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December 27, 2024 14 mins
With the conclusion of winter meetings and with lots of motion around the league following the end of the 2024 season, three time AL All-star and eleven-time Gold Glove winner Omar Vizquel joins the show for a brief moment in talks of his twenty-four year tenure in the MLB. Contributing majorly to his hometown in building Venezuelan prospects to make it like himself and Astros famed named Jose Altuve, Omar shares some insight on his time in the MLB and a bit of what he's doing now building prospects alongside teaching many some of the fundamentals he's learned throughout his years in the MLB. Also taking a brief moment in assessing the Astros previous season Omar shares thoughts on the Astros offseason moves and what he has seen from the organization that he believes may make them contend for another postseason in the 2025 season. 
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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Saulsbury.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Okay, let's do this.

Speaker 3 (00:08):
Sean Salisbury to usc truth, longtime friend, Shawn Salisbury.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Brianma, go Lobos. This is the Shawn Salsbury Show.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
We're gonna welcome in three time All Star, eleven time
goal glover, former MLB star Omarvis gal Omar. We appreciate
you joining us. Happy holidays. Let's start with a little
bit of Astros. What did you think of the Kyle
Tucker trade?

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Well, man, uh hi, everybody, I'm very excited to speak
with you guys about the Houston Astros, a team that
has been news for these i will say last six years.
People is very excited about the opportunity the team have
to go to the worst series and everything, and now
we're speaking about a player that has been an icon

(01:00):
for the Houston Astros. And we are very sad to
see this guy go because we know everything he did
through the team. But as you know, players don't have
a you know, a guarantee lifetime in a baseball team.
You know, all these negotiations and free agency and all
this stuff, and you know, we have to get used
to it as players and also as fans. You know,

(01:23):
sometimes our life run out with this contract, and even
though that we want to belong to the team, there
are issues and there are things that make us go
to different organizations. And this is a case of Kyle Tucker,
a guy that gives everything to the Houston Astros, and
now we have to see him go. And not only him,

(01:45):
you know, we got all the players now that we
are fall in love, like the case of Alex Bredman
with another guy that is in these kind of situations.
But you know, it's it's it's really sad that when
you got teammates like this and you see them go.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
You are a man with seventy seven hits. In the show,
we got to talk hitting.

Speaker 4 (02:06):
One, what was your approach like to kind of get
to where you were in your career and how do
you did how you sustain that? And then two have
you seen players today that kind of replicate or something
that you see like, oh that was that was what
I was doing back during your career twenty plus years.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
Well, after the season is over, I always like to
go back into videos and see how can I improve
Maybe if I want to improve my average, try to
hit the ball the other way a little bit, or
you know, do something that make me a better offensive player.
You know, I wasn't one of those that really depend
on the hitting, even though that I hit second on

(02:47):
the lineup. But you always find ways and you know,
try to analyze yourself to come back stronger to the
next year. And I think this is what most of
the players do when when they come to sprint training,
they like to analyze their swings. Again, they work with
new people during the off season, they get stronger. You
don't want to lose the flexibility of you know, having

(03:09):
your good numbers and try to balance it out with
the average. So you know, there is a long process
that take over during this time. You kind of uh,
sometimes you feel like you did do your best, but
there is always a room to improve every year. And
this is what we like to do in the in
the off season.

Speaker 3 (03:28):
And Omar talking about off season and trying to improve.
One of the best things I think that you do
is is some of these baseball clinics down in your
home country of Venezuela. Obviously, Jose al Tuove is a
Venezuelan baseball player. Place here for the Astros theres you know,
we all know that, but can you just talk a
little bit about what you what exactly you do with
these clinics down in Venezuela and your connection with with

(03:51):
Josel Twove since you guys are both from Venezuela.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
Yeah, you know this basically to keep in two and
here's all this time really by all the fundamentals of
the game. You know, you speak to them about possible uh,
problems that can that can affect your career that you

(04:17):
can face on you know, speaking with the language, different culture.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
You know the fact that you have to live now
with American American people and you have you have to
adjust to a completely new way of life. Uh. So
they don't they don't fail when when you sign this
professional contract, everybody wants to play baseball. We're trying to
do their best with our best to guide him into
the right direction. And you know this is what we

(04:44):
do here and uh right now the playoffs from the
Venezuela League starting, so there is a lot of exciting
about baseball and we try to take the time to
let speak to them about these fundamentals and make it
grow a stronger mind. When when when you face these
kind of problems, you get out of it.

Speaker 3 (05:05):
And uh, with with these clinics, what do you what's
the big focus for you when it comes to these
clinic Is it more of development, is it just trying
to get kids and and the younger generations around baseball? Like,
what's your main focus with that? Do we lose them?

(05:27):
Om Are you still there? We'll see if we can
get him triple. I don't know if you can try
to see if we can uh get o Marvis goal
back up? But I mean, does we We've looks like
he's calling back in. We'll get that figured out here
in just a second. But big leaders going back for
camps in their whether it's their hometown here in the States,

(05:50):
uh down in a different country, it's always a phenomenal thing,
especially for the for the youth.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
Absolutely, yeah.

Speaker 4 (05:55):
I think today's day and age tape with socials, you
can see all the athletes doing the major right.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yeah, there's no doubt. I'll see if we can get
Omar Omar. You got us there?

Speaker 1 (06:04):
Yes, I'm here. And as I was saying that this
is the right this is the right moment to talk
to them about, you know, exploring new new ideas and
and and exploring your your full potential as a player.
When you talk to them and ask them what what
are they afraid of or or what are the weakness

(06:25):
that you think that you have. So you talk to
them about getting these fundamentals strong and when they face
these different situation they come out on top.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Do we lose again? Are you there?

Speaker 1 (06:42):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (06:42):
Okay, sorry, I thought we thought we lost you again.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
Have a little difficulty on our eleven time gold Glover
omar Vis Gale joining us here on the Sean Salisbury
sh let's talk talk a little Hall of Fame voting.
You've got Billy Wagner, former Houston astro one of arguably
one of the best close of all time, trying to
inch closer to the percenters needed to get elected into

(07:06):
the Hall of Fame. Obviously, you are coming up on
year number eight on the ballot. What do you think
of of some of the new guys on this ballot
and some of the current guys that are continuing to
try to inch closer to that Hall of Fame.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
Well, I believe Billy Wagner have a very legitimate chance
this year, since last year he was very close to
to the name in the Hall of Fame each year.
Road Susukia, I think he is a number one guy
that have a very good opportunity. Andrew Jones have a
pretty good chance to be on that list. So there

(07:38):
is a lot of guys that have the opportunity to
be there. We just have to wait to see what
the voters have in their mind, you know. As you know,
there is a lot of new voters now that are
coming into the the the voting or the Hall of Fame,
and that can change things a little bit.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
Do you do you think any of these, you know,
guys that are coming up on like nine, like Billy
Wagner's obviously tenth, Andrew Jones is the eighth. How about
a guy Manny Ramirez his ninth year on the bout
Do you think we could get Manny in at some point?

Speaker 1 (08:10):
Yeah? I think Manny is one of those cases where,
you know, he got involved in some problems during his career,
and I think people Jos feel a little weird signing
and voting for him, you know, when we get involved
in this kind of problem, I think the voters get
to wait a little bit until the last year or

(08:32):
something like that. But there is no doubt in my
mind that Manny Ramirez is one of the best hitters
in the history of the game, not only on the
era that he played, but in the history of the game,
and he have to be voted into the Hall of Fame.

Speaker 3 (08:45):
Eleven time Gold Glover, three time All Star. Omar Viscal
a couple more minutes with Omar here on the Sean
Salisbury Show. I want to get back to a little
bit about the the Houston Astros and what we've kind
of seen over the last i'd say about months. Not
a tear down, but a retool. Alex Bragman is still
a free agent. The report is Omar that he was

(09:06):
offered six years for one hundred and fifty six million
dollars year with the Houston Astros.

Speaker 2 (09:10):
Do you think that's a fair offer.

Speaker 1 (09:13):
Well, I don't know if it is a fair offer
or not. I think the Houston Astros have to try
to get involved a little more in this player. I
think Alex represent what the Eustern Natron is all about.
He's being their franchise player for a long time and
they have to try their best to try to keep

(09:33):
this guy on the team. I know that sometime it's
kind of frustrated because the agents are very tough trying
to sign these contracts. But as a player, you know,
you also have to say enough is enough. This is
what I feel happy with, this is what I feel comfortable.
I think the Euston Nastros treat me very good since

(09:55):
the beginning of my career, and I'm going to try
to do my best to stay in the him and
try to get a deal done. So, you know, it's
just a matter of getting a communication with your agent
and with the people that you're dealing with.

Speaker 3 (10:09):
And the Astros obviously in the Kyle Tucker trade got
east Soak pereties looks like he's going to be starting
at third base. And then the Astros went and signed
Christian Walker, a little bit older first baseman, but a
gold glove first baseman can hit with power. What do
you think about that signing for the Houston Astros to
play first base.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
Well, you know, you always try to look for the
position that you really need. We know that after a
break who signed that contract and he didn't perform the
way that the Houston was expecting too. They have a
little bit of problem there. They run a lot of
guys in there in that position that they couldn't really
produce what they wanted to. And they finally got their guy.

(10:52):
You know, they finally got a guy that is an
All star hit for power, he can hit for average,
and he seems to be really be on the team.
He's been very vocal about how excited he is to
be at a Nostros and that can really help a
team going. You know, I think they have their players
that they wanted to.

Speaker 3 (11:12):
And last couple seconds with Omar Viscale eleven time goal
glover here on the Shawn Salisbury Show. You know you
had Dana Brown, you also had Joe. A spot of
both kind of publicly say over the last month that
they didn't want to have jr. Don Alvarez play a
lot of left field in the next couple of seasons. Well,
the outfield, Omar, you've got Dubon, You've got Jake Myers,

(11:32):
You've got Chas McCormick. Des and I were talking about
it a little bit before we got into the interview
with you, that they need to make another move, whether
it's another trade, sign a left handed bat for the outfield.
They got to make some kind of move because that's
not the opening day outfield you can have to try
to be back to the Alcs. What do you think

(11:54):
kind of move they should try to make to bolster
that outfield.

Speaker 1 (11:58):
Yeah, there is no doubt that they need another bat
in there with power. I know there has been a
lot of a lot of talk about Anthony Santon. There
a guy that have the best year last year with
the Baltimore Orioles. I think it's the guy that fit
very good on the lineup. Besides, it's gonna be a
friend of Altube who is also from Venezuela. This Uh,

(12:20):
I think this guy can have a lot of damage
on the lineup. And UH, I think they're just waiting.
You know, it's kind of early still to make move
and to make trades. There is no doubt they're still
talking UH and until they don't find the right guy
to fill that position out there in the outfield, they're
not gonna uh stop. You know. Right now, they're quiet.

(12:41):
But I think they have a surprise under the table
that they're dealing with UH and they are waiting until
uh a spring training star, maybe even even on the
first week of spring training, they might bring a guy
that that everybody's gonna be excited, it is gonna be happy.
But they know that with the Candle lineup they have

(13:02):
right now, they're not gonna be going all the way
because there is other teams that have stronger lineups. And
even though the Texas Rangers and the Seattle Mariners are
not making too many moves, the teams that they're fighting
in the division, they know that to go farther along
the playoffs, they need to add it Ano their power back.

Speaker 3 (13:24):
And last question here, Omar, do you think the Astros,
if this is the last move they make with the
Christian Walker signing, are they the favorites to win the
Al West going into twenty twenty five.

Speaker 1 (13:35):
Yes, I hope so. I hope so that they can
find a spot for Bregman. I hope that they can
find Bragman because this is the key guy for them.
If they can find Bragman and they keep all the
other guys, I think they can go all the way.

Speaker 3 (13:50):
And that's an eleven time Gold Glover, three time All
Star on the Hall of Fame battle Hope. Let's get
you some more percentage points, Omar? Can we get that going?

Speaker 1 (13:57):
Yes? Please? Why don't you let the people know to
a little bit more of me? Please, Omar.

Speaker 3 (14:06):
We always appreciate you coming on here on Sports Talk
seven ninety thank you for the support. Let's talk again
right before baseball season.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
You go with that.

Speaker 1 (14:13):
Sure, Yeah, I'm here for you, guys man, whatever you
need me.

Speaker 3 (14:17):
Awesome, Enjoy weekend, omar that's Omar Vis Scale joining us
here on The Sean Salisbury Show. Eleven time goal glover,
three time All Star. Let's dig into sim Astro's baseball
next on Sports Talk seven ninety
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