I had talked about those
guys in the past, and I like, I like their
pitchkins have always liked the young starters there. But I mean,
if you don't feel as though you legitimately have a
chance to go all the way to the World Series,
(35:29):
you still have to consider trading him, I believe. I
mean the take on that is going to be pretty
pretty darn large. It's kind of herschel Walker esque. I
think at that point, when you get to the latter
part of the year and the team is in it,
you're going to really come home with some really nice players.
So it's gonna be difficult, I think, to walk away
from that and just eventually get nothing for him except
(35:50):
for a pick. So that's going to be interesting to watch.
But yeah, okay. I think the big things are the
fact that now he's been more Americanized, he will go anywhere.
This is my opinion. He hasn't told me that longevity
like anybody else. It's just sometimes it's just a flip
of the coin. But the trade value, wow. And I
(36:10):
know it's it's hard to do that regarding your home
fan base whatever. But I think unless unless they really
feel by that time that they have a shot to
do it all, i'd really feel strong consideration to trade him. Wow.
That's interesting. A couple of things they are. Number One,
obviously have known show Hey since he got to the
big leagues, and just standing next to him in the
clubhouse during the WBC, Joe and you've seen this too,
(36:32):
he has literally grown. Oh yeah, and he has his
man muscles now, and I think you are actually going
to see better from Shohiotani than what we've already seen,
which is amazing. And you know how hard this guy works.
This guy is so focused on preparing his body. Basically,
baseball is his hobby and I'll play video games, I
(36:52):
get that, but he devotes his downtime, if you will,
to the game of baseball and preparing himself. Just so
impressed by how large he is and has maintained hand flexibility.
That's the key. You watch him throw a baseball, I
don't feel like it's max effort. I feel like the
way his body moves, he's like Michael Phelps. The way
he's built, with the long levers and total like off
(37:16):
the charts flexibility. Those a bode well going forward. But
you made I want to get back to your point.
This is not a small thing because if you remember
when Shohei came over as an international free agent, one
of the first things he did was rule out the
big market teams on the East Coast. I mean, the
Yankees had set aside as much international signing money as
they could. They wanted out any more than anything in
(37:37):
the world. Why not and he basically said, Nope, I
don't want New York. I don't want Boston, not going
East coast. The Yankees turned around and traded for John
Carlos Stanton. Now you're telling me that he's been here,
now this will be a sixth year, you think he's
more open to markets and teams. That's my opinion. I
really haven't had that conversation. But if you think about
(37:57):
it when he first came over, because I sat across
from him at that table at his agency there and
I was there with deal and the Cup contingency, and
you know, this is a great kid, a humble kid,
but you can see there was still like a reticence.
This is like a big deal, and I got to
come here, and he probably thought at that point some
thing closer to home was important. And I get it.
(38:18):
That's like by six hours, which dust doesn't seem like
a whole lot, but if you're gonna be flying back
and forth, that does turn out to be a lot
over the course of time, family members coming by. But
now the fact that he's kind of like taken over them,
not just the West Coast or the United States, He's
taken over the world baseball wise, he's right now the
(38:38):
most grand attraction there is. I think he's Uh. You
saw him, like I said, you saw him when they
won the game. You saw his attitude, his confidence level,
his animation, all these things. Now I think Tommy opens
everything up, opens everything up. I don't think he'll be
as intimidated possibly by playing in a New York or
(38:59):
Boston or whatever, like maybe he probably had in the
beginning because he didn't know and he was Rookie of
the Year and all that stuff. But I was there
in twenty twenty when he had a really hard year. Man,
it was not easy hitting the ball, throwing the ball.
It was a very tough year for him, and which
you saw in twenty twenty one was not at all
like what I saw in twenty twenty. So there may
have been some kind of like a doubt in his head.
(39:21):
Who knows based on all of that. But now I
think any any sumission of doubt has been eradicated, and
so now he's ready to conquer the world. And I
think you could do it anywhere. Well, I know, watching
the WBC and we knew this already, but it really
convinced me that if you're a fan of baseball. We
(39:42):
need to see show Hey Otani and Mike Trout in
the postseason. I thought it brought out the best of them. Trout,
as you know, another super even keeled guy, has a
great attitude about playing the game. He was jacked up.
I mean he called it the most fun experience of
his life playing those two weeks with Team USA. And
as you mentioned, you saw us Showhy more and made
(40:04):
it than he's ever been before. You put things on
the line, the great players find another level and you
saw that with shoe Hey and Mike and it's kind
it's a shame. There's no other word to say this, Joe,
but it's a shame that baseball hasn't been able to
see these guys on the biggest stage for everybody to
appreciate them. And whether it's with the Angels or somebody else,
(40:27):
I hope that that day comes soon. I agree. I mean,
the talent is oppressive. You've got to be with these
guys every day, and i'd, like you alluded to, we're
talking like not only great athletes, but big great athletes.
I mean, Mikey could definitely be playing for the Eagles.
I mean, there's no question in my mind and show
if he was if he wanted to, you could play
the basketball or or football. They're that great of athletes.
(40:49):
They could run, they got great bodies that moved. The
body moved so well. And yeah, i'd love to see
them both there at the end of the season. And
like you're suggesting here, saying that baseball fantasy to see
stuff like that. That's that's also part of the allure.
We're trying to attract more fans. We're trying to get
more people not only in the stands, but just to watch.
You just got to get eyeballs on these guys, and
(41:11):
so yeah, I'd love to see that happen for them.
I'm such a big fan of these these guys and
all those fellas in the Angel locker room. I mean
that there's so many good dudes in that locker room.
So it'd be wonderful to see that. And yes, it'd
be wonderful for baseball. Well, Joe, before we get out
of here, Opening Day is Thursday. As I mentioned, it's
sort of an unofficial national holiday, at least in my book.
And I'm wondering if you have a favorite Opening Day
(41:35):
memory that stands out, because there's something about opening Day.
That I mean, yeah, everybody's got hopes and dreams and
all those things, but it seems like things to happen
on opening day. Whether it's Toughie Roads hitting three home
runs or Emilio Botifasio getting inside the ballpark home run,
it's indelible if it happens on opening day. So something
in your mind that stands out above some others as
(41:57):
far as opening Day goes, well, I have to if
you don't mind opening day is, as you know, that's special.
My first one I didn't have because in ninety four
I just got called up during the season. But starting
in ninety five, I had one. And what it is
to me, you actually got nerves. I got nervous going
out to the line, just just running to the line
(42:17):
on opening day. Whether it's my first year in ninety
five up to my last year to this point in
twenty nineteen or twenty twenty one, twenty one, twenty two,
there's this there's this this buzz nervousness throughout your body
that it is opening day. So that's the first part.
The second part is when I run up there. Since
(42:40):
my dad passed away and my uncle Rick, I always
go up there to the line and I put him
in a seat. I put him in a seat. Look
in the stands, there might be an empty seat here there.
And I put my dad there and my uncle Rick there.
Uncle Rick because I lived the creek in Long Beach
when I first got my job with the Angels in
nineteen ninety four. But that's it. That's that's my gig
on opening day. So they all kind of like are
(43:03):
the same, because there's this nervousness about it that's hard
to describe. But you go out there and then you're
all looking around. You're looking around. Who comes the anthem?
Let's get this going. Come on, let's get back inside
the dug out, Let's go. But the big thing for
me is looking to the stance, picking out two seats
next to one another so these guys can sit there
and enjoy the game. So that's my opening days and
(43:26):
the major league level is to fight through the jitters
and then place my papam Uncle Rick in his seats
where I can see them. That is such a cool story.
I've never heard that before, and I knew you to
come up with something that was just fascinating and that
you did not disappoint for me. I'll go back to
my first opening day as a beat writer. I've been
covering Major League Baseball for a few years, but I'm
(43:48):
on the Yankees in nineteen eighty five, and I wake
up and it's in Boston. The Yankees are opening in
Boston against the Red Sox, and it's snowing, which was
kind of cool. It wasn't the snow that would wipe
out the game, but it was like being in a
snow globe. It was just a bright sunny day. It
happened to have a snow storm come through. I got
out to the ballpark super early, as the first time.
(44:10):
I walked on the warning track in front of the
Monster in left field, and it was quiet, almost like
a cathedral, being there in church before the doors open.
And then I'll never forget looking up at the Green
Monster and seeing the face of the Green Monster looks
like a titleist. It's got all these dents and dimples
in it from balls say. I could not never saw
that on television, but seeing it up close in the
(44:30):
quiet moment that that just struck me. And I felt
so privileged to be there walking the outfield at Fenway
before opening day. By the way, the Yankees that lose
the game nine to two. They lose the next day
Sunding like fourteen to five. And it was after that
second game I got my indoctrine into being a Yankee.
Beat writer. George Steinbreder gets the press together after the
(44:52):
game and he says, tomorrow is a critical, crucial game.
It was the third game of the season. Joe, welcome
to cover and the Yankees. Of course they lost game
three as well. That's awesome, but yeah, that's looking forward
to some new memories again on Thursday, opening day for
the twenty twenty three Major League season. Beautiful, We'll enjoy yourself, buddy,
(45:15):
I'll be watching. Yeah, it'll be fun, there's no doubt
about it. We went through the five biggest storylines and
it's it's going to be exciting, no question about it.
So beyond that, Joe, you got something to take us
home as we get these twenty three season underway. Yeah,
you kind of made me pointing me in this direction.
It has something else. But once you talked about Showhey
and Mike, you know the fact that the way that
(45:36):
Showhey reacted in the fact that he has some success
in Japan but really has not had it as readily
here in the United States, and Mike's still searching for
that postseason game and success. But both were so impacted
by the atmosphere around the WBC and it had a
great impact on their psyche. So for me, I love
(45:57):
this line. I don't know I got it from or
what's an attribute to, but a mind once stretched has
a very difficult time going back to its original form.
So they definitely had their minds stretched during the WBC,
whether it was competitively against one another's show a versus trot,
just the fact that showe wanted the vibe within that ballpark.
I want more of this. It's kind of a drug. Man.
(46:19):
That's there's nothing like Major League playoff baseball. I can't
agree more. You know, I'm very fortunate. I've done that often.
I'm looking forward to doing it again. But a mind
one stretched as a very difficult time going back to
its original form, and I think Show and Michael both
experienced that. I love that thought. Very cool. Happy opening day, Joe,
will see you next time, you two, brother. Thank you.
(46:47):
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