August 16, 2025 • 22 mins
Tampa Bay closer Pete Fairbanks joins us from his extended road trip to discuss how the imbalanced schedule for the Rays has impacted his life. Pete describes his feelings from the moves the clubs made and being involved in trade rumors.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
All right, we've got Rais clothes Repete Fairbanks back in
the house on FT. I just wanted to say house
to intro this because I know it's been a minute.
I was looking at the schedule. I'm like, you know,
I've been watching some Rais games here and there, Pete,
and you know I've been home in a minute.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
So I checked.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Do you know the last day on the calendar that
you guys played a home game?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
No, sir, I'll tell you worth an attempt to try.
I know it was, was it ya? Wah? No? August third?
Maybe nailed it?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Yeah, August third, you finished the Dodgers series, and then
three on the road against the Angels. So in Anaheim
in Seattle. Now, of course you're in Sacramento. Then you
go to San Francisco. At least they kept you on
the West coast for this trip. But what's it like
to be on the road for this period of time.
You guys have the imbalanced schedule this year for good reason.
But what's it like to actually be in it?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
M I mean, I'm not, I'm not. It's kind of
weird for me, more so just the three hours behind
the rest of the family. But I mean, it's a
it's a road trip. It just happens to be extended.
It's uh, you know, you're used to going on the road,
maybe just not for the extended amount of time. And
then you know, I get to see a city I've
(01:21):
never seen before. So maybe there's a positive there.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Okay, Sacramento. Yeah, I can see that. There's that's one
POSITIVEWL Sacramento. Let me know if you have any others.
But is there is there a time? Is there too
many days that year that three hours behind where it
starts to drain on you a little bit, or it
starts to reverse it, and then you guys go back
home when it's supposed to be an advantage and then
(01:46):
you're like, crap, I'm still in that three hour time difference.
Because I never felt like the trips that we took
were that bad. It never really affected me that much.
But you guys are out there.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, I mean, I think maybe the uh, you know
that first series when you're out on the West coast
and you're waking up at you know, six thirty instead
of nine, and it's you're feeling wide away, but your
your days have stretched that little bit. I think we're
all excited to uh, you know, hopefully turn this and
and in this roady on a high note and then
(02:18):
get back to uh, you know, lovely Florida.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Hey, hey, you know you love Florida. You move there,
so don't make fun of Florida.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
I'd be I do love it. Who that was? That
was nothing but a positive? I love Florida.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Okay, don't be craft. Okay, I I call myself a Floridian.
Now that's right. That's what everyone trives to be. People
don't move to New Jersey when they.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Retire, Okay, that's for sure.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
They moved to Florida, So save it. But no, what
you mentioned those days where you know, you get out
to the West coast and and and and the day
is stretched? What do you do for those three hours?
Do you try to go back to sleep? Do you
get up and go for a walk, do you go
to the gym? Do you get breakfast early? What do
you do to Because I used to just I could
sleep anywhere, so I just would forced myself back to
(03:07):
sleep and didn't bother me that much. But what what
do you do, as Pete Fairbanks when you wake up
at six thirty instead of nine thirty?
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah, I mean, I try and go back to sleep.
I think the first day out there, I woke up
at like six fifteen and then forced myself to not
get out of bed for at least a couple more hours,
trying at least feel like I slept more. But yeah,
I'm up. I'm walking around. I'm trying to find coffee,
you know, seeing what I seeing what I can find
out there to get up to. And speaking of the Sacramento positives,
(03:39):
I found a great coffee shop out here, So that's
that's a big positive for me. That's two.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
We're counting, we're putting, We're putting check marks out there.
We'll keep bringing them up. Do you find yourself getting
tired at the end of games, though, I know that's
your time. Like when you're sitting in the sixth seventh
inning and you know, you left the clubhouse and you
saw other teams games end, and you're sitting there in
the six or seventh inning and it's like a nice
(04:04):
cool breeze flowing in your face.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
You're like, I'm good, I'm good.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Okay, I'm awake, I'm awake.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah, no, I've I've pavel off myself to the extent
that you know, I started doing certain things and then
regardless of what time it is, I'm you know, getting
ready to roll.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Okay, So your routine keeps you awake talking about the
trade deadline, talk about the trade deadline, pending free agent
that you are. You know, they went and got a
Griffin Jacks. They kind of you know, Danny Janssen got shipped.
And how did you guys perceive it in the clubhouse
and was there other talks that maybe didn't come to fruition.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, I think overall, I think we took it as
a as a positive, you know, to have Bell out,
to have Yandy, to you know, remain with the team
for you know, the end of it. I think we
kind of took that as a as a net positive
that we were you know, there's still some belief in
this group, and I definitely think that, you know, as
a group, there's there's the belief there. Obviously, you know,
(05:05):
we haven't played up to you know, what we think
we're capable of, and obviously that's something that we're you know,
working towards. But yeah, there was a there were some
there were some rumors, a lot of rumors. Nothing that uh,
you know obviously came to fruition. But you know it's
uh that uh that what seven day period really leading
up where you start seeing your name and articles on
(05:27):
trade rumors and you're like, well, I guess this could
be it.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Does Neander do a good job of communicating with you guys?
Does he call like a veteran like in the office
and say, hey, man, like there's been offers, I'll keep
you posting, I'll give you ads up if something's closed.
He just like, hey, you'll find out on Twitter after
I do.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
No, he's uh, he's great about it. It's you know,
and I obviously I let my agent do all the
uh the liaisons there, just so I can you know,
kind of push that to the back of the mind,
keep it, keep it away from you know, be in
too far to the forefront of your daily activities. So yeah,
he's in. My agent have a pretty relationship, so they
(06:08):
were able to keep me abreast of anything that I
needed to know. And then obviously if things had started,
you know, really going, I feel like we would have
had some I would have had some more dialogue with
Eric himself.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
All the closers that went you kind of had a
feel once once one closer goes, You're like, wait a minute,
some of those things that Eric said could possibly happen.
Are you folding? Are you folding your clothes and leaving
them in a nice pile so that you're ready to
just pull them right off the locker and put them
in a bag, or like did it? How close did
(06:41):
it ever get in your mind?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
You know, you start seeing those names go. I definitely
was probably seventy thirty that it was probably going to
be probably going to be shipped. I'm obviously glad that
it didn't happen. I'm so excited to be array and
be able to chase some things here. But yeah, it
was Uh we were already on the road, so I
tried to uh maybe overpack a little bit for that trip,
(07:06):
even though it was a week long.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Well, yeah, so you were. You were a little nervous.
You got a little nervous. I can't believe you'd have
to leave Florida for somewhere else. I listen, we all,
we all we have to leave Florida. Everyone gets nervous.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
I get it.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
I totally get it. You were prepped. I love that,
and I love that you're you know that that the
Kneeander is a great guy as far as that goes. Now,
let's go above knee injured. Let's go to Stu Sternberg.
Have you guys heard the stuff about the team being sold.
Has it been talked about at all? Or is it
just something that's out of your guys control and you
guys worry about it when that actually goes down.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah, we So we had a meeting once like that.
I don't know who reported at first, but kind of
when that first broke earlier in the year, had a
meeting or just you know, kind of get it out
there that it's not going to affect, you know, what
we're doing day to day. And kind of since then
we've obviously, you know, we're gonna let it be what
(07:59):
it is and it's nothing that you know, the twenty
six of us can control in our in our day
to day operations. So we're just trying to keep that
you know. Obviously it's going to happen. Well, as of now,
it's going to happen. It's been announced but not finalized,
so we're just you know, hanging out and then we'll
see what changes happened, you know, when it actually goes through.
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Speaker 2 (09:22):
You know Pete.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
When it comes to the trade deadline, fans like to
know buy sell, and the rais will often thread the
needle there.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Last year they sold right. This year.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
The team is playing well for a while. I know
they haven't played as well lately, but I liked that
the team didn't, you know, sell peace way related to
this conversation, I'm going to relate it to what ajas too.
Do you think any of that had to do with saying, Hey,
you know what, this team's gonna probably move ownership groups
next year, let's try and keep this together and see
if we can have a little fun and do something special.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Yeah, I think I think that that, you know, it
was definitely obviously not an owner, but I think if
I were, I think that that would be my you know,
if it's you know, potentially my last run at it,
I'm going to, you know, try and make a run
at it. So, you know, if that was a thought process,
obviously the guys in the clubhouse are grateful for it,
and you know, hopefully we can get a little get
(10:11):
a little streaky here and see what happens.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
If you were going to if you were asked at
the trade deadline, hey I want to go somewhere. Is
there a team or a player? Most guys shake at
the like, oh, I don't want to say a team.
Is there a player you'd want to go play? With
and go you know.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
What, I'd like to try to win a World Series.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
With that guy. Oh, a player, and it can.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Be somebody that you face that you're like, Man, if
I don't ever have to face them, that's just like
a net positive for me. My numbers would go through
the roof.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Yeah, let's go for strictly for that, Let's go for
a seer because I think I think for the first
I think I got him out for the first time
in my career this year, after racing him for however
many it's been, I'm pretty sure that it would have
been the first time I've gotten about was this year.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
And he has a winning player, he definitely has.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Yeah, he's before that's for sure. Yeah, one of the.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Most clutch hitters of our era of baseball here the
last you know, ten fifteen years Pete, how is Griffin
Jacks so new teammate? Great stuff looks like one of
those classic raised fines where you know he's gonna work
out well for a bullpen that always seems to replenish.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yeah, great find mainly because he knows how to play cribbage,
and we've lost a lot of cribage players at the deadline,
so it was nice to uh to add one back
in so we could still play a fourth person crib Yeah.
I mean, he's the guy, super super talented, works very hard,
very diligent with with everything that he does on a
day to day basis. And you know, he is an
(11:54):
incredible arm talent and might throw the best breaking ball
in the game. So anytime you got those things going
for you, I think that that's a huge boon for
the team. All Right.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
First of all, a couple of things on Griffin Jacks. One,
he's played in Minnesota. Everybody in Minnesota knows how to
play cribbage, so you should have known that as soon
as you saw his name pop up. Anybody that is
from Minnesota around Minnesota played for Minnesota. And that's the
other day a buddy of mine was playing cribbage and
I'm like, oh, you should do this, and and it
was in where was I just in Texas? Oh, think
(12:24):
the Phillies guys are playing, They're like, you know how
to play? Or no, the sorry, the Rangers guys are playing,
They're like, you know how to play cribbage. I'm like, dude,
I came up with the Twins. Everybody knows how to
play Priviage.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
In Minnestoa hand at hand. Yes.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
And then also when next time you see Griffin Jacks,
we asked the missis on the on the on the
air here. He hates the taste of water, so next
time you see him, be like this water is tasty.
And then just see what he because I guess when
he was in the Air Force, they had to drink
so much water, he just got sick of it, so
he just wanted to So one of the famous facts
about him is he hates the taste of water.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
All right, that he is. It's great. We were not
today when we got into a Sacramento and he is
a sparkling water guy. So we finally I finally got
somebody else that you know at the team dinners. Will
we'll drink? I can?
Speaker 4 (13:12):
You should be made fun of. Nobody drinks sparkling water.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Oh somebody drinks sparkling Stop. I'm with you on the
Florida take. I'm not with you on that take.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
You're that's the look who drinks sparkling water right there.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
I love Florida and I love sparkling water. And do
you like sparkling water?
Speaker 2 (13:30):
I do, I don't drink it. All the time.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
You can't chug sparkling water. But it's a nice.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Nice it's a good dinner. It's a good dinner. It's
a good you know, assist to a nice dinner. I'm
not gonna, you know, take it out to the bullpen
with me.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
No, it's not. It's not hydrating me. You're so we
thought you would be more high class than that. Aj
mmmmm No, no, you.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
I mean Essentia. It's not. He's not drinking hose water.
That's essential. That's that's some some high quality still water there.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
As funny as we're talking about this, listen, the water
tastes different in every bottle. I'm sorry, every bottled water
tastes a little bit different. I don't care what you're saying.
There a certain ones I like and certain ones I like,
So you have to kind of yes, I'm picky about
my water. I apologize, yes, call.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
And lowest, lowest on that list is designing every time.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
Well, that's because it's not. It's it's just tap water.
They run through a filter and they say, here you go.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
It's from Florida.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
That's why No. Zephyr Hills is from Florida.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Purified and spring et cetera.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Yeskrats, no last one for me. Pe you had set
you kind of glazed over a little bit. You said,
we make a run here. You guys are six and
a half out. We talk about how far out is
too far out? What are those conversations like in the
locker room? Because you can look at different numbers and
it can say, you guys have been super unlucky. You
guys should actually be seven games over five hundred if
(14:59):
you look at some of the numbers. So is it
something that you guys say, hey, if this happens, or
we can do this, or we can change this. We
see this because that's a lot of scoreboard watching. You're
looking at everybody, but like you know, the Marlins and
the Rockies and the and they're not even in your
in your league, so it doesn't matter. But like, what
(15:21):
are you guys doing, How is that? How is that
coming together? And some people do some people say, come on, Pete,
you know that's not gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
No, I said the other day, you know the last
thing that we need to do is to look forty
two games out or forty games out now, whatever it is.
You know, nothing nothing starts obviously, I mean, you have
to have a big picture, right, the big pictures make
the playoffs to win, et cetera. But then how do
we go about it. We go about it by playing
good baseball every day, and we think that, you know,
(15:53):
when we can get to that, you know, that mindset
of we're just going to do it every day. We're
not going to go and you know, think three weeks
down the road, think a month down the road. We're
going to sit there and go do what we need
to do, you know, on a daily basis to win
a ball game. I think that you then you take
(16:14):
that and you can pound it and you go from
there as opposed to you know, storeboard watching it and
looking at all this stuff that you can't control. We're
just going to try and do what we can do,
you know, and have our good at bats, get ahead
and the account execute with two strikes, et cetera, and
focus on the stuff that internally we can control as
opposed to you know, anything else. And then hopefully you know,
(16:35):
when you're moving that to an internal goal and focus
on what you can do. You know, you can compound
it after that.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
P my last one of then AJ's got one for
you to finish up. So you play the Yankees a lot.
They clearly have had some issues last couple of seasons
with sloppy play, sometimes fundamentals, et cetera. Right, they'll they'll
even admit that themselves. My question is from a fan perspective.
Fans just think the manager is the one in charge.
And I'm generalizing here, but I've gone back and forth
with the can you speak to how much influence a
(17:05):
manager has for a thirty year old player who's been
playing his whole life and makes a mondemental mistake or
maybe just isn't as much of like the fundamental player
and is more of like a power only guy. I
guess you know where I'm going here. You know, you
played for Kevin Cash for a long period of time.
I'm sure the team has gone through stretches where it's sloppy.
Is that the manager's fault?
Speaker 2 (17:28):
I don't think that you can scapego to manager for
you know, us not being locked in, right. I think
that you know there's thing that you can scapegoing to
manager for, et cetera. And they usually are the ones
that end up, you know, taking the fall if we're
not doing our jobs. But you know, for me if
we're not locked in, and if we're making the mental
(17:50):
mistakes and we're doing stuff that we shouldn't be doing
out there, that's different than you know, the stuff that
that a manager has control over, whether it's you know,
moves that they're making, et cetera. Like, are the stuff
that we do out there, you know, if we're not
locked in, that's that's on us.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
Agreed.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Agreed.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Speaking of locked in, all right, let me ask you this.
You've been on the road for a month, okay, pretty much.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
The home month.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
What do you do about the lego situation? Because I
know you're a big lego guy. So do you bring
legos with you on the road or you just do
them at home? How does this work? Because you've got
to have something to get your mind off of trying
to close out the night. So what do you do
with the lego situation on the road for a month?
Speaker 2 (18:30):
So road for me is typically I'll go more, I'll
try and find card shops, I'll go more on the
pokemon side, leave the legos at home. But my wife
and son went to a Lego convention down in Tampa
this past week, and I have might be the most
jealous I've ever been on a road trip. Because there
(18:51):
were some some incredible mocks. And then you know, anytime
you get to see a really happy kindergartener is a
good time. So I wish I could have been there
for that one. But my son got back on Isaac.
He gets back, he spent probably I don't know, a
few days, maybe a week working on this like medieval town,
(19:11):
village whatever. And he goes there and he sees all
these other builds and he comes back and he looks
at my wife and goes, I need to tear this
down and start over. I can do way better than that.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
Wow. Wow, And then you and then your wallet's like, man,
you can't do way better than this. Go back, all.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Right, I'm gonna have to be making bulk before I
know it, I'm going to be having to buy specific
colors in bulk so this kid can can finish all
of his creations. But I'm always down for it. I
think that'll be a great time.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Yeah, that's great for the brain.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
You gotta let him go.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
So wait, did different don't know any think about Pokemon?
So it was like a different shops have different cards.
I don't know anything about Pokemon.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Don't say Pokemon.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
What is it? Why not? Why not?
Speaker 3 (20:02):
It's Pokemon, It's not poke. Yeah, it's like nails.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
It's not a He's saying that, like that's gonna be
a bowl of raw fish and rice.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
Is that what I'm Yeah, it's a Jamaican bowl of
raw fish Pokemon.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, you never know. You go to different shops, they
got different singles, they might have different sealed stuff. You know,
it's obviously in a in a resale market, there's no
you know, it's just like just like a sports card, right,
you go to a different spot, they got different stuff
that they're they're selling for singles. You might be able
to get boxes you can't get elsewhere. So keeps me busy,
and it's uh, you know, gets me out of the
hotel room and gets me off of my college football dynasties.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Yeah, it's the collector game. The collector game is fun
and you get to hop to different cities so you
get to run into different shops.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
I like it people, honestly.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
Yeah, I'm amazed how many players now are into the
collector thing, because i mean, listen, I mean I'm the
old guy, but I'm just saying that, you know, I'm
the old guy. Guys didn't care. Guys weren't collecting cards
and Pooky Moon or whatever, Pooky Moon or pick them
on or pick them on.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Yeah, guys were going out four or five in the morning.
They don't really do that anymore.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
WHOA, no, no, Scott, No, we were all sitting in
our room watching the television and our scouting reports reading. Yes,
thank you, but no, but guys weren't collectors. It's cool.
I think it's cool. Guys collect Pooky Moon, they collect
Poopy Moan, and they collect their own cards. I mean
it's cool.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
You know, you are a collector. You just you just
collect different stuff. Aja, you go for the Lego sets.
And we got guys out that are more cards. Yeah,
that's a lot of dues. Legos collect dust like nobody's
business exactly. AJ glues them. He's a crackle.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
You're b oh my gosh, oh because my kids pick
them up, and he represents the lord business.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
Went for it, went for. It is Halloween when you're
did the whole thing, the whole the full.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
All right, Well, this nerd out session is brought to
you by Thanks Pete.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Good stuff. Appreciate We'll got you soon.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Get get home soon. Get some home cooked foods.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
I'm doing my best. I got four more days. Yes,
all right, guys,
All right, we've got Rais clothes Repete Fairbanks back in
the house on FT. I just wanted to say house
to intro this because I know it's been a minute.
I was looking at the schedule. I'm like, you know,
I've been watching some Rais games here and there, Pete,
and you know I've been home in a minute.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
So I checked.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Do you know the last day on the calendar that
you guys played a home game?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
No, sir, I'll tell you worth an attempt to try.
I know it was, was it ya? Wah? No? August third?
Maybe nailed it?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Yeah, August third, you finished the Dodgers series, and then
three on the road against the Angels. So in Anaheim
in Seattle. Now, of course you're in Sacramento. Then you
go to San Francisco. At least they kept you on
the West coast for this trip. But what's it like
to be on the road for this period of time.
You guys have the imbalanced schedule this year for good reason.
But what's it like to actually be in it?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
M I mean, I'm not, I'm not. It's kind of
weird for me, more so just the three hours behind
the rest of the family. But I mean, it's a
it's a road trip. It just happens to be extended.
It's uh, you know, you're used to going on the road,
maybe just not for the extended amount of time. And
then you know, I get to see a city I've
(01:21):
never seen before. So maybe there's a positive there.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Okay, Sacramento. Yeah, I can see that. There's that's one
POSITIVEWL Sacramento. Let me know if you have any others.
But is there is there a time? Is there too
many days that year that three hours behind where it
starts to drain on you a little bit, or it
starts to reverse it, and then you guys go back
home when it's supposed to be an advantage and then
(01:46):
you're like, crap, I'm still in that three hour time difference.
Because I never felt like the trips that we took
were that bad. It never really affected me that much.
But you guys are out there.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, I mean, I think maybe the uh, you know
that first series when you're out on the West coast
and you're waking up at you know, six thirty instead
of nine, and it's you're feeling wide away, but your
your days have stretched that little bit. I think we're
all excited to uh, you know, hopefully turn this and
and in this roady on a high note and then
(02:18):
get back to uh, you know, lovely Florida.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Hey, hey, you know you love Florida. You move there,
so don't make fun of Florida.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
I'd be I do love it. Who that was? That
was nothing but a positive? I love Florida.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Okay, don't be craft. Okay, I I call myself a Floridian.
Now that's right. That's what everyone trives to be. People
don't move to New Jersey when they.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Retire, Okay, that's for sure.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
They moved to Florida, So save it. But no, what
you mentioned those days where you know, you get out
to the West coast and and and and the day
is stretched? What do you do for those three hours?
Do you try to go back to sleep? Do you
get up and go for a walk, do you go
to the gym? Do you get breakfast early? What do
you do to Because I used to just I could
sleep anywhere, so I just would forced myself back to
(03:07):
sleep and didn't bother me that much. But what what
do you do, as Pete Fairbanks when you wake up
at six thirty instead of nine thirty?
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah, I mean, I try and go back to sleep.
I think the first day out there, I woke up
at like six fifteen and then forced myself to not
get out of bed for at least a couple more hours,
trying at least feel like I slept more. But yeah,
I'm up. I'm walking around. I'm trying to find coffee,
you know, seeing what I seeing what I can find
out there to get up to. And speaking of the Sacramento positives,
(03:39):
I found a great coffee shop out here, So that's
that's a big positive for me. That's two.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
We're counting, we're putting, We're putting check marks out there.
We'll keep bringing them up. Do you find yourself getting
tired at the end of games, though, I know that's
your time. Like when you're sitting in the sixth seventh
inning and you know, you left the clubhouse and you
saw other teams games end, and you're sitting there in
the six or seventh inning and it's like a nice
(04:04):
cool breeze flowing in your face.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
You're like, I'm good, I'm good.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Okay, I'm awake, I'm awake.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah, no, I've I've pavel off myself to the extent
that you know, I started doing certain things and then
regardless of what time it is, I'm you know, getting
ready to roll.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Okay, So your routine keeps you awake talking about the
trade deadline, talk about the trade deadline, pending free agent
that you are. You know, they went and got a
Griffin Jacks. They kind of you know, Danny Janssen got shipped.
And how did you guys perceive it in the clubhouse
and was there other talks that maybe didn't come to fruition.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, I think overall, I think we took it as
a as a positive, you know, to have Bell out,
to have Yandy, to you know, remain with the team
for you know, the end of it. I think we
kind of took that as a as a net positive
that we were you know, there's still some belief in
this group, and I definitely think that, you know, as
a group, there's there's the belief there. Obviously, you know,
(05:05):
we haven't played up to you know, what we think
we're capable of, and obviously that's something that we're you know,
working towards. But yeah, there was a there were some
there were some rumors, a lot of rumors. Nothing that uh,
you know obviously came to fruition. But you know it's
uh that uh that what seven day period really leading
up where you start seeing your name and articles on
(05:27):
trade rumors and you're like, well, I guess this could
be it.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Does Neander do a good job of communicating with you guys?
Does he call like a veteran like in the office
and say, hey, man, like there's been offers, I'll keep
you posting, I'll give you ads up if something's closed.
He just like, hey, you'll find out on Twitter after
I do.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
No, he's uh, he's great about it. It's you know,
and I obviously I let my agent do all the
uh the liaisons there, just so I can you know,
kind of push that to the back of the mind,
keep it, keep it away from you know, be in
too far to the forefront of your daily activities. So yeah,
he's in. My agent have a pretty relationship, so they
(06:08):
were able to keep me abreast of anything that I
needed to know. And then obviously if things had started,
you know, really going, I feel like we would have
had some I would have had some more dialogue with
Eric himself.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
All the closers that went you kind of had a
feel once once one closer goes, You're like, wait a minute,
some of those things that Eric said could possibly happen.
Are you folding? Are you folding your clothes and leaving
them in a nice pile so that you're ready to
just pull them right off the locker and put them
in a bag, or like did it? How close did
(06:41):
it ever get in your mind?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
You know, you start seeing those names go. I definitely
was probably seventy thirty that it was probably going to
be probably going to be shipped. I'm obviously glad that
it didn't happen. I'm so excited to be array and
be able to chase some things here. But yeah, it
was Uh we were already on the road, so I
tried to uh maybe overpack a little bit for that trip,
(07:06):
even though it was a week long.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Well, yeah, so you were. You were a little nervous.
You got a little nervous. I can't believe you'd have
to leave Florida for somewhere else. I listen, we all,
we all we have to leave Florida. Everyone gets nervous.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
I get it.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
I totally get it. You were prepped. I love that,
and I love that you're you know that that the
Kneeander is a great guy as far as that goes. Now,
let's go above knee injured. Let's go to Stu Sternberg.
Have you guys heard the stuff about the team being sold.
Has it been talked about at all? Or is it
just something that's out of your guys control and you
guys worry about it when that actually goes down.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah, we So we had a meeting once like that.
I don't know who reported at first, but kind of
when that first broke earlier in the year, had a
meeting or just you know, kind of get it out
there that it's not going to affect, you know, what
we're doing day to day. And kind of since then
we've obviously, you know, we're gonna let it be what
(07:59):
it is and it's nothing that you know, the twenty
six of us can control in our in our day
to day operations. So we're just trying to keep that
you know. Obviously it's going to happen. Well, as of now,
it's going to happen. It's been announced but not finalized,
so we're just you know, hanging out and then we'll
see what changes happened, you know, when it actually goes through.
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Speaker 2 (09:22):
You know Pete.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
When it comes to the trade deadline, fans like to
know buy sell, and the rais will often thread the
needle there.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Last year they sold right. This year.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
The team is playing well for a while. I know
they haven't played as well lately, but I liked that
the team didn't, you know, sell peace way related to
this conversation, I'm going to relate it to what ajas too.
Do you think any of that had to do with saying, Hey,
you know what, this team's gonna probably move ownership groups
next year, let's try and keep this together and see
if we can have a little fun and do something special.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Yeah, I think I think that that, you know, it
was definitely obviously not an owner, but I think if
I were, I think that that would be my you know,
if it's you know, potentially my last run at it,
I'm going to, you know, try and make a run
at it. So, you know, if that was a thought process,
obviously the guys in the clubhouse are grateful for it,
and you know, hopefully we can get a little get
(10:11):
a little streaky here and see what happens.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
If you were going to if you were asked at
the trade deadline, hey I want to go somewhere. Is
there a team or a player? Most guys shake at
the like, oh, I don't want to say a team.
Is there a player you'd want to go play? With
and go you know.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
What, I'd like to try to win a World Series.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
With that guy. Oh, a player, and it can.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Be somebody that you face that you're like, Man, if
I don't ever have to face them, that's just like
a net positive for me. My numbers would go through
the roof.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Yeah, let's go for strictly for that, Let's go for
a seer because I think I think for the first
I think I got him out for the first time
in my career this year, after racing him for however
many it's been, I'm pretty sure that it would have
been the first time I've gotten about was this year.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
And he has a winning player, he definitely has.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Yeah, he's before that's for sure. Yeah, one of the.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Most clutch hitters of our era of baseball here the
last you know, ten fifteen years Pete, how is Griffin
Jacks so new teammate? Great stuff looks like one of
those classic raised fines where you know he's gonna work
out well for a bullpen that always seems to replenish.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yeah, great find mainly because he knows how to play cribbage,
and we've lost a lot of cribage players at the deadline,
so it was nice to uh to add one back
in so we could still play a fourth person crib Yeah.
I mean, he's the guy, super super talented, works very hard,
very diligent with with everything that he does on a
day to day basis. And you know, he is an
(11:54):
incredible arm talent and might throw the best breaking ball
in the game. So anytime you got those things going
for you, I think that that's a huge boon for
the team. All Right.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
First of all, a couple of things on Griffin Jacks. One,
he's played in Minnesota. Everybody in Minnesota knows how to
play cribbage, so you should have known that as soon
as you saw his name pop up. Anybody that is
from Minnesota around Minnesota played for Minnesota. And that's the
other day a buddy of mine was playing cribbage and
I'm like, oh, you should do this, and and it
was in where was I just in Texas? Oh, think
(12:24):
the Phillies guys are playing, They're like, you know how
to play? Or no, the sorry, the Rangers guys are playing,
They're like, you know how to play cribbage. I'm like, dude,
I came up with the Twins. Everybody knows how to
play Priviage.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
In Minnestoa hand at hand. Yes.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
And then also when next time you see Griffin Jacks,
we asked the missis on the on the on the
air here. He hates the taste of water, so next
time you see him, be like this water is tasty.
And then just see what he because I guess when
he was in the Air Force, they had to drink
so much water, he just got sick of it, so
he just wanted to So one of the famous facts
about him is he hates the taste of water.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
All right, that he is. It's great. We were not
today when we got into a Sacramento and he is
a sparkling water guy. So we finally I finally got
somebody else that you know at the team dinners. Will
we'll drink? I can?
Speaker 4 (13:12):
You should be made fun of. Nobody drinks sparkling water.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Oh somebody drinks sparkling Stop. I'm with you on the
Florida take. I'm not with you on that take.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
You're that's the look who drinks sparkling water right there.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
I love Florida and I love sparkling water. And do
you like sparkling water?
Speaker 2 (13:30):
I do, I don't drink it. All the time.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
You can't chug sparkling water. But it's a nice.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Nice it's a good dinner. It's a good dinner. It's
a good you know, assist to a nice dinner. I'm
not gonna, you know, take it out to the bullpen
with me.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
No, it's not. It's not hydrating me. You're so we
thought you would be more high class than that. Aj
mmmmm No, no, you.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
I mean Essentia. It's not. He's not drinking hose water.
That's essential. That's that's some some high quality still water there.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
As funny as we're talking about this, listen, the water
tastes different in every bottle. I'm sorry, every bottled water
tastes a little bit different. I don't care what you're saying.
There a certain ones I like and certain ones I like,
So you have to kind of yes, I'm picky about
my water. I apologize, yes, call.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
And lowest, lowest on that list is designing every time.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
Well, that's because it's not. It's it's just tap water.
They run through a filter and they say, here you go.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
It's from Florida.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
That's why No. Zephyr Hills is from Florida.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Purified and spring et cetera.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Yeskrats, no last one for me. Pe you had set
you kind of glazed over a little bit. You said,
we make a run here. You guys are six and
a half out. We talk about how far out is
too far out? What are those conversations like in the
locker room? Because you can look at different numbers and
it can say, you guys have been super unlucky. You
guys should actually be seven games over five hundred if
(14:59):
you look at some of the numbers. So is it
something that you guys say, hey, if this happens, or
we can do this, or we can change this. We
see this because that's a lot of scoreboard watching. You're
looking at everybody, but like you know, the Marlins and
the Rockies and the and they're not even in your
in your league, so it doesn't matter. But like, what
(15:21):
are you guys doing, How is that? How is that
coming together? And some people do some people say, come on, Pete,
you know that's not gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
No, I said the other day, you know the last
thing that we need to do is to look forty
two games out or forty games out now, whatever it is.
You know, nothing nothing starts obviously, I mean, you have
to have a big picture, right, the big pictures make
the playoffs to win, et cetera. But then how do
we go about it. We go about it by playing
good baseball every day, and we think that, you know,
(15:53):
when we can get to that, you know, that mindset
of we're just going to do it every day. We're
not going to go and you know, think three weeks
down the road, think a month down the road. We're
going to sit there and go do what we need
to do, you know, on a daily basis to win
a ball game. I think that you then you take
(16:14):
that and you can pound it and you go from
there as opposed to you know, storeboard watching it and
looking at all this stuff that you can't control. We're
just going to try and do what we can do,
you know, and have our good at bats, get ahead
and the account execute with two strikes, et cetera, and
focus on the stuff that internally we can control as
opposed to you know, anything else. And then hopefully you know,
(16:35):
when you're moving that to an internal goal and focus
on what you can do. You know, you can compound
it after that.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
P my last one of then AJ's got one for
you to finish up. So you play the Yankees a lot.
They clearly have had some issues last couple of seasons
with sloppy play, sometimes fundamentals, et cetera. Right, they'll they'll
even admit that themselves. My question is from a fan perspective.
Fans just think the manager is the one in charge.
And I'm generalizing here, but I've gone back and forth
with the can you speak to how much influence a
(17:05):
manager has for a thirty year old player who's been
playing his whole life and makes a mondemental mistake or
maybe just isn't as much of like the fundamental player
and is more of like a power only guy. I
guess you know where I'm going here. You know, you
played for Kevin Cash for a long period of time.
I'm sure the team has gone through stretches where it's sloppy.
Is that the manager's fault?
Speaker 2 (17:28):
I don't think that you can scapego to manager for
you know, us not being locked in, right. I think
that you know there's thing that you can scapegoing to
manager for, et cetera. And they usually are the ones
that end up, you know, taking the fall if we're
not doing our jobs. But you know, for me if
we're not locked in, and if we're making the mental
(17:50):
mistakes and we're doing stuff that we shouldn't be doing
out there, that's different than you know, the stuff that
that a manager has control over, whether it's you know,
moves that they're making, et cetera. Like, are the stuff
that we do out there, you know, if we're not
locked in, that's that's on us.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
Agreed.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Agreed.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Speaking of locked in, all right, let me ask you this.
You've been on the road for a month, okay, pretty much.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
The home month.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
What do you do about the lego situation? Because I
know you're a big lego guy. So do you bring
legos with you on the road or you just do
them at home? How does this work? Because you've got
to have something to get your mind off of trying
to close out the night. So what do you do
with the lego situation on the road for a month?
Speaker 2 (18:30):
So road for me is typically I'll go more, I'll
try and find card shops, I'll go more on the
pokemon side, leave the legos at home. But my wife
and son went to a Lego convention down in Tampa
this past week, and I have might be the most
jealous I've ever been on a road trip. Because there
(18:51):
were some some incredible mocks. And then you know, anytime
you get to see a really happy kindergartener is a
good time. So I wish I could have been there
for that one. But my son got back on Isaac.
He gets back, he spent probably I don't know, a
few days, maybe a week working on this like medieval town,
(19:11):
village whatever. And he goes there and he sees all
these other builds and he comes back and he looks
at my wife and goes, I need to tear this
down and start over. I can do way better than that.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
Wow. Wow, And then you and then your wallet's like, man,
you can't do way better than this. Go back, all.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Right, I'm gonna have to be making bulk before I
know it, I'm going to be having to buy specific
colors in bulk so this kid can can finish all
of his creations. But I'm always down for it. I
think that'll be a great time.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Yeah, that's great for the brain.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
You gotta let him go.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
So wait, did different don't know any think about Pokemon?
So it was like a different shops have different cards.
I don't know anything about Pokemon.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Don't say Pokemon.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
What is it? Why not? Why not?
Speaker 3 (20:02):
It's Pokemon, It's not poke. Yeah, it's like nails.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
It's not a He's saying that, like that's gonna be
a bowl of raw fish and rice.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
Is that what I'm Yeah, it's a Jamaican bowl of
raw fish Pokemon.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, you never know. You go to different shops, they
got different singles, they might have different sealed stuff. You know,
it's obviously in a in a resale market, there's no
you know, it's just like just like a sports card, right,
you go to a different spot, they got different stuff
that they're they're selling for singles. You might be able
to get boxes you can't get elsewhere. So keeps me busy,
and it's uh, you know, gets me out of the
hotel room and gets me off of my college football dynasties.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Yeah, it's the collector game. The collector game is fun
and you get to hop to different cities so you
get to run into different shops.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
I like it people, honestly.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
Yeah, I'm amazed how many players now are into the
collector thing, because i mean, listen, I mean I'm the
old guy, but I'm just saying that, you know, I'm
the old guy. Guys didn't care. Guys weren't collecting cards
and Pooky Moon or whatever, Pooky Moon or pick them
on or pick them on.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Yeah, guys were going out four or five in the morning.
They don't really do that anymore.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
WHOA, no, no, Scott, No, we were all sitting in
our room watching the television and our scouting reports reading. Yes,
thank you, but no, but guys weren't collectors. It's cool.
I think it's cool. Guys collect Pooky Moon, they collect
Poopy Moan, and they collect their own cards. I mean
it's cool.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
You know, you are a collector. You just you just
collect different stuff. Aja, you go for the Lego sets.
And we got guys out that are more cards. Yeah,
that's a lot of dues. Legos collect dust like nobody's
business exactly. AJ glues them. He's a crackle.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
You're b oh my gosh, oh because my kids pick
them up, and he represents the lord business.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
Went for it, went for. It is Halloween when you're
did the whole thing, the whole the full.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
All right, Well, this nerd out session is brought to
you by Thanks Pete.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Good stuff. Appreciate We'll got you soon.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Get get home soon. Get some home cooked foods.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
I'm doing my best. I got four more days. Yes,
all right, guys,
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