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August 18, 2025 15 mins

New Royals outfielder Mike Yastrzemski tells us about his wild day at a country club finding out that he had been traded to KC. Mike also shares how Buster Posey has been as a GM and how Rafael Devers was as a teammate.

Hosts: Cam Maybin, AJ Pierzynski, Scott Braun

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Mike Destremsky of the Kansas City roy is joining us
right now. Yeah, it's great to have you on the show.
Thank you for the time. How's life with the Royals
your first week and a half?

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Yeah, thanks for having me. It's it's been good so far.
I mean, you know, it's it's the show man, doesn't Uh.
There's no bad place to be.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
And you're in a playoff race, right you could be
traded to worse situations, So exactly, First off, what do
you notice when you when you step foot there and
you've been a week and a half there, give me
one thing that stands out as a difference could be positive, negative,
or neutral about Casey versus San Francisco.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
Uh, I mean, these guys are into it, like these
guys care. These are this is a group of ballplayers.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
It's not a crazy star studded roster, but it's it's
a lot of quality of bats. The guys play the
game the right way, they play hard, and the pitching
is electric.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
So it's it's everything you could ask for.

Speaker 4 (01:00):
Hey, Mike, I know, I know Salve is the you know,
the the vent in the clubhouse and he's the guy,
but I just want to know a guy that you
know has bounce, who bounced around throughout his career. Now
you are traded. Who's the funniest guy in the clubhouse
so far that you've noticed?

Speaker 2 (01:14):
Just from the jump, I would say, I mean, Salvey's
up there, man, He's he's always laughing, he's smiling. Uh,
and he has such a big presence it's it's hard
to miss him. So we'll go with Salvey for now
until I till I dig a little deeper, and then
I'll get back to you guys.

Speaker 5 (01:36):
All right, Yeah, that's fair. Catchers are always the best personalities, players, athletes,
everything on the field, so it doesn't surprise the debatable.

Speaker 3 (01:43):
But we'll we'll figure.

Speaker 5 (01:44):
That out, you know, listen as as the second best
player from bridge Hampton. Okay, guys, stand down for a second. Okay,
stand down? All right? All right, now you got traded
from the Giants to the Royals. How did you find
out you were traded? Can you tell that story for us?

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (02:00):
So, uh, you want you want the full story? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (02:04):
I want the full story?

Speaker 3 (02:05):
All right?

Speaker 2 (02:05):
So I uh, my brother in law sets sets me
up with a mutual friend between me and Dave Fleming
and my brother in law to him too, and he says, Hey,
why don't you guys come out and play shinnecock.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
On on the off day.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
And I'm like, yeah, sure, sounds like a great time.
Go out, have a great day. You know, a couple
of beers, we're we're hitting fairways, we're making putts, we're
we're doing the whole thing.

Speaker 3 (02:30):
And and it was supposed to surround and we escape that.
So I'm like, I'm on cloud nine.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
And I get into the clubhouse and I'm about to shower,
and this is a it's like a strict no phones place, right,
so it's like very respectful, like you're on this historic property.

Speaker 3 (02:44):
We're we're not touching our phones.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
And I'm about to hop into the shower and my
phone starts ringing and it says buster posey. And I
show it to my brother in law, who walks out
of the shower button naked, and he just looks at
the phone and he goes, is this real?

Speaker 3 (02:59):
And I'm like, oh yeah, buddy, I gotta go. And
so I shoot right over to the.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
Uh to the little phone booth that they have and
it's a glass window and so I'm sitting there and
there's like ten or twelve people just walking by, and
the same people keep walking by and like they keep
poking their heads in, and I'm.

Speaker 3 (03:18):
Like, oh boy, this is this is it.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
And so Buster Busterer gave me the call and told
me I was going to Kansas City. And I went
back in and told the guys and they're like, all right,
let's figure out how to get you there.

Speaker 5 (03:30):
Did you okay? So now, because as a as a
Hampton's guy, and for people that don't know, if Shinnacock
is in Southampton right next to National and Sabonic and
you know, and your grandfather was from Bridgehampton, which is
right there too. When you checked into golf at Shinnecock,
did people say are you related to Carl? Did people
how many people there were like wait, I know because

(03:51):
there's a lot of old timers that work at Chinnacock.
And then once you got traded, did you just walk
out and be like I'm gone see you guys and
you got on your helicopter and put.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
It so uh, nobody said anything. Actually, I think it
was just assumed, you know, when you're when you're out
in the Hamptons and you have that last name. I
think it's just an assumption. They don't even need to ask.
But uh, it was it was wild. I went in
there and I actually knew a couple of the the uh,
like the assistant pro there. I'd met him a couple

(04:21):
of times at some other places, and so it was
nice to to see those guys and they're all fired
up how everything was going. And then all of a
sudden I was leaving and they're like, all right, I
guess for Royals fans now, So it happened quick.

Speaker 4 (04:34):
Hey, hey, Mike, I want to know, how do you
go phoneless at a time like that? Right? Like were you?
Were you? Just like you know what, there could be
a chance or I don't even want to know, Like
I won't. I wanted to find me the hardest way
possible to find me, Like how do you.

Speaker 3 (04:48):
Get how do you do that?

Speaker 2 (04:50):
I'm off the grid if you if you can't, if
you can't find me, you can't make the transaction, you know.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
No. But it actually it was just peaceful. It was like, uh,
it just brought a a lot of like.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
Calmness to that day where you know, you're out on
the golf course, you're overlooking the water, we're bouncing over
to to Nationals halfway house to grab some drinks. You know,
it's just like it's one of those things that it
was just a it was a day that was meant
to happen.

Speaker 4 (05:17):
Right. So, So with that said, on all the history
that you know that last your last name carries the
moment that you that you've created yourself in that Giants uniform,
how was that personally though? Like you know, to think,
I mean, did you ever I'm sure you know the
business of it, you thought that day could come, but
did you ever think, hey, it could be coming this soon?
And how does it feel to be in this new clubhouse?

(05:37):
And how do you feel that your you know, your
role is now?

Speaker 5 (05:41):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (05:41):
I felt like.

Speaker 2 (05:44):
One of the cool things was I felt really like
I completed my my journey in San Francisco. Other than
obviously I wanted to win the World Series there, it
would have been super cool.

Speaker 3 (05:54):
But in terms of the personal.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
Things, I you know, I lasted seven years longer than
I thought I would, so it was it was super cool.
The hardest thing was to leave the guys in the clubhouse.
You know, the relationships that you've cultivated over seven years,
you know, they were they were my family, and so
that's that's the hard thing. And then the fun thing
is you're you're stepping into somebody else's.

Speaker 3 (06:17):
World, and I was I was eager to learn.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
I want to learn about the Royal Way and how
these guys do things over here, you know, meet some
new teammates, play some new card games, you know, the
whole deal.

Speaker 3 (06:27):
So it was it was fun.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
Hey, we love ripping flap packs on Arena Club. I
just ripped one in a ruby pack. Those are fancy
schmancy kip and I pulled a matt Shaw twenty twenty
three Bowman Draft Aqua Lunar Creater Refractor card and I
guess what. Guess what? I got a little offer. You
get the instant offer right away. Okay, so they're offering

(06:51):
me one hundred and twenty one bucks, sell it back
and then I can get a new slab pack.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
What do I do?

Speaker 6 (06:56):
I want to see this thing? Hold on, look at that.
That's a beautiful car, right, you know what. I think
that's a safe bet. I think it's gonna make you
a little bit money. I think the more more big
league time he gets, I'd almost take the deal, though
I'm in it for the chase.

Speaker 3 (07:11):
I like opening more packs.

Speaker 6 (07:12):
I think that one hundred and twenty one can buy
you a couple more slabs to open. And uh, I
think you keep chasing until you get someone you really like.
But that's the best part about it for me.

Speaker 3 (07:21):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (07:21):
You can sell it back one hundred and twenty one
bucks and then open up another slab pack. Use the
code foul to receive twenty percent off your first slab
pack or card purchase at arenaclub dot com slash foul.

Speaker 5 (07:31):
All right, I gotta go back before we get more
into the trade. I gotta go back here for a second.
You said you bet. Okay, For people that don't know,
Shinnecock Hills as hosted US opens. The course next to
it is called National, and then there's another course called Sabanic.
They're within you can literally throw a baseball from all three. Okay,
they're they're literally right there. Okay, So there are three
of the top twenty courses in the world USA for sure,

(07:53):
and they're within baseball. Hit a baseball. You can hit
a baseball from one to the next. They're cross the street.
It's like now four, But how how did you get
from Shinnacock and then you said you.

Speaker 4 (08:03):
Went to the National halfway house.

Speaker 5 (08:05):
I mean, I know there's no fence or anything, but
they just let you walk because your name is just
stremp Skiek. So next time I go to out East,
I'm calling you because you know I can get on them,
but I have probably a little more difficult time than you.
So I'm calling you next time for the hookup. If
you can just walk from Shinnecock to go to.

Speaker 3 (08:21):
Nashville, come on.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
Yeah, you know, the the Southsiders at National hit a
little different. And when you got when you're playing is
a foursome, you got a twosome behind you. You got
to make a little way. And so we let them
play through on the third home and we're just like,
let's you know, we'll just go grab a drink, you know,
no problem.

Speaker 5 (08:42):
So yeah, so jeal Scott has no idea what we're
talking about. But I'm so jealous. I'm so jealous.

Speaker 1 (08:47):
No, respectfully, I don't care about respectfully, I don't care.
I gave for a golfer and I'm sure I am
into the story though. This is this is fascinating. So yeah,
for me, were you anxious leading up to that point,
I know you mentioned, and I agree. I mean, you
want to have a day where you don't have to
worry about looking at your phone seeing Ken Rosenthal just

(09:09):
rip breaking news left and right. We're on for like
eight hours that day. So did you have a feeling
going into that process that you could be moved based
on you know, contract status, being free agent, and also
where the giants were that they had indicated they were
going to make a deal, and I think the night
before is when they did the Rogers trade, so that
kind of let everyone know, hey, they were going to

(09:29):
do a mini cell.

Speaker 2 (09:31):
I mean, I knew there was ultimately a possibility, but
I wasn't positive, you know, And I'm glad I didn't
have my phone, that I wasn't on Twitter all day
checking everything out, because if I somehow found out that
I was traded before Buster got a chance to call me,
I would have been pretty bummed out. You know, that
would have felt like a like a weird way to go.

(09:52):
But they handled it unbelievably professionally. You know, Buster was
a good friend of mine, good tate, and that that
whole conversation you would think was super strange, but it
was It was really smooth.

Speaker 3 (10:07):
You know.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
It was like he was incredibly respectful and you know,
had a great talk. And it's not the end of
a relationship. It's just, you know, we'll see in a
year or two.

Speaker 3 (10:20):
Right exactly.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
Hey, you played with Buster and then now you you know,
played on a team where Buster was running the front office.
What was your reaction when you heard that news initially
that Buster Posey was going to lead the front office
of the Giants? And how did he do? I mean,
you went from QUI anxiety. Who he's been on our show,
both of them have. He is a very different human
being than Buster Posey is, so kind of give me

(10:42):
the lay of the land here of how things went.
I heard he had like some amazing spring training speech
about hustling and just the way they were going to
do things, and that even went into roster decisions. So
I want to hear it from someone like you that's
been with this team a while.

Speaker 3 (10:55):
Yeah, I was fired up. You know.

Speaker 2 (10:58):
One of the one of the things that's you know,
hard as a player is when the front office is
making decisions and not to take any you know, power
decision making process away from anyone, but when you hear
it from someone who's doing things on a computer and
crunching numbers and not having the flow of the clubhouse

(11:21):
and knowing what it's like to be moved, knowing what
it's like to be in it with the guys. There's
a different aspect and Busters obviously respected on the playing level,
on a human level, on the.

Speaker 3 (11:34):
Front office level.

Speaker 2 (11:35):
So to have a guy like that who was leading
the charge was like empowering as a player. You know,
you felt like you could go talk to him about anything.
You could talk to him about game planning, you could
talk to him about positioning, you could talk to him
about rules in the clubhouse, travel, what you want to
wear when you fly, all these things that end up
creating a culture.

Speaker 3 (11:55):
And that's what he wanted to do.

Speaker 2 (11:57):
He wanted to create a winning culture, and you know,
he did everything he could.

Speaker 3 (12:01):
I think he made the right moves and we just played.

Speaker 2 (12:04):
Horrible down that stretch where we needed to play well
to give him confidence to keep the band together.

Speaker 3 (12:10):
But sometimes that's how it goes.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
I got one more for you on you personally, a
couple homers early here with the Royals and some nice
pops so far this year.

Speaker 3 (12:22):
I read it was a while ago about how you
were working with Pat Burrell? Is that true right this year? Okay?
So what's that like?

Speaker 1 (12:28):
Is he like, hey, biceps all day and you know,
ripped the gym? Like what did you talk about with Pat?
That led to some more pop man?

Speaker 3 (12:38):
A lot of things, A lot of it is.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
The best thing about him is he remembers how hard
the game is and he doesn't look at you and
think you should hit every pitch or hit every pitch
for a homer or walk every time. Like sometimes you
walk back to the dugout and he'll laugh and look
at you and just be like, yeah, you had no chance,
and you'll not You'll be like, yeah, you were absolutely right.

Speaker 4 (13:02):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (13:03):
And so there's a there's a realistic expectation with him
where you understand the type of player you are and
he helps you understand the type of player you are
and the best pathway that you can have to becoming
the best version of yourself to fit the role that
you have on the team.

Speaker 5 (13:22):
Okay, ask Paper about the machine. That's all I'm gonna say.
Ask him about the machine.

Speaker 3 (13:27):
I'm sure there's plenty of talk about it.

Speaker 5 (13:30):
Okay, good, Good, because Pats that's one of my all
time favorite dudes I was ever around in my life,
so I'm glad he's doing well. I want to know, though,
there was the big trade you guys made in San
Francisco with Raffie Devers. Can you explain, because Raffie Devers
has taking a lot of heat, what was he like
being Raffie Devers teammate? Because all I ever do is
see him smiling, So I've never played with him, so
can you talk about your short experience with him as

(13:52):
a teammate.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
He was the best man like, awesome teammate, willing to
do whatever he had to. I think he just got
thrown into a weird circumstance. And you know, I think
sometimes as players, you have to stick up for yourself
and I think that's what he tried to do. And
I think the wording of it was delivered poorly. Because
he's an awesome teammate. He works his tail off. He

(14:16):
tries to help everybody, like if you face the guy
that he if you're facing a guy that he's faced
and you haven't faced him, full scouting report, where you
want to look for the ball, what pitch you want
to hit, How he's going to pitch you. He's really
smart and he cares about winning so much so I
don't understand where all the heat came from.

Speaker 3 (14:36):
That tracks.

Speaker 1 (14:37):
That tracks with some of the onework that was done there,
the disrespect behind the scenes leading to a broken relationship,
and hey, benefit for the Giants now who have one
of the best hitters in the game for a while. Yeah,
this was awesome, Thanks for checking in. Trade story was great.
Good luck here. We're rooting for you. See if the
Royals can make a little run here down the stretch.
We like that they bought instead of many in their
spot that would have sold.

Speaker 3 (14:58):
So do your thing man, all right, boys, appreciate it.
Good to see you
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