Rangers Offense EXPLODES This Weekend & Tony Barnette Joins The Show

Baseball has been called the National Pastime in America.  The same could be said in Japan.  Each team has American players and one of those joins the show today.  Former Ranger Tony Barnette joins to talk all things baseball stateside and in Japan. 📌 Subscribe for more Texas Rangers content!🔔 Turn on notifications so you never miss an update! #rangers #mlb #baseball #texas An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/@DLLS_Sports ALL THINGS DLLS: WEBSITE:http://allDLLS.com/ BUY MERCH:http://DLLSLocker.com FOLLOW ON SOCIAL:Twitter: @DLLS_Sports // @dlls_rangersInstagram: @DLLS_Sports Become a DLLS Diehard and get access to premium content, our Discord channel, discounts on merch, and a free shirt! Sign up here: https://alldlls.com/join-diehard/ Gametime: Take the guesswork out of buying concert tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code DLLS for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed. Shady Rays is giving out their best deal of the season. Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: DLLS for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people. Empire Today: Schedule a free in-home estimate today! All listeners can receive a $350 OFF discount when they use the promo code DLLS. Restriction Indeed: Listeners of this show will get a $75 SPONSORED JOB CREDIT to get your jobs more visibility at https://indeed.com/allcity - Just go to https://indeed.com/allcity right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need Indeed. Sleeper: If you think you have what it takes, download the Sleeper app and use the code DLLSRANGERS to get up to a $100 match on your first deposit! Terms and conditions apply. See Sleeper’s Terms of Use for details. Currently operational in over 25 states. Check out Sleeper today! Zbiotics: Go to https://zbiotics.com/dllsrangers to get 15% off your first order when you use DLLSRANGERS at checkout. Pre-Alcohol is backed with 100% money back guarantee so if you’re unsatisfied for any reason, they’ll refund your money, no questions asked. Rugged Road: Reliable, durable, and built to be used– Rugged Road is your ultimate outdoor companion! Head to http://ruggedroadoutdoors.pxf.io/ALLCITY and use code DLLS for 10% off! Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.

Episode Transcript

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Speaker 4 (00:49):
Today the Rangers are on the road, although off today,
enjoying an off day in Florida, but the longest trip
of the season. In his Underway, we talk about that
and the success that springboarded them two said trip plus.
Tony Barnett joins us do you remember him? His story

(01:11):
is great and it's coming up next on the DLLs
Rangers Podcast. Yeah, we've got lots to talk about with
regard to the Rangers, but we will spend part of
this off day anyway with Tony Barnett, a guy who
was with the Rangers for a couple of years after
a very successful career in Japan. In fact, it was
Japan that vaulted him into the major leagues. We'll talk

(01:34):
to him all about being what they call a baseball guy, John,
that is a baseball foreigner, and we'll talk about that
with Tony coming up later. It's the DLS Rangers Podcast. Me,
John Radagan, Jeff Wilson is here. We were both here
when Tony was a player here. We'll talk to him
in the next segment of the show. The profits here.

(01:55):
We'll be glad to have you in the chat and
wonder if you have any memories about Barnett's time here.
He was with the Rangers that year in sixteen when
they went back to the or the American League playoffs.
But they had the best record in the American League
that year and he was a part of that team.
So anyway, we get to that a little later. First, Jeff,

(02:18):
they hit the road for this long road Trip and
really at the end of that Toronto series, I was like,
and I think we talked about it on the show.
Is this the low point of the season.

Speaker 5 (02:32):
I hope it was. It sure has been better since
it has, you know, and now eleven runs Friday, no
runs Saturday. Yeah, eight runs yesterday. I think, you know,
there was some life. I think you can believe in
the fact that they had hit rock bottom and we
were in there in the clubhouse afterwards Wednesday, and I

(02:55):
mean they were just kind of defeated, you know, and
you know, they all talked though. If if they were
there and you want to talk to him, they were available.
Marcus Simeon talked, and you know, maybe maybe that's what
turned it around. You know, they had the off day
off at home. He got to spend with his family,

(03:15):
so there was a mental break there. Although he's got
four kids, so he's probably pretty busy. But you know,
he comes comes back and in the three games he
went seven for eight with three walks. Yeah, I mean
that's spectacular.

Speaker 4 (03:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (03:30):
Homeward he had double uh and and really, you know,
down there in the eighth Spountain, the lineup was generating,
getting the getting the lineup turned over and giving the
Rangers chances to score runs. And you know, that's what
he did as a leadoff hitter. And and I'm not
saying he's ready to be the leadoff hitter again yet.

(03:52):
Let's take baby steps here. But maybe this is the start,
you know, his if you recall first year, I've mentioned
a couple of times, he didn't hit his first homer
until May twenty eighth, basically two years later, he has
this big weekend. Maybe this is the one that gets
him going, you certainly hope. So he's he's over the
Mendoza line at two oh one. Yeah, all right, he's

(04:14):
but he raises average twenty eight points.

Speaker 4 (04:17):
Well, that's the thing. We always say that the longer,
the deeper you get into a season, the harder it
is to see substantive you know, growth or really even
you know, a negative growth with your average. But an
eight seventy five weekend, Jeff, yeah, he was. His average
was eight seventy what that's not his ops, his average

(04:38):
was eight seventy five for the weekend.

Speaker 5 (04:40):
Yeah, that'll that'll help, that'll help. That'll good back up
over the mendo so a lot. Now, of course, you
know he needs to keep going. It was a nice,
nice ending to a pretty pretty lousy right may. But
you know, this guy's got a lot of pride and
he also still has confidence in himself. He's been a
very good major league player for a lot of years,

(05:03):
and uh, you know, maybe he's figured something out and
I'm now I'm no hitting coach. He was pulling the
ball more over the weekend. I mean, that's where his
power is. And he hit some balls hard. Obviously you
can't hit it, hit it eighty miles per hour to
get down of the ballpark. So he did. He did
some good things. And this is this is the time

(05:26):
where where he can really take off the second it's
the third month of the season. We're entering here and
uh needs to needs to you know, get going.

Speaker 4 (05:38):
Yeah. Yeah, and he and he, like corys Sieger himself,
Marcus Simeon can be sort of that leader by example guy. Right,
He's the guy that they can and will follow. He's
got the veteran status. I mean, you know, the big
contract is a thing, you know. I mean he tries
not to let it weigh him down, but it's a thing.

(05:58):
It's what other players look at. And of course he
the reason he has those things is because he's been
so successful in the past, so these guys will follow him.
And and actually, as we've said many times, following either
one of them with regard to how they prepare day
in and day out Jeff is a good thing because

(06:20):
they are as consistent and as good at getting ready
for games as anybody I've ever seen.

Speaker 5 (06:27):
You know, Marcus doesn't take days off. You know, even
on the the rare exception when he's not in the lineup,
he still goes out there and takes his ground balls
and gets ready as if he's playing a game.

Speaker 6 (06:40):
Now.

Speaker 5 (06:41):
Maybe for the betterment of his health in the future, Hey,
maybe Marcus could back off a little bit and have
an off day, being off day whatever. You know, they
don't want to mess with his routine. But I thought
that Friday night when he hit the home run. They're
paying to the dugout. You know, we from the press box,
we don't see the dugout their faces. They're all happy,

(07:04):
all thrilled for Marcus Simeon. They know it's been a struggle.
They want their guy, their their leader, their veteran to
uh to enjoy some success. I mean, he's he's hasn't
had it at all, and he's had to take some
flak from media and fans and you know, and when
you're man one seventy three, it's hard to say that

(07:26):
anybody is wrong, right. But Uh, this seventh or eight
weekend with the three walks, he's he still leads the
team in walks. Yep, nothing but nothing but positives there.

Speaker 4 (07:37):
Nothing but the hope for positives with regard to the
other guy who has been struggling. In fact, that Daulis
Garcia has been struggling so mightily that that the Rangers
took a drastic step Jeff, the likes of which I
have not seen. And I meant to ask boats this
and I didn't get a chance. Uh has he ever

(07:58):
utilized this method to attempting to get a guy going?
But we're talking five straight days off for Adoles Garcia
where he has been asked to work on things, specific
things about his swing designed to get him back to
the player that he was in twenty three. And we

(08:20):
don't know, Jeff, that five is it right? We don't
know that he'll be back. We have not been made
aware of yet a plan, a re entry plan for
Adoley Garcia.

Speaker 5 (08:30):
Yeah, you know it's safe to say that. You know,
Bruce Bochi's calling a mental break. He's been benched, right, Yeah,
doles Garcia has been benched. It may just be four
of the three games that he's missed, you know, and
then sandwiching that series is two off days, the last
of which today, and they start fresh tomorrow in Tampa.

(08:51):
And you know Evan Carter's come was supposed to come
off the jury Rice tomorrow, and so that's going to
give the Rangers some outfielders who they really like, uh
White Langford, obviously, Evan Carter. And it's hard to not
like Alejandro soon.

Speaker 6 (09:05):
I'll tell you what he's.

Speaker 5 (09:07):
Reached based in all seven of his games. Uh, he
takes walks and he hasn't hit the ball with a
ton of authority yet. I guess that's the only thing missing.
But you know he'll run the bases like a mad man,
terrific defensive player. So you know he's the hot hand, right,
Dolescarci is not the hot hand. Now, if a Doles

(09:28):
has been working and they feel like this thing is
is better, they've got to give him a chance to
sure get results. Like a test flight. You'll go out,
go out there and let's see it. Uh, you know,
and in that case, then you know, unfortunately it probably
is uh oh sooner who sits. But it's it's gonna
be it's gonna be a tough, tough decision. But Chris

(09:50):
Jung said it yesterday. The lineup will be based on performance.
It's a performance driven industry. And uh, right now, he
is not performing. I mean, his averages is slightly above
two hundred, but it's just it's like he's been lost,
you know. And and you know the point that I
bring up and have mentioned a couple of times. You know,

(10:14):
he should know by now how hitters pitchers are trying
to get him out right, fastballs above the zone and
sliders away, and and you know, I'm not in the
box and I've never been, so I don't know how
easier hard it is to lay off these pitches. But
if you if you know what's coming with two strikes,
it's gonna if you're down oh two, they're not going

(10:35):
to throw you a strike. No, you're getting a ball,
So just take it, work yourself back into the count.
And the pitch recognition is a thing, and that's not
a mechanical thing. That's something that you just gotta got
to know and have a feel for. So I don't
know how that gets fixed, but there are some things.
You know, the swing that he had, you know, he

(10:55):
worked on it in the off season with Bobby Witt,
junior hitting coach and last name is Eisenhower, and he
works with Alex Bohm as well, the Phillies first baseman
or infielder. And you know, the way it was explained
to me at one point was that, you know, the
stride is shorter, which is evident to see, but the

(11:17):
batpath is different. It's kind of more of a a
It doesn't stay in the zone as long, so you're
not going to make as much contact. Plus it produces
more backspin, so fly balls that generally might be doubles
or home runs get caught because they have so much backspin.
So it's you know, as Chris Young explained, he said,

(11:39):
there are things that we think he can do to
get back to the twenty twenty three adulus when he
had the career high in home runs, RBIs and walks. Yeah, okay,
and if he can do that, hey, yeah, he's going
to earn playing time. But right now, and I don't know.

Speaker 4 (11:54):
Let's remember that in that season, his chase rate was
in the high twenty and thus far this season, his
chase rate is north of forty percent. And Chase Jeff
has nothing to do with Ike. Ike Eisenhower there, I
like Ike. It's got nothing to do with Ike. Chase

(12:16):
rate is a decision, right, and a decision is in
the brain, And so he's got to make better decisions
at the plate like Craig Ludwig makes. Look at him,
he's over here, eye and a damn bud light right now. Yeah,
he's ready. They're not cold, though, lud Those aren't cold.
So anyway, you got to make proper decisions. And like

(12:41):
you said, I've never been in the box, and I
realize the time to make that decision is so infinitesimal.
But again, he's a major league player. He just needs
to be better at making those decisions.

Speaker 5 (12:56):
And he has been in the past. Right, That's why
it's duab He's never been perfect, right. I mean, this
is a guy who entered the season with a crew
banding average below three hundred or two hundred I'm sorry,
below two fifty and an on base percentage below three hundred.
All right, so he's not. He is a flawed player,
There's there's no doubt about it. But when he's when
he's right, he's doing those things less and less. So

(13:19):
he needs to be able to harness his the temptation
that those pitches offer and to understand that they are
not going to throw him for strikes.

Speaker 4 (13:31):
Yeah. So yeah, that's the next step for him. Hopefully
that will work. And by the way, Tanner had to
slide in for the profit and didn't miss a beat
with the bell and everything, so we appreciate you, Tanner.
And of course now the profit's back, so that's great
because we got a big segment coming up. It's the
first of two that we'll do with Tony Barnett and

(13:53):
we're going to talk lots of things baseball, but the
interesting story of Tony's resurgence of his baseball career in
Japan and what it feels like to be an outsider
in a country. It's all coming up. It's the DLS
Rangers podcast.

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(14:32):
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I've heard of the stray Cats, never the stray Kids,
but they're big apparently, and they've got a jersey stray
Kids twenty five.

Speaker 6 (14:48):
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(15:12):
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(15:47):
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All right, this is a fun time for us? Is
Tony their profit? We got Tony barn My goodness, look

(16:28):
at Tony Barnett hang out with us on this Monday
and off day for the Rangers and Tony We're thrilled
to have you man, thanks for joining us.

Speaker 7 (16:37):
Oh, I appreciate the time. Good to see you, guys.

Speaker 5 (16:41):
Tony, you look you look very scholarly and kind of
kind of all like an adult, you know, the long
hair's gone.

Speaker 8 (16:47):
Had to return to society, had to, you know, quit
trying to trick everybody into thinking that it was something
something that I wasn't. So, yeah, I gotta had left
the game and put my adult pants on.

Speaker 4 (17:00):
I was I was going to ask you to turn
your head and see if you had a ponytail back there.
Oh no, that.

Speaker 7 (17:06):
Would be a terrible look.

Speaker 4 (17:07):
Oh wow, yeah, but again, yeah, we've seen terrible looks before.

Speaker 5 (17:12):
It'd be a very like eighties hippie look, you know. Yeah, yeah,
that would be bad. Well, Tony, it's great to see you.
And you know, Aaron who wrote wrote your book. He
reached out to me in December and told me about it.
I hadn't heard about Aaron Fishman Baseball and Guy Jin

(17:32):
Chasing a Dream to Japan and back. I tell you what,
I immediately dove into it, read about one hundred and
fifty pages over Christmas we were in Colorado, and then
when we came home it got put under some stuff,
so I picked it back up. I rediscovered it in
spring training and finish it off. And I tell you what, man,

(17:53):
if you put the total time of I bet I
knocked it out in three days total. I just I
just couldn't put it down. I really enjoyed it. I
loved hearing your story and I learned a lot about
baseball in Japan. But anyway, Casey Ward nominated book last year,
and there were some heavy hitters in. There's a Rose book,
there's a Clayton Kershaw book. How do you you told

(18:17):
me you you're very proud of what the final product was.

Speaker 6 (18:20):
What what?

Speaker 5 (18:21):
What feedback have you gotten here over the last several months.

Speaker 7 (18:26):
You know, it's.

Speaker 8 (18:29):
To go off of what you've said. I've had some
really positive feedback. I really appreciate all the feedback we
have gotten. I know I mentioned it in the email.
I was kind of terrified of it coming out, you know,
like Aaron and I had conversations. You know, from my end,
I was like, who's going to read it? Who's going
to care? You know, there are a lot of bigger
fish in the sea than you know. A guy that
came to the big Lings was a middle reliever, and

(18:51):
you know, and it was almost just kind of like
the expectations I had for myself were so high as
a ballplayer coming up that kind of overshadowed what I
really did by going to Japan and making my way
back at thirty two and having the success that I
did have, even if there, you know, so many guys
the windows so short. I made the best of my
time here. But you know, the feedback has been ultra positive,

(19:16):
and I really am proud of it. I really am
proud of what Aaron did and what he put together.
He really did write a phenomenal book, especially being for
a first time author, and just kind of in hit,
you know, for him spending so much time and investing
so much into it with real no guarantee of getting

(19:37):
anything back from it. So it really was a cool
thing to be a part of. I've known Aaron since
two thousand and eight, and just to see it all
come together over a span of almost twenty years. It
really is a neat thing to see my, uh my,
my shaggy mug on the front of a cover.

Speaker 4 (19:55):
Well, you know, nowadays we see all of these you know,
these TV groups that players follow, teams you guys were
like the four runners of that. What was he following
you throughout the course of your time in Japan? How
did he gather everything?

Speaker 7 (20:12):
You know, it really was.

Speaker 8 (20:14):
It started in two thousand and eight when I was
in Double A and he was in college at UC Davis,
and he reached out to a random amount of minor
league pitchers that met some statistical guidelines that he was
looking at for a college project. I answered back, and
we just kind of had a couple of conversations and
I was just looking at you know, I just was

(20:36):
free to talk about baseball in any fashion that I could,
And I guess that's one of my downfalls, is not
being able to shut up sometimes.

Speaker 7 (20:43):
But like he, you know, he just kept he just
kept following me. And then when I went to Japan,
he the.

Speaker 8 (20:51):
Plot thickened, so to speak, and he just kept doing
interviews for more projects that he was doing and more articles.
He started covering basketball more. But I was just one
of the those kind of side projects that he just
kept rolling with. And then as my career progressed in
Japan over six years success I had there and then
signing with Texas in two thousand and fifteen, and starting

(21:11):
there in twenty sixteen, once again we added more, you know,
more meat.

Speaker 7 (21:17):
And potatoes of the story.

Speaker 8 (21:18):
And by the end of it, he looked at me
and said, Tony, I've got enough here. Your story's fantastic.
I'm going to write a book. I was like, Okay, well,
that's kind of that's kind of you're you're kind of
you're crazy, like, you.

Speaker 7 (21:29):
Know, do what you want to do.

Speaker 8 (21:30):
But in reality, so a lot of interviews, a lot
of a lot of nights of him and I talking
of rehashing stories and him digging up the information and
just kind of reminding me of things that I've missed.
He really did dig in deep to a lot of
the stats. A lot of the days, he did a
lot of interviews, and I helped him kind of with

(21:53):
the networking style of that of people I'd met in Japan,
family friends, media, teammates, and you know, through all of
it ended up with that book that you guys just
hat sitting on your desk right there. And it really
is in my mind, it's a neat thing for me
because on a personal level, my kids were so small
when I went through this. You know, now they just

(22:15):
you know, they tell their teachers. Well, my dad just
watches sports. You know, it's like, well, you know, I
did do a little bit more before that, So it
is kind of neat for me to have something set
in stone that they can when when when they're capable
of reading it front to back, they'll kind of have
a better idea of what I went through and what
we went through as a family to reach the spot

(22:35):
in which we are now.

Speaker 5 (22:37):
Yeah, it's it's we hear about players coming from Japan,
and we've experienced it because you know, you Darvish was
a member of the Rangers. They've had some other players
from Japan, and you can kind of tell some of
the things that they have to deal with, but you
never hear the other side of it, Guys like you,
the guys in the foreign players who go to hand

(23:00):
and have the same issues. Yeah, I mean, you're an
ocean away, you're learning a new language that's very difficult
to learn in the first place. And so I just
really thought that, you know, there's obviously a lot of
great stuff about baseball, but just the way you had
to overcome some stuff to just be able to play

(23:22):
and communicate and and the baseball is a little different
there so I just, you know, especially early on, it
seemed like that first season there were some challenges for you.

Speaker 8 (23:32):
Yeah, I mean early on, I think I was still
just young and dumb and a little naive too.

Speaker 7 (23:38):
To adaptation.

Speaker 8 (23:40):
But I think my stories, no, I you know, there's
times I feel like my story's no different than any
player that leaves their home country to play in a
different country. And I mean Major League Baseball is draped
in Latin America and foreign players from all over the map,
and so my story is no differ from from theirs

(24:00):
when they come over and they don't know English and
they don't know, you know, the cultural aspect of it,
and they have to adapt. So by going to Japan
and coming back, I did gain a lot more respect
for those guys that do come over to from Latin
America at young ages, and you know, they learn the language,
they learn the cultural differences, and they succeed in droves.

(24:22):
So that first year was a struggle for me. I
did you know, I ran into a lot of adversity.
And I was fortunate enough after that first year to
be invited back by yack Holt and given that second chance,
and that's when things kind of took off for me
as I know had that conversation with the team in spring,
they put me in the bullpen, and you know, the

(24:43):
rest is written from there on out. I found myself
as a pitcher and continue to mold and continue to
develop and have success in Japan, which paved the way
for me to have the success to sign with Texas
in twenty sixteen and be a part of that bullpen, Tony.

Speaker 4 (25:01):
One of the things I wrote to help sort of
promote this show was baseball maybe America's national pastime, but
the same could be said of Japan. Is that overstating
it or is it maybe even a larger part of
the fabric of the sports fandom there.

Speaker 7 (25:18):
No, you hit the nail on the head.

Speaker 8 (25:21):
Sumo is the national pass line there, but it's just
draped in history and tradition. But if it wasn't for sumo,
I think baseball would one take the cake. The fandom
there is so fantastic. You see it in the WBC now,
you see it whenever we MLB has that opening series
in Tokyo. People are clamoring to get into those games.

(25:44):
People are you know, fighting hand over fist to get
to get to be a part of the stadium, to
be a part of that atmosphere and to see some
of the stars that could come to the United States
and that already there.

Speaker 7 (25:58):
We saw it.

Speaker 8 (25:59):
We see the the Michael Jackson esque popularity of Shoho
Tani and you know, guys even like darbish they you know,
before Otani, it was darbish all over the billboards. And
it's just the fandom of the Japanese is so much fun.
The games are so much fun to be a part of.
I can't wait to get back during a summer and

(26:24):
be a fan of a Japanese baseball game. I always
got the on field I always got the on field experience,
which is, you know, to be a ballplayer and be
able to look into the stands and look on the
deck like you can't beat that. But when it comes
to a Japanese baseball game, to get out there with
the fans and you know, all the noise makers and
umbrellas and just being a part of that adventure would

(26:47):
be It's on my bucket list. I can't wait to
do it. But obviously, in my role right now, I've
got to be working during the summer, so I'm trying
to trying to find a way to weasel my way
into that.

Speaker 5 (26:58):
Yeah, you should just say, hey, we've got some players
you guys want to look at, and I'd really like
to present them to you in person.

Speaker 8 (27:04):
Right Yeah, just like bring a triple A guy out
and just like have him stop from the middle of
the season, be like, hey, come with me real quick
and just kind of use that.

Speaker 7 (27:12):
I don't see that working, but you.

Speaker 8 (27:13):
Know, maybe I'll mull it around and throw it, throw
some things at the wall and see what sticks.

Speaker 4 (27:18):
I got an idea, how about a book tour? Do
the book tour over there again.

Speaker 7 (27:23):
We are working on that right now.

Speaker 4 (27:24):
There is a.

Speaker 8 (27:25):
Foreign Players there. There is a Foreign Players Union that's
starting up. It's kind of in the infant stages, whereas
there's a group of guys who are trying to do
what they can to help guys like myself stay relevant
in the game over there, stay relevant with the fan base,
and to continue to give back to the fans, because
even if you play one year over there, you will

(27:47):
see it on guys instagrams and the followers, like the
fans still kind of hold on to them. The fans
still welcome them in and miss them, and you know
want them to come back and any any face that
they they can. I mean, I can't speak enough about
the Japanese fan base. They really are a welcoming group
and I just love being a part of it.

Speaker 5 (28:06):
Still, Yeah, the change for relievers what puts you on
the path back to the major leagues. But and you
kept signing these extensions. At what point were the Rangers
the first team? Was that the first opportunity or had
you flirted with it a little bit previously, because I
don't remember reading that you had that year.

Speaker 8 (28:29):
The twenty fifteen year was the year it all came
together for me. I had brand new eyeballs on me
that had never came out, that weren't there before. Obviously
scouts were in Japan, but not until twenty fifteen did
they look at me and say, Okay, like he's this

(28:52):
guy's different, This Tony's different than the guy we've been
watching the last four or five years.

Speaker 7 (28:56):
Let's give him some serious looks. So Texas wasn't the very.

Speaker 8 (28:59):
First to reach out that year that but they were
the ones I ended up with. It's the Diamondbacks actually
were the very first team. There actually was a deal
on the table to sign with Arizona. But in the
eleventh hour they pulled out because they had just signed
Zach Grinky and gave him everything. You know, we're gonna

(29:21):
we're gonna need that, We're gonna need that money that
we're gonna give you, and we got to pay for
Zach's parking spots.

Speaker 4 (29:27):
You know.

Speaker 8 (29:28):
So so they pulled out, and then that that obviously
opened up the opportunity for Texas to come in and
make the They gave me a two year deal and
it was at the time it was a offer I
couldn't refuse.

Speaker 4 (29:40):
Yeah, lots more coming up with Tony, including what do
you do when your child is born in the States
and you're in Japan. We get to that and more
with Tony Barnett as we continue on the d LS
Rangers podcast. Ah, but first there we go. First we

(30:01):
talk about LinkedIn. Now, Jeff's mentioned before, the wife and
I have a small business and we haven't had to
use LinkedIn yet because frankly, we overpay our employees and
that's not great for the bottom line, but at least
we keep them around. But the moment that we do
need to, and I think one of our employee is
our best one is talking about moving quite a ways away,

(30:23):
so we may lose her. So I promise you if
we do first stop for me for us LinkedIn jobs.
If you go to LinkedIn jobs, you will find the
best candidate you can possibly find. You know, the huge
network that LinkedIn has five point two million people have

(30:45):
searched for jobs on LinkedIn. And you can avail yourself
your business to those people that vast network. Go to LinkedIn,
linkedinjobs dot com and post your for free at LinkedIn
dot com if you use the code rangers. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (31:06):
And uh, you know John the Today wife and I
had conversations. Sounds like she's been talking to Monarch Money. Yeah,
and uh, we're we've got a plan, you know. We
we just we just realized our kids probably want to
go to college. Come on, yeah, that's true. So we're
we're making some adjustments. We're going to get them off
to uh fine, a school that money can buy or

(31:28):
that they can get into, whichever one works. But Monarch
Money they're going to help you help yourself. They are
designed to their their Their number one job is to
make sure that you're living your best life, not just
living paycheck to paycheck, getting ready for retirement and all that,
all that good stuff that happens during the course of

(31:48):
a life or sending your kids to college. So if
you uh, if you go to uh Monarch money dot com,
use the code d l S, you will get fifty
percent off your first year. That's monarchmoney dot Com with
the code DLLs.

Speaker 4 (32:03):
Yeah, and we welcome Tony Barnett back into the conversation. Tony,
we appreciate you spending so much time with us. It's great.
I teased it. Your first daughter, Madeline was born when
you were over there. What kind of a whirlwind was
that trying to get back here for you know, a
unbelievable event like that.

Speaker 7 (32:26):
It was a long day. I'll tell you that.

Speaker 8 (32:29):
When the moment came, luckily, luckily I was with Yeah Colton.
I had proven myself to be a responsible off season person,
so I came into spring training ready to go. In
that year, I kind of prepared a little bit more
to make sure I was a little bit more game ready,
so that the time that I did take off, there
wasn't as much as a seamless transition back into being

(32:52):
game ready. So they gave me when the moment came,
they gave me time like, I think they gave me
a good eight days to fly home and be a
part of that and make sure that Mom got home
and spend that first week, you know, with Madeline as
she just entered the world. So but we were in
a small we were on a small island off of Okinawa.

(33:15):
Where were you, Miyazaki. I can't remember exactly which island.
So I had to take a small flight, a small
flight from that island to Okinawa, catch another flight from
Okinawa to Tokyo. And at the time the international terminal
was I had to take a two hour train ride
from regional airport to Narita, which would be easier now

(33:39):
because Henaeda does fly international. But at the time I
took a two hour train to Narita and then caught
my flight back home, landed in LA, had like a
five hour lay over there, and you know, in hindsight,
I probably should have just drove it, but uh, you know,
landed in LA, waited for that next flight, and then
I hopped on that flight, got home, and by time

(34:00):
I got home, I think it was you know, seven
o'clock at night. I think I think from the first
flight to Phoenix that day, it was probably like twenty
three hour day at righting.

Speaker 7 (34:10):
So I got home, made.

Speaker 8 (34:11):
A sandwich, took a shower, got to sleep real quick,
and then once I think it was like in the
middle of the night, they like.

Speaker 7 (34:17):
It was wasn't many hours later.

Speaker 8 (34:19):
A couple hours later, the hospital calls said rooms open,
you guys, come on in, And so we got into
the hospital, got situated, and then that morning, just before
four o'clock in the morning, Madeline was born. So I
had like a couple hours sleep, and I didn't sleep
the entire flight home. I was just all just ready
to go, just you know, and so I was, I,

(34:41):
I don't know where I was mentally off, just water, coffee,
and a couple of snacks. Made real made good friends
with the nurses over at the nurse station because I
was just like just hanging out at the coffee filter
and just hey, you guys going to rebuild this, like
you guys gonna fill this up. Like I'm like the
only one in here right now, and like I'm just
you know, tapping you guys out, like and so but

(35:02):
it really was, you know, that's exactly how it went
down that in a long story short, it was a
long day for me. But you know, I was able
to get home see the birth of see the birth
of Madeline, and then got you know, mom home and
was able to spend that first week with them before
making it. You know, Okay, everything's good, We're all good.
All right, Well, I got to go back to work.
I got to be and hoped on a flight and

(35:24):
met the team back up in Okinawa and got back
to work.

Speaker 6 (35:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (35:28):
What one thing, and this this is we'll get to
the rangers in a second. But one thing that I
didn't realize, and it's because really I don't think it
was covered very heavily in the United States at the
time was the twenty eleven earthquake and the tsunami. And
you you were there, and you're that girlfriend was there,
and I just remember how you you stayed, but you

(35:52):
were your goal was to get her out and get
her to safety, and how you guys had to be evacuated.
You know, eighteen thousand people died in this thing, including
Rokie Sasaki's father, you know, and then just that that's
a heck of an experience. What was you talk about
the birth of a child? This is this is crazy
and unexpected. You can't prepare for this.

Speaker 8 (36:13):
One I mean, it was one of the largest natural
disasters in modern history, and there was just living in
that moment. Looking back, there was a lot of just
I don't know. You know, people had questions the and
the answer was I don't know, and you know, you
didn't really know what to expect. So and like my
agent at the time, don No Mora, he was like, look, like,

(36:35):
you know, there's no need for us for you guys
to get out right now, but if you do have
family and you know, stuff here, let's just go ahead
and get them on airplanes. Let's get them out here
in case something does happen, because it's gonna if something
does worsen, it'll be easier for us to manage you
guys without the extra people around. And so that was

(36:55):
that was the main driving force before by getting her home,
and like even the guys on my team that you know,
the foreign guys, we're saying to the other families, like, hey,
we're getting you on airplanes as fast as we can.
Let's just get you guys out just in case something
does worse. And then you know, less mouse to feed, less,
you know, less bodies to kind of corral, so to speak,
if something does you know, ultimately get worse than it

(37:17):
already is. So it was absolutely devastating and going through
that with the teammates and guys who had lost family
members and friends and just didn't know where they were
or how to even contact them or how to help it.

Speaker 7 (37:29):
It's a helpless.

Speaker 8 (37:30):
Feeling when you see other guys that are in you
see your friends in your clubhouse being helpless, and so
you're just like, well, and you know, as a foreigner,
you're like, well, I have no resources here, Like, what
could I possibly do except for you know, lend to
lend a hand of moral support throughout the whole situation.
So it was a crazy time to be alive, that's

(37:51):
for sure. You know, they're still reeling with the you know,
with the with the fallout from it in those areas
and rebuilding. I mean we're four teen years past it now,
So it's just it was a really sad thing to
be a part of. And I'm you know, I don't
know what else to say about it except.

Speaker 4 (38:09):
For the fact, well, one of those follow up, were
you in the path, Tony? Were you and your girlfriend
in the path of the storm.

Speaker 7 (38:17):
No, I mean, we definitely felt the earthquake for sure.
We were.

Speaker 8 (38:21):
I was in Yokohama Stadium at the time. We were
in a spring training exhibition. I was still starting at
the time during spring training there before the transition to
the bullpen, and so I so before the game, I
you know, got my work in through a bullpen, went
in the clubhouse, got you know lift in the games
was just about starting. I was hopping in the shower
to to to you know, to clean myself up a
little bit before heading up to the dugout to just

(38:43):
kind of watch the game. And that's when the entire
stadium just I mean, I can't even put into words
the amount of shaking and how violent it was to
feel the walls just bending at you. And you know,
there I am in a shower situation, so I'm vulnerable
to begin with, you know, trying to sneak out of
that room without you know, slipping and falling. So I

(39:04):
got out of there, dried off as fast as I could,
and my translator was there like telling me to like,
you know, hey, you need to move now, and so
I grabbed some clothes out of the nearest locker I
you know could, and just ran out into the middle
of the field and lucky for us as a team.
The Yokohoma Stadium was a disaster relief zone to begin with,
and so everybody was ushered into the middle of the
field and from there we were there for I don't

(39:26):
know how long, but multiple after shocks had hit that
were above seven point zero. So I mean not just
the just not the onset of the nine point one
or nine point two whatever it was. I mean we've
in that. In that in those next few hours, we
faced multiple earthquakes that were seven point oh seven point five,
and I think even another eight hit at that point,
and you're in the middle of the stadium and you

(39:48):
see the buildings around and you're a giant metropolis area,
and I mean, buildings are hitting each other, you know,
they're they're you're swaying back and forth and actually coming
into contact with one another, and you see stuff falling
off of them, and you know, so it really was
an uncomfortable time to be to be in Japan. So no,
we were not actually in like the tsunami area. We

(40:11):
were in a part of Tokyo, Yokohama, which is about
a couple hundred miles south at the time, but even
at the time now Hillary was just walking the streets.

Speaker 7 (40:22):
She wasn't at the game.

Speaker 8 (40:23):
She was just out in the middle of the streets,
just by herself, and you know, so she hurried her
butt back to the apartment, and then I kind of
relayed to the front desk area, like, hey, we're good,
you know, because I couldn't get a hold of her.
So it's like, so when she came in, she knew
that I was fine because when you turn on the TV,
Yokohama is right by the water, and what she knew
at the time was, Okay, there's water coming inland, you know.

(40:44):
So on the onset of it, you know, there was
some fear there, but you know, after a little bit
of watching and learning, knowing that we weren't in any
immediate danger outside of possible earthquake, rubble and stuff like that.

Speaker 4 (40:57):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (40:57):
You mentioned Don da Mura helping helping me get out,
and I'd met Don during the U Darvish thing. He
wrote the forward to your book, had a career over
in Japan himself, helped Hedeo Nomo. Was he your agent
at the time when the Rangers reached out.

Speaker 7 (41:14):
Yes, Don was my agent.

Speaker 8 (41:16):
He's the I signed on with Don to get me
to Japan and then he stayed with me all the
way throughout the rest of my career.

Speaker 5 (41:25):
Who do you remember who was at the scout with
the Rangers. Was it Joe for Kawa? Was it Jim Colburn?
How this deal got going to get you to the
to the Rangers?

Speaker 8 (41:37):
You know, I know Joe. I've gotten to know Joe
very well over the years. I don't know the rest
of the supporting cast. You know, Josh Boyd was a
big part of it. But the international contingency they, I mean,
there's I mean, when it comes to international scouting, you know,
there's an entire group that works together to to make

(41:59):
the right decisions. So I don't know exactly when it
started when the whole conversation started of like, hey, Tony's
on our list. But there was one night at the stadium.
I was receiving an award for like the previous month,
and I was on the field and somebody had approached
Hillary at the at the game and later know she
knew she would, you know, he introduced himself as a

(42:20):
Texas Ranger scout. She can't remember his name at the time,
but she and he asked her. He was like, do
you think Tony would uh be uh do you think
he wants to come back to the States, And she
recounts the story I think you see it in the
book where she was like kind of gives like that
diplomatic answer. She was like, you know, he's really happy here.
You know, I think he would like, you know, you know,

(42:41):
check all you know, options when when they come available,
but like knowing deep in her heart like yeah, you know,
you know, like you know unequivocally yes, but you know,
but like being having the heads up like to kind
of give that diplomatic answer not to you know, not
to sell the farm, you know, right out.

Speaker 5 (42:58):
The gate, and didn't want to look desperate.

Speaker 4 (43:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (43:01):
One of the things I've learned, like she you know,
she had that she had she kept the leverage alive.

Speaker 4 (43:07):
Yeah. One of the things we've learned in this interview
Tony is that you watch a lot of sports. So
are the Texas Rangers a part of what you're watching?
Have you have you kept up with them at all?

Speaker 8 (43:20):
I do keep up with Texas obviously with the World
Series run and watching uh, you know Jose close it out.
You know, he was one of the last teammates of mine.
You know now now yet Chris Martin hanging out back again,
but like you know, it really is kind of neat
to I. You know, I'm a Rangers fan now outside
of the game. You know now that I got no
more skin in the game, I do root for the

(43:42):
Rangers now. And in my line of work, you know,
I travel the Triple A market and kind of watch them,
so I'll get to see the Triple A, you know guys,
and here and there. I just got off a trip.
I was just up in Vegas watching aviators and okay, see,
but it's just uh, I do watch Texas. I do
keep up with them, and you know, I do continue
to wish them, you know, the best in the in
the al West and always come out on top.

Speaker 6 (44:05):
Awesome.

Speaker 5 (44:06):
Hey, Tony is coming to Texas if you guys want
to see him. He's going to be in the Alumni Alley,
I believe on June the twenty seventh, of Friday night,
and then on the twenty eighth, the day that Elvis
gets inducted into the Rangers Hall of Fame, Tony will
be at the Saber National Convention. They have every year.
It's in Dallas. This year it's over by the airport

(44:28):
and he'll be there with Aaron discussing baseball in Asia.
So there are opportunities to see Tony this month, and
I can't thank him enough for coming on.

Speaker 6 (44:38):
Tonaw Man. So great to see you. Tony, Thank you
so much.

Speaker 8 (44:41):
I really do appreciate you guys and giving me the
platform to kind of spread the word about the book.
I can't wait to be back in Arlington. I'm excited
to get into the new stadium. Haven't done it yet.

Speaker 6 (44:50):
Yeah, yeah, you'll love it.

Speaker 4 (44:52):
Yeah yeah. We'll look forward to seeing you then, Tony,
thanks so much for joining us. Fantastic fun talking to
Tony Barnett as as we learn all about his book
and what an amazingly interesting history this guy has. Our
cleanup segment's going to be a little shorter because we
went over just a bit there, but we'll clean things up.

(45:13):
It's coming next. It's the DLAs Rangers podcast.

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Speaker 4 (46:07):
Today we are merched up. We are repping today because
we didn't have to go Hello Wind column, New Ranger
shirt coming. We've talked about that. I was just asking
today when they don't know. But it's going to be
worth it. It's going to be worth the wait. But
in the meantime, you need some of this. You need

(46:28):
the Hello wind column. That's a Range. Is that Rangers?

Speaker 6 (46:31):
This is MAVs. That's a mav shirt. It sure is.

Speaker 4 (46:34):
But anyway, we love all the merch and it's so
great that this is what we get to wear to work.
I was walking across the street from the parking garage
today going, I'm in shorts and a T shirt and
tennis shoes and I'm going to work, which is just fantastic.
So you know, even if you don't get to wear
this to work, you can wear it around the house.

(46:56):
You can wear it on the weekend, you can wear
it when you're hanging out. And we love bit of it.
So go to store dot Allcitynetwork dot com and get
any of the shirts that are available for any of
the teams in this area. We would appreciate you doing that,
and I think you'll appreciate that you've done it too.

Speaker 5 (47:15):
Yeah, and you know you get a free shirt when
you become a diehard. Yeah, seventy nine ninety nine. Sorry
if you guys missed the sale that we had late
last week, but you know what, seventy nine A and
I still a hell of a price. And and you
get the free shirt at stored dot Allcitynetwork dot com.

(47:36):
So it's like it's like thirty five bucks. You're getting
this shirt and the and the deal to be a
die hard, which means you can read all of our copy,
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Speaker 4 (48:11):
All right, so let's clean things up. Let's start with
the Royals are calling up their number one prospect, who's
just a mountain of a man. This is a young
man who played with Wyatt Langford at the University of Florida,
and I didn't remember this. Jeff was saying. He's a
two way guy. He could throw a hundred. But he's

(48:33):
coming up through the Royals organization almost as quickly as
Wyatt did through the Rangers. Not quite, but almost as quickly.
He's about to be called up for tomorrow's game against
the Cardinals. But he's coming up as a position player,
not a pitcher.

Speaker 5 (48:48):
Yeah, he's a big dude, first baseman, he can play
some outfield and really he's just been murdering the ball.
Some Frisco pitchers were the victim of his abilities.

Speaker 4 (49:02):
So fifteen home runs fifteen home runs across two levels
in fifty games so far for Jack cagleone and here
is the announcement that he got yesterday, I believe after
the game.

Speaker 1 (49:17):
How do you feel?

Speaker 7 (49:19):
I should you.

Speaker 8 (49:20):
Feel a little tired because you've been doing a lot
of stuff.

Speaker 2 (49:25):
You know, you've been doing outfield stuff, and you've been
taking your ground balls.

Speaker 7 (49:30):
Every rest of the markings are good.

Speaker 8 (49:34):
So you think you're you feel like you're at the
point where you could help like them up there?

Speaker 7 (49:41):
Do you think you could? All right, Well, then you
can get on the charter tomorrow night.

Speaker 8 (49:45):
You can go with them.

Speaker 7 (49:47):
Thank so, what do you think.

Speaker 4 (49:58):
That sounds great?

Speaker 7 (50:02):
Just remember it's still a game. It's baseball. Yeah, it's
a little higher level, but you know you can play. Yeah,
shoot player, all right, give me a hawk?

Speaker 5 (50:16):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (50:18):
Where are you going?

Speaker 3 (50:20):
When I started talking to you, I mean, I was like, damn,
it's probably for hitting my knob against the stair.

Speaker 7 (50:27):
I heard I heard, But.

Speaker 3 (50:31):
Oh no, what.

Speaker 7 (50:34):
Go call your dad.

Speaker 2 (50:37):
That's a.

Speaker 7 (50:38):
I think you're going on the zoo. Thank all?

Speaker 4 (50:42):
Oh boy, I like to go call your dad. Yeah,
then I swear when he says you think you can
help them up there? I thought the kid's face was like,
you mean the angels? What am I dying? You know?
What's going on?

Speaker 1 (50:57):
Oh?

Speaker 6 (50:58):
The manager's Uh, I was struggled. His last name.

Speaker 5 (51:00):
I think it's Jersell Mikell, who's been in the organization forever.
He was their old third base.

Speaker 4 (51:05):
Yeah that's right.

Speaker 5 (51:06):
He was on the big Lease staff. So that's pretty
cool that he got to do it. But yeah, that's
a that's a neat one.

Speaker 4 (51:13):
I always those are all neat Yeah, I do. I
love those stories. We showed one earlier. I love those
stories every time we see them. And uh, and he
played it well. I mean he's like you sure you're okay?
I mean, and the kids like what, I'm fine? And
he's a mountain of a man. But he looked like
a little boy, didn't he when he was sitting in
that chair, just like, am I in trouble?

Speaker 6 (51:33):
Coach?

Speaker 4 (51:33):
What's going on?

Speaker 7 (51:34):
He was?

Speaker 6 (51:34):
He hit his knob against the ground.

Speaker 4 (51:36):
Yeah, I wasn't allowed to do that. So I love
that story. How about LSU Shreveport, you know, like which
is again. I mean it's big. It's not as big
as a UTA or you know, UT San Antonio or that,
but it's it's the Louisiana equivalent. LSU Shreveport is an
n a I A institution, Okay, so fairly small. It's

(51:58):
not even in the n c A. And the AIA
is a smaller league that's equivalent at that size school
to the NCAA. It's the governing body. And anyway, LSU
sh Report won the nai A national championship by going
fifty nine, and.

Speaker 6 (52:17):
Oh, Jeff, that's not bad.

Speaker 4 (52:19):
A baseball team went fifty nine and oh take that,
Miami Dolphins they went fifty nine and oh in baseball,
a perfect season. And and when I was at Oakland
University in Rochester, Michigan, we were NAIA and we won
lots of national championships at that level. Okay, and it's cool.

(52:43):
I mean, it's still it's a national it's a natty,
as they say in that in the modern kids today, Jeff,
they call it a natty.

Speaker 6 (52:49):
They do.

Speaker 5 (52:50):
And yeah, I saw some of the scores they're beating
teams like oh yeah forty two, yeare this brilliant leam
So they were they need to they need to move up. Yeah,
and I'll tell you this, there's probably some kids on there.
We should look into that too. There's probably some kids
there we're going to hear about. Yeah, yeah, check the
transfer portal. It's open and yeah, gosh, guys are guys

(53:11):
are guys are flying off the leaving their their rosters.

Speaker 6 (53:16):
You know, we we did have a couple of questions. Apologize.

Speaker 5 (53:19):
I saw the two questions for Tony, but we were
crunched on time, and I had a couple about Evan Carter.
Rarities asked. He is going to be activated tomorrow. That's
the plan, at least, I'm assuming everything went okay yesterday.
So he's going to be back. Uh, he will be
playing center field. You know, that's I didn't think that's

(53:39):
a solution to the the adules issue. You know, they
don't like Osuna and Carter against lefties right now, right,
so there's an opportunity for that.

Speaker 4 (53:51):
You know.

Speaker 5 (53:52):
Sam Haggerty, baby, you know, let's not take Sam Haggarty
out of the lineup. He's a little he's a little
spark plug now on there. Of course, he went to
high school in Colorado. He's from Phoenix. Uh, but so
he and I have have had the Colorado conversation. Very
important that I have that with all Colorado players, of course,
but he's a he's he just gets in there and

(54:13):
works and mixes things up. He does a lot of
things well. He can run. A good defensive player can
handle the bat. I mean that that play yesterday, and
it was I thought that was interesting that I haven't
really mentioned it yet. I am writing something about the
offense here today. But the play where he showed bunt
and slashed, Yeah, that was a design, did they The

(54:34):
A scout had indicated that this is something the Cardinals
like to do when you show bunt in this situation,
they're on the wheel, So slash, all right, So he
hits the ball, he hits it back to the pitcher.
You're thinking, oh gosh, double play. But nobody was covering
any anybody basis yep, and so everybody was safe and
that that kind of got the got the ball rolling.

(54:56):
But that was you know, guys who can handle the bat.
It's a lot start for me. Ron Washington always loved
to hit and run, and so he always wanted a
guy batting second who he could hit and run with.
And uh, you know, Elvis was that guy for a
little while. He just loves guys. And that's what the
Rangers have to do right now. They can't hit the

(55:17):
ball out of the ballpark. They have to find ways
to score and to do little things like that. They
come up really, really big they do, and slog is
down as we know with this team. Uh and obviously
you know the power is off right now. So those
things are fantastic. And of course on the Roku broadcast

(55:38):
that we didn't talk enough about yesterday because they just
mess that thing up amazingly at a critical point.

Speaker 6 (55:46):
But that's what I said.

Speaker 4 (55:47):
And Chip Carry, who does the Cardinals broadcast, he was
the play by play announcer. But the point I was
going to make about their broadcast now is that Chip
and Mike were just, you know, of course, walk down
memory lane from so many games that they've seen that
were formerly played that way, right, old school baseball on

(56:08):
display big time at Globelife Field yesterday.

Speaker 6 (56:11):
Chip is a big guy. Yeah he's tall.

Speaker 4 (56:14):
Yeah was it? Did you ever know Skip at all?
I have, I've met Skip, but I don't really know him.

Speaker 5 (56:19):
I remember I remember getting Harry's autograph at a spring
training one time. He didn't strike me as a large guy.

Speaker 4 (56:26):
But Chip's big. No, Harry is a smaller man. Yeah,
and Chip is very big so and but Harry, uh, yeah,
he was a wild one. I met him, uh doing
games when I was still covering the Tigers back in
the day.

Speaker 5 (56:42):
So I remember. I remember Skip, who was very very
good in his own right with the Braves. I remember
one time when the Braves were terrible and we were
watching because that was our choice on cable. The Cubs
are the braves, and the braves are getting hammered and
it was a long inning and he said, I swear
to God, he said, if now, if you need to

(57:03):
go out and walk the dog, now would be the
time to do it. So he like told people just
leave the broadcast, and uh, but it was they were
They're all good in their own way.

Speaker 4 (57:13):
I saw I saw a couple of the Roku production
people when we were sitting there waiting to hear from
from Chris Young yesterday and just walking around like with
nothing to do. And I thought, I guess these big
network producers and stuff, they they know what they're doing.
They don't are when producers for us at that point

(57:34):
an hour before the game. Man, they are just flying,
you know, a holes and elbows. I mean, it's just
getting work done. And these guys are just calmly walking around.
I'm like, man, they're good.

Speaker 6 (57:44):
At their job.

Speaker 4 (57:45):
And then all of a sudden, the broadcast went off
the air and the seventh inning when the Ranger maybe
the eighth when the Rangers were scoring four runs. So
uh yeah, yeah that that that was not ideal, not ideal.

Speaker 5 (57:56):
But you know, you're gonna got it. Gotta get used
to these deals. There's the Apple TV deal, there's this one.
I don't know if there are any others out there,
but Baseball trying to reach more fans, and with broadcast
issues that Rangers fans have experienced for a number of years,
kind of makes sense to do it. But MLB, you know,
they like money.

Speaker 4 (58:17):
They do. And the reality is because of the frustration
that Rangers fans and others that were a part of
the whole Bally situation have had, it makes things like
yesterday even more frustrating. Right, It's like I had three
four years of not being able to watch this team,
and I finally can watch this team and I don't

(58:38):
have Roku or I finally can watch this team and
they're on Roku and Prophet and I are sitting there
watching fifty six commercials in a row. I'm like, what
is what the hell's going on here? You know, it
just really is.

Speaker 5 (58:52):
And I didn't notice if our feed was missing or
not because I was actually watching the game. And yeah,
the delay of them delaying the press boss was.

Speaker 6 (59:01):
Like two pitches. That's annoying too, Yeah, very man, that's
very annoying. Yeah, And that was the other thing.

Speaker 4 (59:07):
We had two monitors going and they kept one would
get ahead of the other one, the other one would
get behind the other one. We got like the Japanese
monster movie voices, you know, not matching the lips moving.
So it was a show. I mean, it was a
heck of a show. But that is what it is.
Like Jeff said, that's that's major League Baseball trying to
maximize profits. And of course no Rangers game today because

(59:31):
they're often they're hanging out in Florida and no doubt
not resting on their world.

Speaker 5 (59:36):
We need to mention the rotation because Elijah, Oh yeah,
that's right, Yeah, let's do that. Yeah, there we go here.
A lot of work so hard to get this done
just before the break. So there you go, Kamar Rocker,
if you hadn't heard, they wanted him to go one
more rehab start. They can't allow that to happen because
Nathan Valdi, as you heard yesterday, is on the injured list.

(59:57):
So it's Malley and all his greatness, Rocker as great
as he's been at the minor league level, and these
rehabs starts, and Jack Lder coming off Jeff arguably his
best start as a pro.

Speaker 4 (01:00:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:00:09):
And you know the interesting thing there for Rocker, his
last start was at Sacramento in a minor league ballpark,
So he's going to start tomorrow in a minor league
ballpark because the Rays are still playing their games in
Steinbrenner Field or Legends Field, whatever they call it there
in Tampa after the trop sadly was destroyed by the hurricane.

Speaker 4 (01:00:30):
Yeah, so there you go. That is the series that
it begins tomorrow will probably remind you of all that
and utilize the great work of the profit again tomorrow
as we do another show at one o'clock tomorrow. That
one will be in advance of the three game series
against the Tampa Bay Rays. We're back at one on Wednesday,
as well. And then I don't know what time will

(01:00:52):
be on Thursday. It depends what time the game ends.

Speaker 6 (01:00:54):
That's right late.

Speaker 4 (01:00:55):
We'll be on late right after the game ends. So anyway,
thanks for youining us today. I hope you enjoyed Tony
Barnett as much as we did, and know that you
have a chance to see him and maybe get him
to sign said book at some point later on.

Speaker 5 (01:01:10):
In the book, it's really worth it. It's really really good.
It is it is. It's just good. It's a good story,
and you learn a lot about Tony which I knew
and didn't know, and then a lot about baseball in Japan.
It's it's totally worth your time.

Speaker 4 (01:01:26):
Awesome. That was fun. We'll see you again tomorrow one o'clock.
Another edition dl as Rangers podcast.

Speaker 7 (01:01:37):
Like the Man.

Speaker 1 (01:01:46):
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