February 14, 2025 • 39 mins
We go down on the farm with the organization's new Farm Director Stephen Osterer who fills us in on the state of each level of the Guardians Minor League system. Plus, continuing to preview the AL Central Division as White Sox broadcaster Len Kasper joins the show. That's all on this edition of Guardians Weekly with Jim Rosenhaus on the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network.
Guardians Weekly is brought to you by Progressive helping Guardians
fans save hundreds on car insurance.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Hi everyone, Welcome to Guardian's Weekly. Jim Rosenhause joining you
still in Northeast Ohio, the frozen tundra of Cleveland and
areas beyond as it's our final show from Northeast Ohio
before we head to spring training. Our show next week
we'll em and eight from the Guardian Spring training complex
(01:27):
in Goodyear, Arizona, on the morning of the first Cactus
League game for the Guardians. So some great stuff coming up.
The pitchers and catchers have reported officially workouts are underway.
Basically the entire team is there, even though position players
don't have to report until Monday. So some great stuff
going on and finally some hard baseball talk to get
(01:51):
with you about, and that'll start next week. This week's show,
good show lined up for you. We're going to meet
the new Vice president of player Development for the Guardians.
His name is Stephen Oasterer. They used to call it
the Farm Director. And we'll hear from Stephen in our
next segment. The second half of our show reason it's
(02:12):
important though, what a lineage of farm directors that Cleveland
has had over the years, and player development is such
a vital part of everything they do to keep them
relevant and successful. And we will visit with the latest
man who's going to take over that position and oversee
the minor league department, which is such a key to
(02:32):
everything the Guardians do. So that's the second half of
our show today. When we take a break here and
come back from the break, we'll continue with our look
around the American League Central Division. Yes, there are heavy
contenders like the Tigers, the Royals, and maybe the Twins
to knock off the Guardians and overtake them after Cleveland
won the division a year ago. One team that really
(02:55):
struggled historically, so the Chicago White Sox, who set a
new Major League record for losses in a single season
with one hundred and twenty one a year ago. Where
do they go from there? We'll find out when we
visit with Lenn Casper, the radio voice for the Chicago
White Sox, when we come back after this time out.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Progressive Nos, there's so many great things about being a
sports fan, like scoring the company box seats. How great
is that trick place that actually worked. Prevent defense when
your team is winning by a lot, and even more
preventive prevent defense is they're hanging on by a thread.
And of course saving money when you bundle your home
and auto with progressive, that's pretty great, just like trick
plays that actually work.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Yeah, but how often does that happen?
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Complaining about sports not so great? Progressive casualty interns, company
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Speaker 1 (04:06):
Socks down to their last strength clause as ready, here's
the two pitch a slang.
Speaker 5 (04:13):
In a miss ball game. He got him on a
wicked slider. Any manual class where there's forty fourth, Say
Cleveland pitching strikes out eighteen White Sox today and they
get the sweep six to four. Welcome back to Guardians
(04:37):
Weekly and we continue our look around the American League
Central Division Guardians rivals for the season to come. And
this week we're joined by the fine broadcaster for the
Chicago White Sox, Len Casper. As we talked White Sox
baseball and Len, let's get out of the way. Obviously,
just a tough, tough season a year ago, a record
breaking season for the wrong reasons for the White Sox.
(05:00):
And you know we were talking earlier. When you're in it,
it probably doesn't seem quite as bad as maybe it
seems from the outside. But just how tough was that
for everybody involved with a ball club that's trying to
win games.
Speaker 6 (05:14):
Well, first of all, happy new year, Rosie. Good to
hear your voice and looking forward to seeing you coming
up in spring training. But yeah, twenty four was not
a ton of fun. Losing is never fun, and when
you finish eighty games under five hundred, it's tough on everybody.
It cost a good manager and a good man, Pedro
(05:36):
Griffol's job in August after a twenty one game losing streak.
But you know, if you kind of dig under the
hood a little bit, the White Sox actually were pretty competitive,
and it felt like you could count the games that
were blowouts and over early. Probably on one hand, it
(05:58):
felt like a lot of the games ended up getting
out of hand, maybe late when you're not using your
you know, your eight bullpen guys.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
So if they would be down three to.
Speaker 6 (06:09):
Two in the seventh, all of a sudden, they give
up three and they're down six to two. And you know,
maybe a couple more in the eighth and it's not
you know, eight to two, and it looks like a blowout,
but the game felt pretty close. Certainly, as broadcasters, our
jobs to inform and entertain, and we just took it
one day at a time, one game at a time,
to use the old cliche, and I thought Darren Jackson
(06:32):
was terrific, and you know, we did what we could
to keep the listeners entertained. But I think when the
season ended, everybody was happy to look forward to twenty five.
And I know we'll get into kind of the bigger
picture stuff here in a second, but there's a lot
of turnover and a lot of new faces, and a
lot of the guys who were part of this windows
(06:54):
so to speak, for the last few years have moved on.
So you're going to see a lot of new people.
I think with the Whites when the Guardians play.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Them, to your point about sometimes it maybe the record
is worse than what it actually should be or could be.
Don't tell the Guardians that the White Sox were a pushover,
because that season series was extremely competitive, and certainly Chicago
gave Cleveland all it could handle. Most of the season,
and I thought a really neat thing toward the end
(07:22):
of the year. Grady Sizemore took over and managed the
ball club toward the end, and we talked about a
little bit during those games. Of all the people who
have come through here as a player, I don't think
Grady would be near the top of the list for
someone you thought would be a major league manager. But
visiting with him, it sounded like he enjoyed the heck
out of it. And what were your impressions of the
(07:44):
job that Grady Sizemore did in a limited role? Yeah,
I agree, I agree, And again the record wasn't great,
but the White Sox won five of six to end
the season, and I thought Grady did a terrific job.
As you know, he's pretty quiet and reserved and has
always been a gamer, but he realized when he became
(08:07):
a manager that he would have to open up a
little bit. And I know he joked that his wife
told him, like, where's this guy been all those years?
You know at the ballpark?
Speaker 6 (08:16):
But there's a lot of passion inside, and you know,
he didn't get the full time managerial job, but I
think he'll manage again at some point.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
And when Will Vennable, who.
Speaker 6 (08:26):
Did get the job, talked to Chris Getz, it was
imperative that Grady is part of this thing. So I'm
really happy that he's still on the coaching staff and
that experience he got in the last six weeks or
so of last season.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
I think we're very.
Speaker 6 (08:41):
Valuable for him and his reputation in the organization and
in that clubhouse. Is Sterling White Sox broadcaster Len Casper
joining us as we continue our previews of American League
Central Division rivals for the Guardians with spring training close
at hand. You mentioned Will Vennable the manager. What have
(09:01):
you learned about him in a short period of time
before spring training begins as he takes over a major
rebuilding job. Well, I was fortunate to be with Will
on the other side of Chicago. He was on Joe
Madden's staff for a couple of years, and I was
immediately impressed with Will. He kind of got out of
(09:22):
the playing mode and went into the front office situation
and then wanted to be back in uniform. So he's
kind of a lifer. His dad, Max, was an outfielder
in the Big League, so he grew up around the game.
He was a two sports star in high school and
actually wanted to play basketball, and he was really good
basketball player at Princeton. And you know, he and Chris Young,
(09:45):
who's now running the baseball operations in Texas, those two
guys paths were very similar. They both were at Princeton,
they both played basketball, they both played baseball, So really
smart guys. And Will had a nice major league career
as a player. And you think about the managers he's
been around as a coach, Madden, Cora, and.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Bochie, that's not bad.
Speaker 6 (10:09):
He was right next to Bruce Bochie in twenty three
when they won the World Series. So not only did
he play for some really good managers, but he has
been on the staffs of some really good ones as well.
And as I said, he's just incredibly bright. I think
he understands coming in that patients will be required. But again,
(10:31):
a really competitive guy who I'm sure we'll want to
win sooner than later, for sure.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
It seems like the challenge for any team that's trying
to get back to relevance, how young do you go,
how many established veterans do you keep around? And I
know the White Sox have made some moves in the
off season. How young will this team be and how
much of a concern is that.
Speaker 6 (10:58):
I think pitching wise, it'll be really young. Martin Perez
will likely be the de facto number one, the veteran
left hander who actually was a teammate of Will Venables
at one point in Texas. But pitching is kind of
the thing right now, and some teams, you know, go
the position player route, right They graft a lot of
(11:21):
position players they trade for pitching. The White Sox have
kind of turned course a little bit and have decided
they're going to go with power arms, particularly left These
the names Noah Schultz, Hagen Smith. Keep those in mind
as we move forward. I don't know if you'll see
either of those guys. Probably not Schultz. Smith's, you know,
(11:44):
it was a first round pick last year out of college.
I think he could be on the pretty fast track.
I don't know, And that's a good question for Chris
Getz and Will in the front office in terms of
how much they want to push or how hard they
want to push that young pitching. I think position player wise,
the key guy is going to be Colson Montgomery, who
(12:05):
had been their top prospect, had a tough year triple
A last year, but I would anticipate that he'll be
the White Sox shortstop at some point this season. There's
another Montgomery, Braydon Montgomery, an outfielder they got from Boston
and the Garrett Crochet trade. So, as I said before,
you're gonna hear a lot of names that maybe aren't
(12:27):
too familiar. But Luis Robert Jr. Still here the center fielder.
There have been there's been a lot of talk that
he could be on the trading block at some point,
and it wouldn't surprise me if that happens. But you know, uh,
that's a tough guy to give up if if in
fact that ever came to pass, because he's got superstar potential.
(12:47):
He's shown flashes of it coming off a down year
last year. I would anticipate he'll be really good this year.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
And you mentioned his name and he was part of that. Gosh,
it doesn't seem like that long ago that it was
a good young core of some really athletic players who
were kind of scratching the surface. And is there a
feeling sometimes that it had never quite hit the way
they maybe they thought it would.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
For sure.
Speaker 6 (13:15):
Twenty one was my first year with the White Sox
that was the ninety three win team that got bounced
by Houston in the postseason. But that team was loaded,
and you know, you think of Joann Mancata, Tim Anderson.
Obviously Jose Abray was older but was kind of the
leader of the bunch, and then on the pitching side,
(13:36):
Lucas Giolito, and they signed Liam Hendrix, and they had
Kendall Graveman and at one point Joe Kelly and I
mentioned Crochet and Michael Kopek. You know, they've all moved on.
They've all moved on, and it kind of makes your
head spin at times to realize that it wasn't that
long ago that they had arguably the most talented team,
(13:57):
certainly in the division, if not the American League. But
things change quickly, and I think I go back to
the old adage, when you're really good, you never kind
of contemplate that you'll have a downswing. And when you're
struggling like the Socks have the last two years, it's
hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
But I do think that there's a chance that the
White Sox can be really competitive sooner than later, and
(14:21):
it's going to be a very young looking team. I
guess the cop would be the Royals, right. I think
that's kind of what the White Sox are trying to
do if you had to make another comparison in the division.
And I think that every team in this division always
looks up to the Guardians in terms of the way
they play the game, especially defensively. That's been a problem
(14:43):
for the White Sox, and I think they want to
get better defensively, want to have a little more team speed,
and that's where the youth comes.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
In Lenn Gasper joining US broadcaster for the White Sox,
and Len it the fan dynamic and you touched on
it before we get started about their and fan fest.
And here it's a one team town. It's the Cleveland
Guardians during baseball season, but obviously in Chicago it's a
(15:10):
two team city and it always seems like an uphill battle.
Anyway for the White Sox. How are they doing trying
to build that relationship with their fans again and and
get them excited about a team that that had a
tough year a year ago.
Speaker 6 (15:24):
Yeah, you know, I've found here. You know, the fans
are really smart, They're incredibly passionate, they're they're they're not
afraid to boo, as you've experienced here, and yet they'll cheer, uh,
you know, the next breath if you do something really well.
So I was impressed that the fans continue to come
back last year when it was obvious that this season
(15:47):
was headed south pretty pretty fast. We just had a
socks fest in Bridgeport, a few blocks from the ballpark
a couple of weeks ago, and the turnout was great
and the fans were really into it. And yeah, of
course everybody's ticked off at how things have gone here,
and it's a little bit of a stop talking. Let's
(16:07):
go play and let's show people that we've changed and that,
you know, the future is very bright. So I have
no doubt that there are some fans who tuned out
this team last year. But you know, when you get
young and you start feeling like you're looking towards something
as opposed to looking in your rear view mirror of
what might have been, that that is really exciting. And
(16:29):
even though this team, you know, went through this six
or seven years ago, this is the state of the
game right now. And instead of you know, trying to
band aid this thing organizationally they have really dug in
on resupplying the system with as many top prospects as possible.
And you know, the one thing you don't ever really
(16:51):
want to hang your hat on as well, we have
the third best farm system in baseball like that. At
the end of the day, it matters, I guess to
a degree, but it's all about what are you doing
at the big league level. But having said that, I
think the idea is to graduate these prospects and get
them to the big league sooner than later, and you know,
(17:12):
get them helping this team win games.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Yeah, sometimes you feel like you'll have a good farm
system because you haven't had success at the major league level,
so it leads to some good draft picks and there
you go. But it'll be exciting and I know we're
looking forward to We train not too far from the
White Sox out in the Phoenix area, so we'll have
a chance to see you and the team a couple
of times in spring training and that always good to
(17:36):
catch up. Thank you for coming.
Speaker 6 (17:37):
By, absolutely, Rosie. And for the second straight year, the
White Sox will be The Guardian's opponent for the home
opener in Cleveland. I don't believe there's an eclipse this year.
I have to tell you, especially when you have a
forty one and one twenty one season, that was one
of the big highlights for me. That was really an
incredible day and I know you and I were standing
(17:58):
near each other when when it all happened.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
That's Lenn Casper, radio voice for the Chicago White Sox,
and thanks so much for him and his time. Today.
We'll take a break. While we come back, we'll talk
farm system for the Guardians. Their new vice president of
player Development, Stephen Oaster, joins us next. Welcome back to
(18:52):
Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosenhouse back with you in northeast Ohio.
Our last show here before we head out to Goodyear,
Arizona and Guardian Spring training. That's where our shows will
be for the next month and a half before the
regular season begins. Also part of spring training. The minor
league system such a big key for the Guardians over
(19:12):
the years. And the new vice president of player development
is Stephen Oaster. The farm director and over the years
Man oh Man has Cleveland had some tremendous farm directors.
You can go back to the days of Mark Shapiro
back in the early nineties, John Farrell, who became a
major league manager after his time as farm director. He
(19:36):
has moved on to some great things and had a
fine career. He was a farm director at one point
in time. Neil Huntington, farm director in Cleveland, eventually a
major league general manager with Pittsburgh, and the list goes
on and on. Ross Atkins, who's now the GM in Toronto.
He was a farm director here in Cleveland. More recently anyway,
(19:56):
James Harris, who is now an assistant general manager for
the Guardians, and Rob sorfolio the most recent and Rob
took a position, a high level position with the Saint
Louis Cardinals this offseason, opening the door for Steven Osterer,
who is absolutely excited for the opportunity. This will be
his sixth season in the organization, as he has been
(20:18):
on that pitching side, starting as the pitching Resource coordinator
and then the director of pitching Development the last three seasons.
Now he oversees the entire minor league department. He knows
the history of the position he's in and he's excited
to get started.
Speaker 7 (20:34):
Yeah, thanks, Jim.
Speaker 8 (20:36):
Certainly exciting to step into the role, but also acknowledge
that there's some pretty heavy hitters, you know, leading up
to me taking it on. So yeah, just trying to
trying to continue on with a lot of the great
process and culture that you know, we're said and have
been set by the organization, uh, you know before doing this,
and you know, again like leaning on a lot of
(20:59):
the people that are also still here and have served
in this role that you have already been really helpful
in the transitions. So excited overall, you know about the job,
Excited about the state of the farm system and the
organization and you know what twenty twenty five as for us.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
And certainly you have a great background in the organization
in terms of player development, and explain where you've been
in such a key area that has been really the
backbone of Cleveland and that's pitching.
Speaker 7 (21:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (21:30):
Yeah, So I came into the organization in twenty twenty
in that pandemic year as a pitching resource coordinator or
effectively effectively trying to just support process and you know,
support some of the things that we were already doing
at a really high level. And you know, I think
at that time we were trying to integrate a little
(21:51):
bit more of the biomechanical information and set process and
you know, try to move forward with everything that comes,
you know from that. Vein So started there, served in
that role for a couple of years and then transitioned
into the director of Pitching role ahead of the twenty
two story season.
Speaker 7 (22:12):
Yeah, and I've been doing that since.
Speaker 8 (22:15):
Effectively helping lead the process, culture and people in that
department and you know, supporting proader domains to you effectively
continue to carry on this tradition of the pitching development
that you know obviously has been a huge role, you know,
and piece of pride I think for the organization for
a long time.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
It's interesting you mentioned processes and technologies in there too,
and and all the things that are different than maybe
ten years ago when when developing pitchers in How much
do you find players want that now and really embrace
it and almost feel if they don't have it they're
falling behind.
Speaker 8 (22:56):
Yeah, the amount of information has exploded, you know, and
I think the players obviously, uh, you know, understand that
that that that has happened.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (23:06):
I think our organization does an incredible job of you know,
partnering with the player to you know, not just tell
them what to do, but be an active participant.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
Uh.
Speaker 7 (23:15):
You know, with them in their journey and support them.
Speaker 8 (23:17):
So you know, the players are you know, being fed
information not just internally with the organization, and uh, you know,
there's a lot of the public sphere that again like
they are pumping out information, pumping out you know a
lot of content around some of the things that are
becoming more online in the pitching world, and I think
(23:38):
there there's a huge appetite for players to to use that.
And you know, our goal as an organization is to
be able to understand as much as we possibly can
to support them and use that information to our advantage.
So you know, we've built out a lot of our
structure internally and our processes to kind of match that,
and you know a lot of that again is being
(24:00):
by the questions that the players are asking. So you know,
it's been a very interesting last five years I think,
or six years specifically, Uh, you know, along this path
here and I think you know, broadly across baseball you're
starting to see a lot of that become more public too.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
So I'm sure it's going to be different five years
from now. How do you find that the next thing
that that's going to help pitchers or or hitters in
your current role that that could be helpful for them.
Speaker 7 (24:28):
Yeah, it's a great question, you know.
Speaker 8 (24:31):
I think again it's it's usually driven by by questions
and you know, curiosities, and yeah, I think there's uh,
you know, there's a lot of conversation at times around
like old school versus new school and and how people
think about the game.
Speaker 7 (24:45):
And I think it's all kind of the same thing.
You know.
Speaker 8 (24:49):
The people who have the experience in baseball have a
ton of ideas and questions that we can now access
information to to test out and and you know see
if we can learn any thing from that. But you know,
another strength to I think how we approach things too,
is just you know, being tightly integrated across you know,
hitting and pitching and strength conditioning and our scouting department.
(25:12):
You know, everyone is kind of you know, integrated really
well in these conversations about baseball. Typically great questions that
we can then deploy the rest of the organization's resources
to try to understand better, you know, and you know,
build off of off of, you know, a lot of
the knowledge I think we already have and to test it.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Steve Oster joining us. He's the new farm director for
the Cleveland Guardians heading into the twenty twenty five season. Uh,
as you look towards spring training, there'll be some some
young players who we haven't seen in major league camp before.
Can you give us maybe one or two that might
be fun to keep an eye on, especially on that
pitching side, that that would bear watching in spring training,
(25:54):
even if they might not be on the radar quite yet.
Speaker 8 (25:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (25:57):
Great, Uh, that's a great question.
Speaker 8 (26:00):
I mean, I think there's a lot of interesting storylines,
you know, and you know pieces on the pitching side,
both on the major league level and then the minor
league level. I think there's you know, maybe not a
name that is unknown but got a taste of it
last year that I think everyone is excited to see
Joey Cantillo you know approach this year.
Speaker 7 (26:21):
You know, we've obviously.
Speaker 8 (26:22):
Been tracking him for a long time on the minor
league side. You know, he got an opportunity last year
to to you know, showcase the things that we were
so excited about. You some inconsistency and some growing pains
that are to be expected when you make your major
league debut and you you know, carry out some innings
at the beginning, but really excited to see him, uh,
you know, coming to spring training and where he is
(26:43):
and try to build off of some of the things
that he was showing last year. On top of that,
we have some forty man editions you know that may
or may not get the opportunity this year.
Speaker 7 (26:54):
To make their major league debut.
Speaker 8 (26:55):
But you know Doug mccasey, uh, being one of them,
you know, left handed starting.
Speaker 7 (27:00):
You're in the minor league side that you know.
Speaker 8 (27:02):
We acquired in the twenty twenty one draft to uh,
you know, put up some really good numbers last year
in Triple A. You know, diligent worker and a guy
that we know is going to show up ready to
compete and ready to showcase some of the things that
you know, he's shown us on the minor league side
for the last few years. On top of that, another
name that will be interesting the track, you know, throughout
(27:24):
the year and potentially in spring trading and and you
know how he shows up is Franco Alamann. You know,
he's put up some pretty hilariously impressive numbers in the minor.
Speaker 7 (27:34):
League side as a reliever for the last couple of years.
Speaker 8 (27:36):
Uh, you know, has battled a little bit of you
know optimal health. Yeah, for for you know, the bulk
of twenty twenty four and you know, it feels really
good now and coming into Campbell hopefully showcase again some
of the things that you know, he were on display
for us in the last couple of years of the
minor league side. So you know, those are just two
examples or sorry, three examples of guys that were excited
(27:59):
to kind of at and see how they're coming. But
there are a lot of a lot of different names
and guys that have put in a ton of work.
You know, it would be interesting to see, you know,
them compete and show up in a short few weeks.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
And when you mentioned those three and the many others
who will be a part of spring training and at
various levels of the minor league system, patience seems to
be the biggest key in player development. And how important
is it just to be patient and let players have
those moments where it doesn't go as well as they
(28:32):
had hoped and then learned from that.
Speaker 7 (28:34):
Yeah, I think you just said that extremely well.
Speaker 8 (28:37):
Uh, you know, patience is incredibly important. You know, I
think everyone obviously wants to be in the big leagues,
and you know, it's really hard to battle at times,
the fact that you're in the minor leagues and potentially
even particularly at the level that you're at. But yeah,
I think our viewpoint of it is, you know, we
want our players to be prepared to not only you know,
(28:57):
get to the major league level, but stick.
Speaker 7 (29:00):
When they get there, you know, and and there are.
Speaker 8 (29:02):
Lots of experiences that come with playing baseball that you
prepare you best to handle some of the failures and
you know, maybe getting punched in the mouth a little
bit that you know, I think at the minor league level, uh.
Speaker 7 (29:15):
You know, or or good testing grounds to kind of
work through that and.
Speaker 8 (29:18):
To continue to refine, you know, not just your skill set,
but you know, how you approach the day to day
to allow you to hopefully be a successful impact major
league player that contributes not just for a short period
of time, but for the length of a career. So,
you know, as much as as players you know, eye
that major league level, and you know, at times it's
(29:39):
it can be difficult to be where your feet are,
you know, I think our orders perspective is to to
try to highlight some of those positives and things that
there's always things you can work on whether you're in
you're in Lynchburg, you know they're low affiliate, or you're
in the big leagues. It's it's just a continuous process
of trying to get better and you know, being patient
with it. The game will teach you and give you
(30:00):
opportunities to get better regardless of where you are.
Speaker 7 (30:04):
So I think you hit the nail on the head
on that.
Speaker 8 (30:07):
It's patients is really important at times, and it's something
that we try to, you know, instill in our players
as we kind of you know, go through that journey
with them from starting out with our organization to impacting
the big club.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Steve Oster joining us. He's the new farm director for
the Cleveland Guardians. And just in closing, Steve Cleveland seems
to do a tremendous job of finding coaching talent and
development talent in different places. And you mentioned you moved
here back during the COVID year of twenty twenty and
(30:40):
you came from a baseball development group in the Toronto area.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
How did you.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
What was the connection with Cleveland and then how did
they find you?
Speaker 8 (30:50):
Yeah, so I think the connection point started when I
presented at a pitching special of a conference a few
years prior to coming on board. Uh, you met a
few of of the pitching uh you know, I guess
the pitching leadership group with with the guardians you know,
(31:12):
who are now some of them are here with us,
another a couple of the other ones are gone. Like
you said, we're developed and or with other organizations in
major league capacity jobs. But you started started just a
relationship there, you know, and and continue to stay in
contact and gauge opportunities you have an interview for different
(31:34):
positions as.
Speaker 7 (31:35):
They kind of came up. But yeah, I think that
one of.
Speaker 8 (31:38):
The things that, like you said, we we do a
really good job of is trying to you know, find
talent and not just find yeah, you know now talent,
but try to develop it over time. So you know,
having people at conferences and having a network and always
on the look for people that fill fit our culture
and we project along long term impact from a coaching
(32:02):
lens or just a broad organizational lens is something at
the forefront of how we think about player development. You know,
it's developing staff on top of players. So yeah, thankfully
I you know, as a benefactor of that back in
twenty twenty and now it is something that you know,
we're consistently and constantly Actually just kind of got through
(32:23):
this a little bit too with you know a number
of promotions and people getting opportunities outside of the organization
the last couple of months. So always top of mind
with the organ Uh. Yeah, again, like very thankful to
be here and you know, was a benefactor of the
organizational values in that sense.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
There are very few downtimes in the baseball calendar year anymore.
What's late January like for a farm director in Big
League Baseball? What are you working on?
Speaker 7 (32:51):
Yeah, a lot of things.
Speaker 8 (32:52):
So, I mean, we've we've got a pretty significant camp
underway in Arizona, and you know, this is something that
we put a lot of time and priority into, you know,
over the last well since I've been here, and it's
continued to grow and grow. So we've got about almost
one hundred players down in our Arizona complex, uh, you know,
(33:12):
working on their goals and getting prepared for this season.
So it's a huge chunk of you know, ensuring that
we're we're doing the things that we need to do
and and supporting the group on the ground as much
as we can.
Speaker 7 (33:24):
That's definitely a big part of it.
Speaker 8 (33:26):
And then as you can imagine, planning for spring training
and everything that.
Speaker 7 (33:29):
Goes into it takes up you know, a good chunk
of the day.
Speaker 8 (33:33):
There's a lot of conversations around you know, how are
we preparing our players? You know, how are we going
to set up our game schedule, how are we out
you know, working through the day to day of the
logistics and the things that need to happen, you know,
on top of things that we do organizationally as a
priority like staff development and you know, getting our group together.
So there's a lot, there's a lot going on. You know,
(33:56):
there's there's a lot of excitement around what twenty twenty
five can bring. Right now, I'm just trying to make
sure I got my head on straight and just support
the great things that I've already been put in place
before my time coming to this. So again like super
excited abou where we are super excited about, you know,
the talent level and coming off of you know, a
(34:16):
lot of the success.
Speaker 7 (34:17):
Of the major league and minor league level from.
Speaker 8 (34:19):
Last year, so we are full steam ahead into trying
to prepare our players and our staff for having another
successful year in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
It has been a development machine the Guardian's farm system,
for sure, and congratulations on the promotion and enjoy it.
It's certainly a fun place to be at this particular time,
for sure.
Speaker 7 (34:40):
Yeah, I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
That is Steve Oster, the new farm director for the
Cleveland Guardians. Stay tuned a lot more to come after this.
Speaker 9 (35:00):
We are somebody still with a sucks it with no yeh,
(35:36):
this don't don't love We believe in this city.
Speaker 7 (35:39):
We love you.
Speaker 9 (35:40):
We don't have the tea.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
A progressive Home and Auto bundle can protect you around
the clock, but we can't protect you from those painful
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(36:45):
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Speaker 4 (37:12):
Welcome back.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
It's our final segment here on Guardians Weekly, and our
location will change where we conduct the show from. As
we're done in Ohio for a while, we're going to
head the Goodyear Arizona over the weekend and bring you
our shows from Goodyear starting next Saturday. You can hear
our shows on the Guardians Radio Network seven am on
(37:33):
Saturday mornings on our flagship WTAM, Wman and Mansfield and
WMRN in Marion and also on WKBN and Youngstown. They
are our show at eleven o'clock on Saturdays, and of
course you can hear it in podcast form wherever you
like to download your podcast. So hope you and tune
(37:54):
in next week. From Goodyear until then, thanks to Brian Motse,
we're putting together our shows each and every week. This
is Jim rosen House reminding you that you've been listening
to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
Guardians Weekly has been brought to you by Progressive helping
Guardians fans save hundreds on car insurance
Welcome to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network.
Guardians Weekly is brought to you by Progressive helping Guardians
fans save hundreds on car insurance.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Hi everyone, Welcome to Guardian's Weekly. Jim Rosenhause joining you
still in Northeast Ohio, the frozen tundra of Cleveland and
areas beyond as it's our final show from Northeast Ohio
before we head to spring training. Our show next week
we'll em and eight from the Guardian Spring training complex
(01:27):
in Goodyear, Arizona, on the morning of the first Cactus
League game for the Guardians. So some great stuff coming up.
The pitchers and catchers have reported officially workouts are underway.
Basically the entire team is there, even though position players
don't have to report until Monday. So some great stuff
going on and finally some hard baseball talk to get
(01:51):
with you about, and that'll start next week. This week's show,
good show lined up for you. We're going to meet
the new Vice president of player Development for the Guardians.
His name is Stephen Oasterer. They used to call it
the Farm Director. And we'll hear from Stephen in our
next segment. The second half of our show reason it's
(02:12):
important though, what a lineage of farm directors that Cleveland
has had over the years, and player development is such
a vital part of everything they do to keep them
relevant and successful. And we will visit with the latest
man who's going to take over that position and oversee
the minor league department, which is such a key to
(02:32):
everything the Guardians do. So that's the second half of
our show today. When we take a break here and
come back from the break, we'll continue with our look
around the American League Central Division. Yes, there are heavy
contenders like the Tigers, the Royals, and maybe the Twins
to knock off the Guardians and overtake them after Cleveland
won the division a year ago. One team that really
(02:55):
struggled historically, so the Chicago White Sox, who set a
new Major League record for losses in a single season
with one hundred and twenty one a year ago. Where
do they go from there? We'll find out when we
visit with Lenn Casper, the radio voice for the Chicago
White Sox, when we come back after this time out.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
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is that trick place that actually worked. Prevent defense when
your team is winning by a lot, and even more
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And of course saving money when you bundle your home
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Speaker 4 (03:45):
Yeah, but how often does that happen?
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Speaker 1 (04:06):
Socks down to their last strength clause as ready, here's
the two pitch a slang.
Speaker 5 (04:13):
In a miss ball game. He got him on a
wicked slider. Any manual class where there's forty fourth, Say
Cleveland pitching strikes out eighteen White Sox today and they
get the sweep six to four. Welcome back to Guardians
(04:37):
Weekly and we continue our look around the American League
Central Division Guardians rivals for the season to come. And
this week we're joined by the fine broadcaster for the
Chicago White Sox, Len Casper. As we talked White Sox
baseball and Len, let's get out of the way. Obviously,
just a tough, tough season a year ago, a record
breaking season for the wrong reasons for the White Sox.
(05:00):
And you know we were talking earlier. When you're in it,
it probably doesn't seem quite as bad as maybe it
seems from the outside. But just how tough was that
for everybody involved with a ball club that's trying to
win games.
Speaker 6 (05:14):
Well, first of all, happy new year, Rosie. Good to
hear your voice and looking forward to seeing you coming
up in spring training. But yeah, twenty four was not
a ton of fun. Losing is never fun, and when
you finish eighty games under five hundred, it's tough on everybody.
It cost a good manager and a good man, Pedro
(05:36):
Griffol's job in August after a twenty one game losing streak.
But you know, if you kind of dig under the
hood a little bit, the White Sox actually were pretty competitive,
and it felt like you could count the games that
were blowouts and over early. Probably on one hand, it
(05:58):
felt like a lot of the games ended up getting
out of hand, maybe late when you're not using your
you know, your eight bullpen guys.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
So if they would be down three to.
Speaker 6 (06:09):
Two in the seventh, all of a sudden, they give
up three and they're down six to two. And you know,
maybe a couple more in the eighth and it's not
you know, eight to two, and it looks like a blowout,
but the game felt pretty close. Certainly, as broadcasters, our
jobs to inform and entertain, and we just took it
one day at a time, one game at a time,
to use the old cliche, and I thought Darren Jackson
(06:32):
was terrific, and you know, we did what we could
to keep the listeners entertained. But I think when the
season ended, everybody was happy to look forward to twenty five.
And I know we'll get into kind of the bigger
picture stuff here in a second, but there's a lot
of turnover and a lot of new faces, and a
lot of the guys who were part of this windows
(06:54):
so to speak, for the last few years have moved on.
So you're going to see a lot of new people.
I think with the Whites when the Guardians play.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Them, to your point about sometimes it maybe the record
is worse than what it actually should be or could be.
Don't tell the Guardians that the White Sox were a pushover,
because that season series was extremely competitive, and certainly Chicago
gave Cleveland all it could handle. Most of the season,
and I thought a really neat thing toward the end
(07:22):
of the year. Grady Sizemore took over and managed the
ball club toward the end, and we talked about a
little bit during those games. Of all the people who
have come through here as a player, I don't think
Grady would be near the top of the list for
someone you thought would be a major league manager. But
visiting with him, it sounded like he enjoyed the heck
out of it. And what were your impressions of the
(07:44):
job that Grady Sizemore did in a limited role? Yeah,
I agree, I agree, And again the record wasn't great,
but the White Sox won five of six to end
the season, and I thought Grady did a terrific job.
As you know, he's pretty quiet and reserved and has
always been a gamer, but he realized when he became
(08:07):
a manager that he would have to open up a
little bit. And I know he joked that his wife
told him, like, where's this guy been all those years?
You know at the ballpark?
Speaker 6 (08:16):
But there's a lot of passion inside, and you know,
he didn't get the full time managerial job, but I
think he'll manage again at some point.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
And when Will Vennable, who.
Speaker 6 (08:26):
Did get the job, talked to Chris Getz, it was
imperative that Grady is part of this thing. So I'm
really happy that he's still on the coaching staff and
that experience he got in the last six weeks or
so of last season.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
I think we're very.
Speaker 6 (08:41):
Valuable for him and his reputation in the organization and
in that clubhouse. Is Sterling White Sox broadcaster Len Casper
joining us as we continue our previews of American League
Central Division rivals for the Guardians with spring training close
at hand. You mentioned Will Vennable the manager. What have
(09:01):
you learned about him in a short period of time
before spring training begins as he takes over a major
rebuilding job. Well, I was fortunate to be with Will
on the other side of Chicago. He was on Joe
Madden's staff for a couple of years, and I was
immediately impressed with Will. He kind of got out of
(09:22):
the playing mode and went into the front office situation
and then wanted to be back in uniform. So he's
kind of a lifer. His dad, Max, was an outfielder
in the Big League, so he grew up around the game.
He was a two sports star in high school and
actually wanted to play basketball, and he was really good
basketball player at Princeton. And you know, he and Chris Young,
(09:45):
who's now running the baseball operations in Texas, those two
guys paths were very similar. They both were at Princeton,
they both played basketball, they both played baseball, So really
smart guys. And Will had a nice major league career
as a player. And you think about the managers he's
been around as a coach, Madden, Cora, and.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Bochie, that's not bad.
Speaker 6 (10:09):
He was right next to Bruce Bochie in twenty three
when they won the World Series. So not only did
he play for some really good managers, but he has
been on the staffs of some really good ones as well.
And as I said, he's just incredibly bright. I think
he understands coming in that patients will be required. But again,
(10:31):
a really competitive guy who I'm sure we'll want to
win sooner than later, for sure.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
It seems like the challenge for any team that's trying
to get back to relevance, how young do you go,
how many established veterans do you keep around? And I
know the White Sox have made some moves in the
off season. How young will this team be and how
much of a concern is that.
Speaker 6 (10:58):
I think pitching wise, it'll be really young. Martin Perez
will likely be the de facto number one, the veteran
left hander who actually was a teammate of Will Venables
at one point in Texas. But pitching is kind of
the thing right now, and some teams, you know, go
the position player route, right They graft a lot of
(11:21):
position players they trade for pitching. The White Sox have
kind of turned course a little bit and have decided
they're going to go with power arms, particularly left These
the names Noah Schultz, Hagen Smith. Keep those in mind
as we move forward. I don't know if you'll see
either of those guys. Probably not Schultz. Smith's, you know,
(11:44):
it was a first round pick last year out of college.
I think he could be on the pretty fast track.
I don't know, And that's a good question for Chris
Getz and Will in the front office in terms of
how much they want to push or how hard they
want to push that young pitching. I think position player wise,
the key guy is going to be Colson Montgomery, who
(12:05):
had been their top prospect, had a tough year triple
A last year, but I would anticipate that he'll be
the White Sox shortstop at some point this season. There's
another Montgomery, Braydon Montgomery, an outfielder they got from Boston
and the Garrett Crochet trade. So, as I said before,
you're gonna hear a lot of names that maybe aren't
(12:27):
too familiar. But Luis Robert Jr. Still here the center fielder.
There have been there's been a lot of talk that
he could be on the trading block at some point,
and it wouldn't surprise me if that happens. But you know, uh,
that's a tough guy to give up if if in
fact that ever came to pass, because he's got superstar potential.
(12:47):
He's shown flashes of it coming off a down year
last year. I would anticipate he'll be really good this year.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
And you mentioned his name and he was part of that. Gosh,
it doesn't seem like that long ago that it was
a good young core of some really athletic players who
were kind of scratching the surface. And is there a
feeling sometimes that it had never quite hit the way
they maybe they thought it would.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
For sure.
Speaker 6 (13:15):
Twenty one was my first year with the White Sox
that was the ninety three win team that got bounced
by Houston in the postseason. But that team was loaded,
and you know, you think of Joann Mancata, Tim Anderson.
Obviously Jose Abray was older but was kind of the
leader of the bunch, and then on the pitching side,
(13:36):
Lucas Giolito, and they signed Liam Hendrix, and they had
Kendall Graveman and at one point Joe Kelly and I
mentioned Crochet and Michael Kopek. You know, they've all moved on.
They've all moved on, and it kind of makes your
head spin at times to realize that it wasn't that
long ago that they had arguably the most talented team,
(13:57):
certainly in the division, if not the American League. But
things change quickly, and I think I go back to
the old adage, when you're really good, you never kind
of contemplate that you'll have a downswing. And when you're
struggling like the Socks have the last two years, it's
hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
But I do think that there's a chance that the
White Sox can be really competitive sooner than later, and
(14:21):
it's going to be a very young looking team. I
guess the cop would be the Royals, right. I think
that's kind of what the White Sox are trying to
do if you had to make another comparison in the division.
And I think that every team in this division always
looks up to the Guardians in terms of the way
they play the game, especially defensively. That's been a problem
(14:43):
for the White Sox, and I think they want to
get better defensively, want to have a little more team speed,
and that's where the youth comes.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
In Lenn Gasper joining US broadcaster for the White Sox,
and Len it the fan dynamic and you touched on
it before we get started about their and fan fest.
And here it's a one team town. It's the Cleveland
Guardians during baseball season, but obviously in Chicago it's a
(15:10):
two team city and it always seems like an uphill battle.
Anyway for the White Sox. How are they doing trying
to build that relationship with their fans again and and
get them excited about a team that that had a
tough year a year ago.
Speaker 6 (15:24):
Yeah, you know, I've found here. You know, the fans
are really smart, They're incredibly passionate, they're they're they're not
afraid to boo, as you've experienced here, and yet they'll cheer, uh,
you know, the next breath if you do something really well.
So I was impressed that the fans continue to come
back last year when it was obvious that this season
(15:47):
was headed south pretty pretty fast. We just had a
socks fest in Bridgeport, a few blocks from the ballpark
a couple of weeks ago, and the turnout was great
and the fans were really into it. And yeah, of
course everybody's ticked off at how things have gone here,
and it's a little bit of a stop talking. Let's
(16:07):
go play and let's show people that we've changed and that,
you know, the future is very bright. So I have
no doubt that there are some fans who tuned out
this team last year. But you know, when you get
young and you start feeling like you're looking towards something
as opposed to looking in your rear view mirror of
what might have been, that that is really exciting. And
(16:29):
even though this team, you know, went through this six
or seven years ago, this is the state of the
game right now. And instead of you know, trying to
band aid this thing organizationally they have really dug in
on resupplying the system with as many top prospects as possible.
And you know, the one thing you don't ever really
(16:51):
want to hang your hat on as well, we have
the third best farm system in baseball like that. At
the end of the day, it matters, I guess to
a degree, but it's all about what are you doing
at the big league level. But having said that, I
think the idea is to graduate these prospects and get
them to the big league sooner than later, and you know,
(17:12):
get them helping this team win games.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Yeah, sometimes you feel like you'll have a good farm
system because you haven't had success at the major league level,
so it leads to some good draft picks and there
you go. But it'll be exciting and I know we're
looking forward to We train not too far from the
White Sox out in the Phoenix area, so we'll have
a chance to see you and the team a couple
of times in spring training and that always good to
(17:36):
catch up. Thank you for coming.
Speaker 6 (17:37):
By, absolutely, Rosie. And for the second straight year, the
White Sox will be The Guardian's opponent for the home
opener in Cleveland. I don't believe there's an eclipse this year.
I have to tell you, especially when you have a
forty one and one twenty one season, that was one
of the big highlights for me. That was really an
incredible day and I know you and I were standing
(17:58):
near each other when when it all happened.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
That's Lenn Casper, radio voice for the Chicago White Sox,
and thanks so much for him and his time. Today.
We'll take a break. While we come back, we'll talk
farm system for the Guardians. Their new vice president of
player Development, Stephen Oaster, joins us next. Welcome back to
(18:52):
Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosenhouse back with you in northeast Ohio.
Our last show here before we head out to Goodyear,
Arizona and Guardian Spring training. That's where our shows will
be for the next month and a half before the
regular season begins. Also part of spring training. The minor
league system such a big key for the Guardians over
(19:12):
the years. And the new vice president of player development
is Stephen Oaster. The farm director and over the years
Man oh Man has Cleveland had some tremendous farm directors.
You can go back to the days of Mark Shapiro
back in the early nineties, John Farrell, who became a
major league manager after his time as farm director. He
(19:36):
has moved on to some great things and had a
fine career. He was a farm director at one point
in time. Neil Huntington, farm director in Cleveland, eventually a
major league general manager with Pittsburgh, and the list goes
on and on. Ross Atkins, who's now the GM in Toronto.
He was a farm director here in Cleveland. More recently anyway,
(19:56):
James Harris, who is now an assistant general manager for
the Guardians, and Rob sorfolio the most recent and Rob
took a position, a high level position with the Saint
Louis Cardinals this offseason, opening the door for Steven Osterer,
who is absolutely excited for the opportunity. This will be
his sixth season in the organization, as he has been
(20:18):
on that pitching side, starting as the pitching Resource coordinator
and then the director of pitching Development the last three seasons.
Now he oversees the entire minor league department. He knows
the history of the position he's in and he's excited
to get started.
Speaker 7 (20:34):
Yeah, thanks, Jim.
Speaker 8 (20:36):
Certainly exciting to step into the role, but also acknowledge
that there's some pretty heavy hitters, you know, leading up
to me taking it on. So yeah, just trying to
trying to continue on with a lot of the great
process and culture that you know, we're said and have
been set by the organization, uh, you know before doing this,
and you know, again like leaning on a lot of
(20:59):
the people that are also still here and have served
in this role that you have already been really helpful
in the transitions. So excited overall, you know about the job,
Excited about the state of the farm system and the
organization and you know what twenty twenty five as for us.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
And certainly you have a great background in the organization
in terms of player development, and explain where you've been
in such a key area that has been really the
backbone of Cleveland and that's pitching.
Speaker 7 (21:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (21:30):
Yeah, So I came into the organization in twenty twenty
in that pandemic year as a pitching resource coordinator or
effectively effectively trying to just support process and you know,
support some of the things that we were already doing
at a really high level. And you know, I think
at that time we were trying to integrate a little
(21:51):
bit more of the biomechanical information and set process and
you know, try to move forward with everything that comes,
you know from that. Vein So started there, served in
that role for a couple of years and then transitioned
into the director of Pitching role ahead of the twenty
two story season.
Speaker 7 (22:12):
Yeah, and I've been doing that since.
Speaker 8 (22:15):
Effectively helping lead the process, culture and people in that
department and you know, supporting proader domains to you effectively
continue to carry on this tradition of the pitching development
that you know obviously has been a huge role, you know,
and piece of pride I think for the organization for
a long time.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
It's interesting you mentioned processes and technologies in there too,
and and all the things that are different than maybe
ten years ago when when developing pitchers in How much
do you find players want that now and really embrace
it and almost feel if they don't have it they're
falling behind.
Speaker 8 (22:56):
Yeah, the amount of information has exploded, you know, and
I think the players obviously, uh, you know, understand that
that that that has happened.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (23:06):
I think our organization does an incredible job of you know,
partnering with the player to you know, not just tell
them what to do, but be an active participant.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
Uh.
Speaker 7 (23:15):
You know, with them in their journey and support them.
Speaker 8 (23:17):
So you know, the players are you know, being fed
information not just internally with the organization, and uh, you know,
there's a lot of the public sphere that again like
they are pumping out information, pumping out you know a
lot of content around some of the things that are
becoming more online in the pitching world, and I think
(23:38):
there there's a huge appetite for players to to use that.
And you know, our goal as an organization is to
be able to understand as much as we possibly can
to support them and use that information to our advantage.
So you know, we've built out a lot of our
structure internally and our processes to kind of match that,
and you know a lot of that again is being
(24:00):
by the questions that the players are asking. So you know,
it's been a very interesting last five years I think,
or six years specifically, Uh, you know, along this path
here and I think you know, broadly across baseball you're
starting to see a lot of that become more public too.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
So I'm sure it's going to be different five years
from now. How do you find that the next thing
that that's going to help pitchers or or hitters in
your current role that that could be helpful for them.
Speaker 7 (24:28):
Yeah, it's a great question, you know.
Speaker 8 (24:31):
I think again it's it's usually driven by by questions
and you know, curiosities, and yeah, I think there's uh,
you know, there's a lot of conversation at times around
like old school versus new school and and how people
think about the game.
Speaker 7 (24:45):
And I think it's all kind of the same thing.
You know.
Speaker 8 (24:49):
The people who have the experience in baseball have a
ton of ideas and questions that we can now access
information to to test out and and you know see
if we can learn any thing from that. But you know,
another strength to I think how we approach things too,
is just you know, being tightly integrated across you know,
hitting and pitching and strength conditioning and our scouting department.
(25:12):
You know, everyone is kind of you know, integrated really
well in these conversations about baseball. Typically great questions that
we can then deploy the rest of the organization's resources
to try to understand better, you know, and you know,
build off of off of, you know, a lot of
the knowledge I think we already have and to test it.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Steve Oster joining us. He's the new farm director for
the Cleveland Guardians heading into the twenty twenty five season. Uh,
as you look towards spring training, there'll be some some
young players who we haven't seen in major league camp before.
Can you give us maybe one or two that might
be fun to keep an eye on, especially on that
pitching side, that that would bear watching in spring training,
(25:54):
even if they might not be on the radar quite yet.
Speaker 8 (25:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (25:57):
Great, Uh, that's a great question.
Speaker 8 (26:00):
I mean, I think there's a lot of interesting storylines,
you know, and you know pieces on the pitching side,
both on the major league level and then the minor
league level. I think there's you know, maybe not a
name that is unknown but got a taste of it
last year that I think everyone is excited to see
Joey Cantillo you know approach this year.
Speaker 7 (26:21):
You know, we've obviously.
Speaker 8 (26:22):
Been tracking him for a long time on the minor
league side. You know, he got an opportunity last year
to to you know, showcase the things that we were
so excited about. You some inconsistency and some growing pains
that are to be expected when you make your major
league debut and you you know, carry out some innings
at the beginning, but really excited to see him, uh,
you know, coming to spring training and where he is
(26:43):
and try to build off of some of the things
that he was showing last year. On top of that,
we have some forty man editions you know that may
or may not get the opportunity this year.
Speaker 7 (26:54):
To make their major league debut.
Speaker 8 (26:55):
But you know Doug mccasey, uh, being one of them,
you know, left handed starting.
Speaker 7 (27:00):
You're in the minor league side that you know.
Speaker 8 (27:02):
We acquired in the twenty twenty one draft to uh,
you know, put up some really good numbers last year
in Triple A. You know, diligent worker and a guy
that we know is going to show up ready to
compete and ready to showcase some of the things that
you know, he's shown us on the minor league side
for the last few years. On top of that, another
name that will be interesting the track, you know, throughout
(27:24):
the year and potentially in spring trading and and you
know how he shows up is Franco Alamann. You know,
he's put up some pretty hilariously impressive numbers in the minor.
Speaker 7 (27:34):
League side as a reliever for the last couple of years.
Speaker 8 (27:36):
Uh, you know, has battled a little bit of you
know optimal health. Yeah, for for you know, the bulk
of twenty twenty four and you know, it feels really
good now and coming into Campbell hopefully showcase again some
of the things that you know, he were on display
for us in the last couple of years of the
minor league side. So you know, those are just two
examples or sorry, three examples of guys that were excited
(27:59):
to kind of at and see how they're coming. But
there are a lot of a lot of different names
and guys that have put in a ton of work.
You know, it would be interesting to see, you know,
them compete and show up in a short few weeks.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
And when you mentioned those three and the many others
who will be a part of spring training and at
various levels of the minor league system, patience seems to
be the biggest key in player development. And how important
is it just to be patient and let players have
those moments where it doesn't go as well as they
(28:32):
had hoped and then learned from that.
Speaker 7 (28:34):
Yeah, I think you just said that extremely well.
Speaker 8 (28:37):
Uh, you know, patience is incredibly important. You know, I
think everyone obviously wants to be in the big leagues,
and you know, it's really hard to battle at times,
the fact that you're in the minor leagues and potentially
even particularly at the level that you're at. But yeah,
I think our viewpoint of it is, you know, we
want our players to be prepared to not only you know,
(28:57):
get to the major league level, but stick.
Speaker 7 (29:00):
When they get there, you know, and and there are.
Speaker 8 (29:02):
Lots of experiences that come with playing baseball that you
prepare you best to handle some of the failures and
you know, maybe getting punched in the mouth a little
bit that you know, I think at the minor league level, uh.
Speaker 7 (29:15):
You know, or or good testing grounds to kind of
work through that and.
Speaker 8 (29:18):
To continue to refine, you know, not just your skill set,
but you know, how you approach the day to day
to allow you to hopefully be a successful impact major
league player that contributes not just for a short period
of time, but for the length of a career. So,
you know, as much as as players you know, eye
that major league level, and you know, at times it's
(29:39):
it can be difficult to be where your feet are,
you know, I think our orders perspective is to to
try to highlight some of those positives and things that
there's always things you can work on whether you're in
you're in Lynchburg, you know they're low affiliate, or you're
in the big leagues. It's it's just a continuous process
of trying to get better and you know, being patient
with it. The game will teach you and give you
(30:00):
opportunities to get better regardless of where you are.
Speaker 7 (30:04):
So I think you hit the nail on the head
on that.
Speaker 8 (30:07):
It's patients is really important at times, and it's something
that we try to, you know, instill in our players
as we kind of you know, go through that journey
with them from starting out with our organization to impacting
the big club.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Steve Oster joining us. He's the new farm director for
the Cleveland Guardians. And just in closing, Steve Cleveland seems
to do a tremendous job of finding coaching talent and
development talent in different places. And you mentioned you moved
here back during the COVID year of twenty twenty and
(30:40):
you came from a baseball development group in the Toronto area.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
How did you.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
What was the connection with Cleveland and then how did
they find you?
Speaker 8 (30:50):
Yeah, so I think the connection point started when I
presented at a pitching special of a conference a few
years prior to coming on board. Uh, you met a
few of of the pitching uh you know, I guess
the pitching leadership group with with the guardians you know,
(31:12):
who are now some of them are here with us,
another a couple of the other ones are gone. Like
you said, we're developed and or with other organizations in
major league capacity jobs. But you started started just a
relationship there, you know, and and continue to stay in
contact and gauge opportunities you have an interview for different
(31:34):
positions as.
Speaker 7 (31:35):
They kind of came up. But yeah, I think that
one of.
Speaker 8 (31:38):
The things that, like you said, we we do a
really good job of is trying to you know, find
talent and not just find yeah, you know now talent,
but try to develop it over time. So you know,
having people at conferences and having a network and always
on the look for people that fill fit our culture
and we project along long term impact from a coaching
(32:02):
lens or just a broad organizational lens is something at
the forefront of how we think about player development. You know,
it's developing staff on top of players. So yeah, thankfully
I you know, as a benefactor of that back in
twenty twenty and now it is something that you know,
we're consistently and constantly Actually just kind of got through
(32:23):
this a little bit too with you know a number
of promotions and people getting opportunities outside of the organization
the last couple of months. So always top of mind
with the organ Uh. Yeah, again, like very thankful to
be here and you know, was a benefactor of the
organizational values in that sense.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
There are very few downtimes in the baseball calendar year anymore.
What's late January like for a farm director in Big
League Baseball? What are you working on?
Speaker 7 (32:51):
Yeah, a lot of things.
Speaker 8 (32:52):
So, I mean, we've we've got a pretty significant camp
underway in Arizona, and you know, this is something that
we put a lot of time and priority into, you know,
over the last well since I've been here, and it's
continued to grow and grow. So we've got about almost
one hundred players down in our Arizona complex, uh, you know,
(33:12):
working on their goals and getting prepared for this season.
So it's a huge chunk of you know, ensuring that
we're we're doing the things that we need to do
and and supporting the group on the ground as much
as we can.
Speaker 7 (33:24):
That's definitely a big part of it.
Speaker 8 (33:26):
And then as you can imagine, planning for spring training
and everything that.
Speaker 7 (33:29):
Goes into it takes up you know, a good chunk
of the day.
Speaker 8 (33:33):
There's a lot of conversations around you know, how are
we preparing our players? You know, how are we going
to set up our game schedule, how are we out
you know, working through the day to day of the
logistics and the things that need to happen, you know,
on top of things that we do organizationally as a
priority like staff development and you know, getting our group together.
So there's a lot, there's a lot going on. You know,
(33:56):
there's there's a lot of excitement around what twenty twenty
five can bring. Right now, I'm just trying to make
sure I got my head on straight and just support
the great things that I've already been put in place
before my time coming to this. So again like super
excited abou where we are super excited about, you know,
the talent level and coming off of you know, a
(34:16):
lot of the success.
Speaker 7 (34:17):
Of the major league and minor league level from.
Speaker 8 (34:19):
Last year, so we are full steam ahead into trying
to prepare our players and our staff for having another
successful year in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
It has been a development machine the Guardian's farm system,
for sure, and congratulations on the promotion and enjoy it.
It's certainly a fun place to be at this particular time,
for sure.
Speaker 7 (34:40):
Yeah, I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
That is Steve Oster, the new farm director for the
Cleveland Guardians. Stay tuned a lot more to come after this.
Speaker 9 (35:00):
We are somebody still with a sucks it with no yeh,
(35:36):
this don't don't love We believe in this city.
Speaker 7 (35:39):
We love you.
Speaker 9 (35:40):
We don't have the tea.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
A progressive Home and Auto bundle can protect you around
the clock, but we can't protect you from those painful
moments in sports. Why would we trade our best player? Well,
at least you got to watch him in person when
he was here. I named my only son after him,
so you'll always remember his name. Yeah, but what do
I do with this jersey? Luckily the company has a
great return policy. I warrant for six seasons at least
(36:45):
your Hollanada or protected with a bundle from Progressive Progressive
Cansualt Interns Company Offili. It's an other interurvist not available
in tho States. A situations.
Speaker 4 (37:12):
Welcome back.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
It's our final segment here on Guardians Weekly, and our
location will change where we conduct the show from. As
we're done in Ohio for a while, we're going to
head the Goodyear Arizona over the weekend and bring you
our shows from Goodyear starting next Saturday. You can hear
our shows on the Guardians Radio Network seven am on
(37:33):
Saturday mornings on our flagship WTAM, Wman and Mansfield and
WMRN in Marion and also on WKBN and Youngstown. They
are our show at eleven o'clock on Saturdays, and of
course you can hear it in podcast form wherever you
like to download your podcast. So hope you and tune
(37:54):
in next week. From Goodyear until then, thanks to Brian Motse,
we're putting together our shows each and every week. This
is Jim rosen House reminding you that you've been listening
to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
Guardians Weekly has been brought to you by Progressive helping
Guardians fans save hundreds on car insurance
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