MLB Wild Card Madness! Rays’ New Owners Speak Out | The ‘Big O’ Show Breakdown
And welcome in to another edition of the Big O show with Arrestes Destrada, former Major League Baseball player, Japanese legend, and Ray’s broadcaster. How are you, my friend? I’m doing great, man. Hey, listen. This this is the the best best time of the year. We’ve got three winner go home games. Uh we’ve got, you know, football, college, and NFL. Uh this is an exciting week and and it hasn’t uh disappointed. There’s no doubt that there’s been some phenomenal games. Um, a lot of like decisions. The thing about baseball Oh, yeah. that we’ll get into is that that so many, you know, decisions that when you go through 162 game marathon, yeah, there’s specific points JP, but but now it gets blown up as to why’d you leave this guy in? Why did you take this guy out? Why didn’t you walk this guy? We’re going to talk about some of those moves in the show. I love it. We’re brought to you by the Texas Roadhouse of Wesley Chapel. King Makers, the Murphy Auto Group, Genesis of Tampa in particular. Thanks to all our great sponsors. We’ll tell you more about them in just a little bit. We’re going to talk some B place baseball playoffs, but also as we always do, we begin the show with the little Rays Center conversation, my friend. And we got news. Yeah, we got news. It’s been coming out, baby. Yeah, we got news. And it’s about freaking time, frankly. um as the new owners have stepped up and uh we have some quotes that we could talk to talk about and we know the press conference is going to be on uh coming up on Tuesday I think it’s Tuesday we don’t know where don’t know where or when what time but coming up on Tuesday secret location but secret location but on Tuesday uh that that new ownership uh led led by Patrick Zelevski uh and co it’s going to be exciting um there’s just so much uh hopefully you know, continue the positivity of what’s going to what’s going to they’re planning to do, but just the words so far that they’ve put out there are uplifting to to describe them in one, you know, one word, uh, they’re very uplifting. How can I not like them? I mean, you know, they’re they’re they’re thanking everybody they need to thank, obviously. Thank, you know, MLB, thank Commissioner Manfred, uh, thanks Stu Sternberg, etc. But uh the reality is that now they get an opportunity to kind of mold this team while keep on the winning ways that they’ve had now for uh you know a strong decade. Well, there were some interesting things that were were talked about and so we want to get into that a little bit as we begin here. And uh first and foremost um there are a couple more names added to the list. Um, we find out Will Weatherford is uh part of this group and Will Weatherford is uh the board of regents um chairman of the board of regents of USF USF. He was the point person for getting the onampus stadium done. Huge. That’s a nice little addition to the group. Some guy who knows the template. The word stadium stands out. Yeah. And and working working with the people populace that that build the stadium. So he knows that whole deal and how to get that done. That’s a tremendous asset in this ownership group. Obviously, Patrick Zalupsky is the the chairman uh the managing general partner who will be co-chared. Yeah. By uh Bill Cosgrove who owns Union Mortgage, another big deep pocket guy um who has some builders in there, aren’t there? Mortgage guys, you got Celebski with the dream company. Uh so it leads you you know dramatically into the stadium scenario and and and hopefully understanding obviously what come comes into that also JP is the municipalities and them working hand inand with that but those three are fantastic. I also, you know, obviously Workman, I think you might have mentioned, but uh um you know, is massive. You mentioned him before, but mention him again, who he is. And and then uh Ken Babby, I think, is a is an intricral guy that people are going to start knowing who this guy is. Yeah. Ken Babby, um we’ve talked about this. He is the guy who is going to be the CEO of the team. He’s going to run the day-to-day operations of this team. And what that means is you’ve got um a guy that knows how to run baseball teams. He knows how to do this and has done it before and done a tremendous job with the Jumbo Shrimp. They just put $30 million into that stadium. Yeah. And it’s a beautiful downtown Jacksonville stadium and they they do great attendance-wise. Same thing in Akaran. Yeah. And when you hear the politicians talk about working with Ken Babby and how what a great community partner is, they can’t say enough good things. And this is to me the crux of what this new ownership group is all about. They’ve got deep pockets. They have a lots of Tampa Bay ties. Uh have lived in Tampa Bay, care about the community, have have shown and established in their life’s work that they’re very successful at what they do. They have deep pockets. This is an all-star group of investors that Major League Baseball has handpicked and put together for one specific reason, to get a stadium done on the Tampa side. Yeah. And you know, it’s interesting that that um how what what looks right now seemingly, you know, two or three of them are going to be really hands-on involvement. It’s not just, you know, normally you’ve get an ownership group and it’s a head guy and then they’ll be just B people or whatever, but these guys kind of are involved in it. One of the the investors actually has run baseball uh at at the pro level, which is the minor leagues. In fact, Ken Babry, you know, congratulations to him and and the and the AAA Marlins team, the jumbo the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, who who won a dramatic uh game to to take the AAA title in in Las Vegas on a on a walk-off home run uh to win that uh how about that title just last week. So, he’s he’s riding high right now. He gets to be in the major leagues and also uh just had himself a triple AAA championship. what that brings. And also another thing and and reading some of the quotes that he made uh as far as Ken Babby, I I love these quotes. Uh he said, “Baseball is about joy, connection, and community. I’ve seen firsthand how a ballpark can bring people together, and I’m honored to help and create those moments.” Uh paired with the continued culture of winning here in Tampa Bay. Uh he added, “We we are we are committed to delivering an exceptional fan experience while continuing to raise tradition of excellence and we can’t wait for opening day April 6 and reopen Tropicant Field and celebrate the community’s resilience.” If you notice how many times community I met I noticed that was mentioned in these words community I’ve seen it firsthand community you know to do things community’s resiliency uh I think this is a the perfect person to not only have his money where his mouth is. Yeah. But but also be involved, you know, in in this uh by by helping running and uh and cultivate and continue. And I also love in in there where he says continue the winning ways. Yes. The one thing Stuart Sternberg did, you know, leave as he walks away still, you know, owning a small share of the team is a winning methodology and a winning mantra. The a winning GM, a winning GM, a a a winning uh, you know, manager of the year multiple times and Kevin Cash. Uh, there’s no doubt winning development of of minor leagues, uh, winning, you know, drafting, that all kind of goes into player development, right? Player operations. uh what needs to kind of be added now is the other aspect that I don’t want to again I keep on you know joking around and saying about the Savannah bananas but you really kind of baseball to me has always you know you go all the way back to the 30s and the 40s and the barnstorming and and the creative things that that teams do to what bring communities together makeotions marketing promotions do creative things that are out of the box uh I I’ll give you a Quick example, and I was going to save it for oh, by the way, at the end of the show, but it pertains to this right now. Did you know that Ichro Suzuki played in a game just recently? No, he played outfield in a game that the Seattle Mariners because what happens when you teams have these many days off, they’ll play split squad games against each other. So Ichro decided to play outfield and play right field and and and bring a little bit excitement, you know, to to this game. He didn’t hit because he didn’t want to take at bats. But you know what? What a great idea to not only get your work in for the teams, have this great coach, but also, you know, they had 10,000 fans, excuse me, 5,000 fans at $10 a pop to to come to this game. They kept it nice and tight, and every single dollar dollar is going to the community and going to charity. That’s awesome. So these are out of the box ideas instead of just having a closed door, you know, inner squad game, which all the other teams probably that are getting buys are doing. What a great idea the Seattle Mariners had. Yeah. Use it. Uh use, you know, an opportunity to raise money for for a, you know, for a charity in the Seattle area. Those are the type of things that, you know, can be done and and and should be done. And let’s be honest, this team has not been marketed or promoted well in the area um over the last 20 years. It’s something that this group knows that they can do and capitalize on right away. Um do the right things in the community and reing and the and the the people of Tampa Bay have just been waiting for this. Waiting wait there. The T we’ve talked about this the event that I’ve been in the past. uh you know uh they’re just so exciting when you’re talking about events like you know obviously the initial two big ones are going after little leagues and and I created something years ago you know going after the high school uh ranks but everything you know hospitals and schools and and and different things but do it at a more grandiose way put money into it put money effort into it and then also even the the the game day experience I mean you’re wearing your FSU I mean, your FSU and we have the FSU Miami coming up and and that, you know, the the game day experience is so huge. And B, listen, baseball is not college football. It’s too many games. It’s too complicated. But you can still do some other kind of out of the box things that I’m hoping Ken Babby and co will be creating. Yeah. Well, what it come similar is the emotional attachment. And it’s what I’ve said for so long is that this is a baseball is in the fabric of our culture. Huge. And and and when people dog this market for the attendance and say we don’t love baseball, it always gets me pissed off because but I understand it from a national level. You look at the surface, oh, you don’t even sell out your playoff games. I get it. And I’ve gone on countless numbers of I’ve been on the Dan Patrick show and all these other shows, Nashville shows, trying to explain the nuances of why people why the attendance isn’t what what it should be. Sure. And and there’s so many false narratives that about it. And the bottom line is just it’s it’s about, you know, the ownership group is not beloved here. People didn’t like the old owner. The the location of the stadium is awful. The stadium itself is awful. We’ve done it all the right wrong way. And now we have an opportunity to do everything right. Right. Bring in people that care about Tampa Bay, that live here, that love it. There’s there’s a there’s a whole group of local investors, a robust group of local investors that is still yet to be named. And and as have we reported many many months ago, this these are the people we’re talking about. I mean, Dan Doyle’s already been named. Uh Will Weatherford we talked about now. Uh um and now you got Fred Riley, the chairman of Augusta National, who is a lifelong Tampaian. Um these are and it’s a group of guys that know, love, and are politically connected and know how to get this stuff done. handpicked by Major League Baseball to do so. So, the the the opportunity now is never been greater. We love this team. We love baseball. And now you’re going to put a stadium, a state-of-the-art stadium in the middle of the market and have it backed up with a payroll that is going to be competitive. And this is the way you do baseball. And in my opinion, it is going to explode in terms of the the Rays, I think, have kind of been, you know, kind of at the third wheel in terms of our professional teams. And because the Lightning have done so many great things within the community and reached out and and the Boxingers, it’s football. They’ve been here forever. You know, they’ve done a great job and they’re winning Super Bowls. The the Rays are an untapped oil well that can just gush in my opinion. I I agree if we do it the right way. And another aspect, listen, when you when you break it down, especially in the state of Florida, okay, we’re not talking about Michigan and the northern states where be let’s be honest, this is a beautiful state. There’s so many free and fun things. Think of those two Fs. Yeah. Free and fun. Yeah. So, the beach, just go out outside the lake, go here. It’s free and it’s fun. Yeah. So, you’re you’re you’re having to pull those revenues from the people and make it exciting. How do you do that? Uh winning obviously, but this team has been winning for for a long period of time. And if you give more money towards the the the resources to build a a better uh team now, you’re going to win more consistently at the higher level, which is what’s going on right now, postseason, hopefully win championships. And then the other aspect is what you were talking about is having, you know, knowing that you’re going to have a new stadium. So those three things winning um fan you know like excitement and creating that community loving thing and then a place to go that people are like I want to go to the game there. This is beautiful and we’re winning and these guys are cool. Listen, it’s sad that that uh Mr. Stanley for Stanley Cup has been kind of vacationing in Florida for the last several years and just owning Florida. By that I mean hockey has been owning it. Not only owning it, but the Lightning and the Panthers are more involved in the communities of Tampa Bay and South Florida. I’m going to say South Florida because where the Panthers sit, they pretty much kind of have a duality of going after the Fort Lauderdale market and north of that, the Dade market and the Dade market, the Broward and Dade market and a little bit of the West Palm Beach market. So, what a great job they’ve done. On top of that, they’ve won one. Yeah, right. They’re just they’re kill. So that that’s key, but it also key is to what you’re putting out to get in and that’s massive. And the baseball side of this. So we we talked about the new owners and what they can bring to connect to the community and the baseball of forever home, all that which is huge. Uh but then you add the fact that Eric Neander had his press conference end of your press conference and he said he didn’t want to speak when asked about do you expect a new payroll or a bigger payroll. I don’t want to, you know, speak to that. I’ll let I’ll let the owners. It’s not the time for that. But his, you could see in his body language that he was very happy about the future and what is possible to be able to work with a payroll now that’s going to be closer to average, which is 150 160 million instead of working with half that. For him, it just opens up so many more opportunities for trades and to be able to make a roster, ressigns, extensions. Yeah. So, let’s talk a little bit about what’s possible now. Cuz even if you get to 125, that’s another $40 million $4 million that you can go out to sign really big time free agents would have made a difference. They had $40 million this year, they would have been in the playoffs. Absolutely 100%. I’m telling you. And Kevin Cash is like they weren’t that far from making this. What What does that extra 40 $60 million do? Not only does it give you better starters, gives you more depth. More depth. So when every time you get an injury a bullpen and you get an injury, it’s not the Durham shuffle and you have to constantly as a manager and every year and year out the Durham shuffle more than more than not years has worked has worked but it’s hard. Sometimes it doesn’t work like this year. Yeah, it hasn’t worked. So listen, I think the world of Eric Neander I think they should one of the first tie-ups. Forget about the players on the field. Make sure you got Eric Deander for and nobody steal. He he looks extremely excited about this. Yeah, he you need to tie him in because he is a mind and a half when it comes to uh you know running a a a baseball program. Now, if you give him more money, then he’s going to get more creative. Their scouting department is exceptional. Their their development in the minor leagues is exceptional. There’s no questions about that. Uh Kevin Cash is, I think, is exceptional. just needed more guns both on and off, you know, on the mound and and at bat. So, that being said, you know, who are the key guys that you want to, you know, bring back? Um, for me, um, I bring back Fairbanks and I tie, you know, I I at least just, you know, take, you know, take the option and uh, and keep him. I 11 million. Yeah. For 11 million. I keep Brandon Laauo. Uh, he’s just been too solid and and injuryfree this year other than the little nick that he had. Uh, and he’s got to become, you know, in fact, I kind of push him to be more vocal and become that team leader. Another $12 million allstar 12 million. Yeah, that’s and that’s dirt cheap. Yeah. Yandi’s already tied in. You know, the question with Yandi is is do you trade him to try to get something else? Cuz a lot of teams love that player. You know what I mean? So, he’s still a very attractive player on both sides because of the fact that both leagues now are using, you know, uh the the the uh the DH. He had a great year. And he had a great year and he is a team leader. You know what I mean? So, the the the question is going to be in the hot corner at third base. Mhm. Uh, do you go ahead and try to do a six, sevenyear deal with Junior Camroero and try to tie him up for $120 million, $130 million for 707 years. Just just throwing out some potential numbers. You got to, you know, get him through arbitration and at least two two years, if not three. That would be the six-year realm of getting him through uh free agency because otherwise um you know, but it’s a catch 22 because Junior and his representatives might be thinking, listen, we’re not that far from arbitration. We’re like a year away from arbitration. He’s going to jump from making, you know, 800, you know, next year maybe he makes a million in a buck and and he’ll going to he’s going to jump exponentially to 78 million if he just does not extend, right? And then year two of arbitration, he’s going to be at 12 million. And year three, he could be at 18 million. So, it’s a tough deal for a young kid at 22 years old to decide, you know, I’m am I gonna gamble on myself or am I going to take, you know, a nine-digit, you know, signing and I think he should he should take that money, put it, but but you know, a Scott Boris, you know, who tells him, let’s just play year by year and make the money in arbitration and then look for that $40 million a year, you know, bite. But uh and we talked a little bit if you if you tie him up. I’m going to tell you right now if that’s one of the early things that they do um I think the the the uh the court of public opinion is going to go like oh yeah they’re they’re that’s what we’re talking about. That’s what we’re talking about. If they don’t do it might go the other way. But that’s what we’re talking about because this kid, you know, if there’s anybody um that looks like a winner, looks like a kid that is that is implemented in the system and believes it. He’s a he’s a likable kid in the thing. You didn’t have that with Wander. Wander was a Mimi III player even before the issues. That’s right. very cocky, throwing the ball up in the air and catching it and throwing a guy out, you know, doing some really really kind of he was a bad teammate. He was not a great teammate and then you have the issues. Yeah. If he never had the issues, he’d still be a bad teammate. He’d still be a bad teammate. So So Junior’s better than that. And Junior’s 100% better than that. So, in terms of free agency, we don’t know until we’re at the press conference Tuesday what they’re what, you know, I’m sure they’re not going to give a number, but are they in play for a guy like Kyle Tucker, who by the way, you know, has always told me that he didn’t want to play in the Trop because it crushed his knees. Yeah. Well, the good news is they’re going to have a new turf in the Trop. Hopefully, it’s better. Yeah. And he’s now more open to playing, signing, and coming home to Tampa, we’ve been told. So, that’s doesn’t mean he’s that that they’re going to get him. And I’m not putting the pressure on the new regime. Oh, you got to go get Kyle Tucker. Yeah. But I’m just saying now that’s something that’s in play. Yeah. Because if you go to 120, 130 in your payroll and you’re still below average, you could sign a guy for 3540 million like Kyle Tucker. I mean, and you need and you need a power hitting outfielder, so why the hell not? Oh, no. You need a power and that would be the optimal power hitting. He would fit I mean perfect to a te if you want to go that hefty. I just think he’s gonna be so much in demand. The the Red Sox are covet him dramatically. Uh because they they would just, you know, usher out uh Duran and put him in over there. They’re ready for that, you know, whether in right or in left, but you know, wherever because Kyle can play either corners very well. Um I I I I think the longevity of the contract might be a little bit different. Be hard for this group. That’s what it is. But if it was a shorter contract at at at 40 million a year, yeah, that that’s a viability. I just don’t think that he’s going to and nor do I think that that makes fiscal sense right off the bat at this point. Right. That makes fiscal sense to me few years down the road when you get into the new stadium the new revenues kick in when an Ellie De la Cruz is available for for free agency or something like that at 23 years old now and when he’s 26 and the stadium’s about to be coming in and you’re going to have all this revenue and you go after Ellie de la Cruz you go after a Nick Curts from from the athletics possibly. I’m just saying th those are those are the guys that you start looking at for three to five years. I think these things are now possible. I think that where’s where’s that they were getting some 1520 million a year player that that is impactful. Yeah, an experienced professional hitter that can do it in the postseason as we’re going to transition and we’re going to transition into the postseason. And one of the things we’re going to be talking about is uh how incredibly tepid the game three starters are. So before we get before we get to that, I want to uh first of all thank our sponsors, Texas Roadhouse, Wesley Chapel, uh great folks over there. If you’re looking for a comfortable food, comfortable food at a comfortable price. Yeah, comfort food. Comfort food at a comfortable price. Oh, I need a I need a a right now. I’m starving. You are because you’re going through that that uh I’m doing that fasting that fasting thing where you don’t eat for like 24 hours. 16 ribeye right now with a big loaded baked potato that they do so well there. Yeah. The well marbled ribeye that they call Oh yeah. And a little little steamed broccoli from our butcher friend. From our butcher friend right there. So good. Texas Roadhouse. And I don’t have to pay uh I I was at another unnamed steakhouse the other night. Right. The bill was hefty. Yeah. You don’t do that. It’s not like that. It’s not that much better. Yeah. you know, and and Texas if at all. And Texas Roadhouse, fantastic atmosphere. I absolutely love it. So, go see Tyler over there. Want to catch some college football or NFL? Great place to watch games. Yeah. And and baseball playoffs. And baseball play. Yeah. Great little bar area there. You pull up you will at that bartender. Tell her big O sent you big. You might get a little extra pour. Yeah. I don’t know. I don’t want to promise anything. Free Guinness. You never know. Yeah. Kingmaker Tampa, by the way, is where we are. this incredible private club in uh in Midtown. If uh if you’re looking for a workspace, we have uh private offices here, communal offices here, and you can also use this great production studio. That’s part of it. Lots of different and we have a great uh meeting room here. So, if you’re an entrepreneur and you want to impress people with a nice little office, you can. This is great office space. And then it turns into a place you can rent out for social activities. We watch games here. We have a golf simulator. 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Yeah, I’m sure the whole Grammatica the flying grammat I bet the whole Grammatica clan will be there eating and drinking. It’s going to be a fun wedding. I’m going to stop by the big O will be there. There you go. As well so you get a baseball. So signed baseball. So our great sponsors, we thank them all. Texas Roadhouse, Wesley Chapel, King Makers, and Murphy Auto Group. All right, let’s talk some baseball playoffs. Um a great start to the playoffs already. Yeah, we got managerial decisions to talk about. So, let’s get into it. Where do you want to start? Well, listen, um the bottom line is that let’s start with the winners, okay? Because you can’t uh you can’t negate that whoever, you know, knocks out somebody else, they should jump to the top. So, the top goes to Los Angeles Dodgers putting away a pesky Cincinnati Reds. Really, there never was super concern. The only concern for the Dodgers is their concern of their bullpen uh and how they’ve given up so many runs and kind of had to fight through the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings of games. Um especially the last couple of you know the two games where the eighth inning got kind of away from them both games. Other than that they are so good in so many different you know facets of the game. Starting pitching outstanding check. You know, obviously you had Bray Blake Snell throw seven wonderful innings. You had Yamamoto yesterday that really if it wasn’t for a Hernandez error in right field. Uh it it was a gem of a start for him and get a couple of runs, but it really kind of do off of that, you know, surprising era error by by Hernandez who make that play 99 out of 100 times. Uh as far as their offense, for me, it was a display of situational hitting galore. you know, they hit the ball where what I always tried, you know, what I tried to do in my career, which I was very fortunate that I was a very risky hitter. You know, throughout my 15 plus years, I I had an above 300 average throughout Aball, AAA, AAA, the big leagues, and Japan where runners and scoring position, I I created a really good heightened awareness. And what I really zoned in on was right center, left center, center, right center, left center, center. Everything I tried to hit, I was trying to not so much inside out it, but try to guide my swing to the middle. Why the middle? Cuz that was the best opportunity for balls to land in for base hits with runners in second or third and and also maybe sack flies less than two outs. That’s where you got to do they were doing that incredibly well yesterday. Uh and they hooked a few balls obviously uh you know when needed when the pitchers were in. Uh but their offense is just chock full of so many guys. We’re going to talk a little bit later in a few minutes. You know, who do you not want you to beat beat you? You know, the judges and the Bergman’s, the Bregman’s and the Suzukis of the world. They have at, you know, definitely three, you know, that you can’t, you know, Otani number one. And yesterday, uh, Tito Franka chose to walk Otani with a, you know, base open and Mookie Bats, you know, drops a double down the line for a couple runs. Uh, and then you got Freddy Freeman. Then you have the Hernandez brothers. They’re not brothers, but you know, they’re incredible. You know, Kik, he’s just Mr. October, you know, and you know, makes great play in the outfield and clutch hitting. And obviously, uh, T Oscar is just an RBI machine. Talk about a guy that hits the ball left, center, right, center, center when there’s running scoring position. Phenomenal. Cincinnati. Listen, we were talking about how quickly they’re, you know, you went from Hunter Green and unlike the other teams where at least game one and game two, they had studs pretty much across the board. Right. Now, it’s game three that we’re going to be talking about how the level drops dramatically. It dropped dramatically when Zack Latell has to be your starter. Yeah. uh any way you look at it, but that that’s just the fact that, you know, it’s the combination of injuries and depth uh across the board for all the playoff teams, but namely for Cincinnati, they were kind of stuck. So, after Hunter Green, especially against that lineup, against that lineup, and you know, he threw what three and three and two/3s didn’t give a up a home run. He is one of the the curious guys of this season where he’s given up more home runs than walks. He gave up 36 home runs and only 32 walks. Uh we’re going to talk about the other one that did the same thing. Uh and that’s Imanaga who gave up more home runs and walks this year and he did get beat uh with a home run. But the bottom line is the Dodgers are looking strong. Uh their starting pitching is just mapped up perfectly. There’s really in my mind’s eye only two teams that have that depth of starting pitching in this postseason and that is the the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies who are three strong really four three and a half strong but but three with three incredible lefties. So that’s massive. Their problem is the bullpen and they’re gonna have to figure that one out as or just plug five, six, seven, eight runs, 10 runs a game by the seventh and then and then let it ride. It ends up being like a softball league but uh a beer league game. But other than that, um a wonderful job by the Dodgers. Doc Roberts needs to be commended and and he managed a a perfect game. Not perfect, but almost perfect. What a what an atmosphere in Yankee Stadium for the Red Sox Yankees. and they will play at 8:00 tonight as we do this on on a Thursday. Yeah. And uh it’s the sixth winner take all game in the history of these two storied franchises and where you know I don’t know if I want to be what do we got? Connor Lee versus Schlitler tonight. We got early against Schlitler and and and that one’s fascinating because uh it goes back it’s the youngest duo to pitch a winner or go home playoff game. Wow. uh third youngest, excuse me. Uh back in 97, you had Jarrett Wright. Remember Jarrett Wright with Cleveland? What a fast ball that kid had. And Andy Pettit uh were 21 and 25 respectively. I remember that. And you go just more recently, you know, Ian Anderson uh was uh 22 years old. And Dustin May, which actually comes up because now he’s with uh with Boston. Um he was 23 years old. Uh, but it is going to be early and and Shitler Schlitler. Schlitler. I I knew that Schlitler. And And here’s the thing about early. Listen, he only threw four games. And and and the four games that he threw were two against the A’s, two against Tampa, one against Tampa Bay, and once against Detroit. So, you know, it doesn’t, you know, that can play positive or negative. You know, the reality is that sometimes when you haven’t seen a pitcher, it could be to the, you know, the positive of the pitcher because you don’t know exactly what he has. But the on the flip side, goodness, he’s going to be throwing on a night game at Yankee Stadium with 50 plus thousand fans. Uh the nerves, I don’t care who you are, they’re going to be there. And as opposed to Slitler who’s who pitched, you know, this is going to be his 15th start, still a rookie. Uh had some dominating performances. We have, you know, we had one here when Cam almost, you know, uh a no no, you know, went into the eighth. Uh his one drawback maybe is that his walk to strikeout ratio is a little tricky. 84 strikeouts, 31 walks. Uh can give up a, you know, a few jacks, give up eight jacks in in 14 starts. Has not faced the Red Sox. Um he’s a Boston fan as a kid, so this is kind of going to be neat for him. Uh, you have a couple of guys that are from the area. Ben Rice, who we’ll talk about in a minute and a decision that Aaron manager Aaron Buen has to make. Ben Rice is from Mass and was a Yankee lover as a kid. Did you know that Ben Rice as a young like eight or nine year old was at a Fenway game against Yankees and you know the pesky poll everybody autographs things? He put in there Yankees rule as a mask kid at at pesky blasphemy. Blasphemy. Blasphemy. They they kind of throw kids with the wolves for doing that. Um get away with that. The bottom line is that you know Slitler I think has the edge here. But then it’s going to possibly going to come down to what? The bullpen. Bullpens. Yeah. and and it’s going to come down to listen you know yesterday Cruz uh worked out a little bit of a jam but uh looked fantastic and then Williams and Bedar just shut it down. Remember when I said a couple of days ago I said it’s get to the eighth and ninth with Williams and Bedner before the Red Sox get to the eighth and ninth with Whitlock and Chappie and and a roll. What a game with Whitlock looked unhitable and then he gives up that that walk to Chisum and he barely missed and then Rice comes up and L gets the 3-2 which was key cuz Jazz is running. Yeah. And he hits the ball down uh No, it was actually Wells. Wells. It was Wells who hit that ball. Okay. Well, Rice hit the two run home. Yeah. Um Wells hits it down the line. It banks off. just gave enough and on 3-2 pitch and and it took him less than 10 seconds to get from first base to home. Yeah, that that kid can fly and he played with a lot of excitement. Not that he doesn’t regularly, but I but there was no doubt that he didn’t start, you know, against Crochet and and I think that Jazz kind of maybe for himself, but also for the team and the fans and the world because he’s that type of a, you know, of a flashy player wanted to show everybody I belong here. I should never be taken out. and uh and he showed it both on the base pass offensively but also defensively. The Yankees made a couple of dramatic double plays and uh and then he made the the you know a run stopping uh on on the Yoshida, you know, base hit up the middle that uh that he was able to at least, you know, stopped a couple of runs from scoring. So bottom line is the Yankees, I give them the edge in this game. Here’s where again you have three, you know, winner go homes and you can’t help but think that the home field advantage has to be play a major effect with both the crowd, the ambiance, the knowledge of your stadium. Yeah. Pitchers feeling more comfortable. I mean, this kid has never pitched in Yankee Stadium. Early has never stepped foot in Y. And in the first pitch here, he’s got Dude, I’m gonna tell you what it’s like. You know what it’s like walking. I remember the first time that I that I that I got to the plate at Yankee Stadium. And here’s the curious thing that I’ll never forget. When I got called up there and got to play in Pinstripes, uh the one thing that I’ll always remember is that my focus went out the window and I and it it just everything I was seeing everything, right? The crowd, right? the crowd, you know, the pitcher and and but I was, you know, you have to kind of like just focus and box up the pitcher and it just felt like I was like in a dream. Uh so then, you know, you work through that after that and then obviously, you know, I I got much better. Uh but the first the first time it’s a lot to take in. And that wasn’t even a playoff game. No, it was just a regular game, regular season game. So, this kid is going to have to lock in dramatically. And, you know, a little different maybe for for a pitcher possibly cuz he has to trust his catcher so much that the catcher is kind of, you know, walking you through everything. And and the big reminder really that since it wasn’t a a postseason game, it was just I was just playing in a regular season game. I had gotten called up is stay with me. Stay focused with me because if not and for the moment you you open it up, there goes the heightened awareness. There goes that focus. And you’re still, you know, you’re a ball player. You could do things with your eyes closed, but you miss being finite, locked in, locked in, locked in. and all of a sudden you hang a slider to a guy by the name of Aaron Judge or you hang a a two seamer because he’s not a big strikeout kid. He’s more of a a kid that that you know pitches to contact uh and that contact will be very loud. And do you start Rice and J, you know, that’s going to be a call. Ben Rice has been just hammering the ball uh you know in in September and you know most of that the last couple of months of the season with not only hammering but clutch hits and even his outs yesterday were hard. The line drive the the right field. So do I start him? I say no. Here’s the reason. Uh number one, Goldie is not only a veteran but crushes at over a 340 average against lefties. All right. struggled mightily against righties this year. And that’s where Ben Rice got a chance to play so regularly. Yeah. At at at first base for a while there at DH when when when uh when Judge was out and and and also uh Stanton was was not back. So, but he can catch. He’s a really good catcher, but not as good a catcher as Austin Wells, right? So, when you have this rookie on the mound, uh you need to remember what I was talking about the focus thing. you got to have the guy that they really feel comfortable with uh that he’s that caught him most of his 14 outings this season. And um and oh by the way, one more little statistic if you want to go analytics uh surprisingly uh Austin Wells had 240 against lefties and only 210 against righties. So he actually is a reverse split and he ended up hitting better. Some lefties can do that because they’re so cognizant of the left-handed the ball coming left hand that they keep their shoulder in more and and then since he’s kind of a power hitting catcher maybe with the righties, he’s trying to lift a little more and he’s opening up. So he stays in tighter with lefties. So those two reasons while Ben Rice is still a young hitter and only hit 208 against lefties this year and you can bring him off the bench in a key situation. Listen, early should not go late, right? Exactly. So Rice can he may not start but he still could get three at bats. He could still get three at bat. You know Slitler I think could go deep. Uh you know we’ve seen him go six. We’ve seen him go seven. We’ve seen him go match up to the Yankees. So I give the pitching match to Yankees and then listen this game is a seven inning game. This is a seven inning game. if who he who has the lead in the seventh inning is probably going to win this game at a 90 percentile because both bullpens with Whitlock and Chapman, Williams and Bedar are locked in right now. So, you need to be winning the game when you go start the eighth inning. Uh Rick says, “Uh, just let the Yankees lose, please. It’s bad enough I got Philly fan at work, but even more Yankee fans, dude, I I Rick, I feel for you with the Philly fan. I mean, probably I’m going to go one, two, three. As far as fandom, worst fandom, it’s Philly, Boston, and and although I’m a Yankee fan, and then the Yankees, they’re they are insufferable. Yeah. Um, couple other uh quick questions. Well, we’ll do the we’ll do these at the end uh because they’re Rays related. All right. Um, let’s go to uh Cleveland. Um, boy, what an atmosphere. That was a great atmosphere. You know, the reason that that that the Guardians um kind of very similar to the other team we’re going to talk to, I just hate that name. I hate that name. But, uh is is their fandom, man, along with I think there are probably three really lovable fandoms in in in the game, you know, and and I think the Guardians are one of them. Um um St. Lewis Cardinals fans, you know, live and die. Amazing baseball team. Live and die by them. Live and die by them. And then, you know, and and then um who are my other ones? Oh, the Cubs. You know, the Cubs fans live and die with their, you know, and and and just have suffered through them differently than Philly, Yankees, and Boss, who I just mentioned before. It’s not like they don’t support them, but they don’t live and die with them. They’ll crucify them. It’s different. and and you know when they suck, these guys support you. Case in point, Chase the Lauder. Do you know that name? No. Chase the Lower was called uh specifically for postseason play this year due to injuries and and necessity by by u Steven Bolt’s team. And he started yesterday’s game. That was his first start in the major leagues. Chase the louder first play early in the game. Drops a fly ball. Easy can of corn. He did lose it a little bit in the sun for a minute. Then reacted and found it and he went to catch it off the glove. Error first and second. They get out of it and and and Bobby the pitcher Tanner, you know, Joe says, “All right, kid.” He pat him on the chest. This kid, can you imagine? I can’t even. the next the next time they hit a fly ball to him, he made a nice catch in the warning sack. They gave him a standing ovation and they just like the love that these fans have for their players. Oh, by the way, in the fourth inning in a in a tight game, he makes one of the best throws so far in postseason and and throws out the runner at third base to close out the inning and save a run. So, when you ask me about the fandom and and what I think about, you know, Cleveland is just something special. That’s one reason that I do give them the edge in in uh potentially in in winning today because of the fact that they have that sixth man and and is their fans and uh and they’ve had some experience of closing out teams. They did it to the Rays just a few years ago in a in a game three. But I will say the Tigers have the better offense, but did not show up at all. one for 15 yesterday. So, they they need to get their hammers. Did not agree with with uh AJ Hinch uh pinch hitting for for Riley Green in in in the middle of the game there. Riley Green ended up his position came up later on late in the game. Um you live or die with with your main guy, right? And and that was a that was a Saber Metrics analytic decision. Hate that. And uh dude, I I I not only do I give him a chance there, uh the game was tight at that point, but you got to think Riley Green is going to come up again, right? And what am I going to do then? And his his his slot did come up again, and there was no Riley Green. Saber Metrics in the playoffs. No thank you. Yeah. All right. Uh we got um the Cubs, San Diego, and the Cubs. Darvish against uh Talon. Yeah. Tyion. Uh listen, speaking of Darish and Tyion, and I talked about it earlier, the drop that happens in postseason, it’s just glaring to show you just how weak starting pitching is now in the league. Yeah, it’s really about, you know, relief pitching these days, you know, and uh kind of uh check off that list as far as the San Diego Padres’s cuz they’ve got a a hammer trio. Now, they’ve used two of their hammer trios uh quite a bit in in uh Adrien Morong and the incredible the incredible Mason Miller. If you haven’t seen Mason Miller, people, go ahead and just pull up some some video on Mason Miller. This guy is a whip. I know a lot of people talk about Chapman and his 101. No, this guy’s throwing 104, spotting his fastball. He’s a big tall right-hander. Uh that, you know, I I think the world is starting, right? That’s the thing. The world they they didn’t give him away. They they uh the Padres’s gave gave their top their number one prospect. Um but I will say this. Um he has not been known why. He was with the A’s for a couple seasons. Who hears about the A’s? Nobody. and and then he’s been with San Diego Padres’s in the West Coast. So, you’re not really getting this, you know, even though the Padres’s are one of the premier teams in baseball, you’re still not seeing him all the time. This guy is a whip. He’s got a slur slider that’s just, you know, put it this way, the the league hit 108 off of his slur slider. And that 108, no, all were singles. So, he doesn’t give up much. and uh and he struck out the last he struck out eight guys already and eight uh batters that he’s faced. In fact, the last three at the end of the season were strikeouts. So, he’s he’s on a he’s on a a binger of 11 straight. One stat I do want to give you cuz that kind of, you know, formulates where we are in in in pitching these days, the one loss record for the starters today in all three games, 36 and 39. So, you’ve got guys that are eight and 15 like Flarity. You know, Darvis is five and five, you know. Uhhuh. Cession is uh u seven and seven, you know. Slutler is uh seven uh four and three. Very pedestrian. You know, Tyion is probably the like the best one of of the crew right here. So, it’s going to be very interesting and the bullpens are going to be very needed. But, uh I give the edge possibly to the Padres’s in this one, but it just depends. Suarez is the best closer in baseball. Uh and he only You get to him though. You got to get to him. You got to get to him. U Darvish has been awful in the playoffs. Yeah. Kyle Tucker’s licking his chops. He’s only got one hit in this series. Yeah. Um but he’ll be batting uh we got the Cubs lineup here. Bush, her hap, Tucker, Suzuki, Kelly, Crow Armstrong, PCA, Swanson, and Shaw. Uh no no Padres’s lineup yet, but um that’s going to be quite a scene in Wrigley Field. just it these that’s another one that you have a sixman these venues I mean the Cleveland packed Yankee Stadium packed I mean Wrigleyfield packed I just can’t wait till we have a great stadium the drop is all the drop during the playoffs is crazy when it’s packed is fun it’s big I mean you hate getting there or getting out and getting beer but man it is it is special but um hopefully we’ll get back to that that soon um all right co just a couple of quick comments comments since we have comments here and we’re doing it live, you guys can uh join us. We do it usually every Tuesday and Friday, but uh given the FSU Miami game and my travels tomorrow, we’re doing it a little bit early. Yeah. Mike Gage said, “I heard today this is the first time since the mid 80s there are three playoff elimination games in the same day.” Yeah. It’s a big day. It’s going to be a cool. It’s an exciting day, man. I mean, that’s why we did the show today. Yeah. This is beautiful. That’s why. Yeah. And if I if I’m picking winners, I got the Yanks. I’ve got the Cubs because of the home field advantage and and the possibly the lack of being able to use Miller and uh and Mor Horn with their 40 plus pitches and and then I’m gonna go I tell you what, honey parlay. I I’m going to go Cleveland, man. Cuz I I just think that Cleveland is the little engine that could. They’re not the best team in the playoffs offensively. So if I go money line parlay, you’re saying I’m going all the home teams. Indians can’t use the other. You can’t. Oh, just go Cleveland, man. Don’t get in trouble. Uh, that’s your show. All right. Yeah, that’s true. Cleveland. Cubbies. Cubbies. Yanks. Yanks. Home on the money line. Parlay. There we go. Go for it, dude. Go for the home team. The home team. Yeah. It’s all about the homeish, man. Tranilo Troy. All right. Couple more quick questions for you. Michael Larus Laru says, “Kyle Tucker is viewed as the consensus number one free agent. Pete Lonzo feels like a more realistic target. I’d like to see them pursue Bob Bashette. Wow, Bobette. That’s a classic. Yeah, that’s a great call by by this this person. Who is it now? Uh that’s Michael Laroo. We all Michael, great call. Good afternoon to you, Michael. Is not out of the spectrum. He’d be a little cheaper. Uh he’s still going to be expensive in the in the nature of things. Phenomenal hometown. it would fit because then you can you can kind of uh take it easy on Carson, you know, Williams for a little while and uh not that Bobette wouldn’t then be the shorts stop for the you know, probably sign a nice four to five year deal, right? But Carson can fit in there. Carson’s athletic kid. Uh maybe you move Carson over to second base as uh Brandon Laauo kind of you know you know is on more on his way out than he is on his way in. Uh Bobett is a great call and Alonzo just doesn’t fit unless you’re getting rid of Yand Alonzo doesn’t fit unless you’re getting rid of Yandi. You got Aronda who’s an allstar and young you’re not going to get rid of Aronda. He’s cheap and good, right? So and uh and deserving and deserving of of getting that that chance to to stay on as a star for his basement. uh Yandi, you’d have to trade him. So, that doesn’t make sense. Bobette makes a lot of sense. He’s a local kid. Uh you know, went to Lakewood High School. In fact, what we’re going to I’m going to do is uh I’m going to I’m going to get Dante on the phone uh later on today and this weekend and and bring him on the show next week to talk about about Bo and and the Toronto Blue Jays because I think that’s a great call. All right. Um Michael also says the Rays need to improve their amateur scouting department. They currently ranked 27th in the majors of drafted players reaching the big leagues. One of the first things Jeff Vinnick did was hire Al Murray uh for scouting and that turned the franchise around. The the Rays have not to his point those are the drafted players where they’ve done really well international is when the international and also trading Yeah. trading for players trading. not wrong on one side, but but uh on the flip side, they’ve if they’ve spent any of the, you know, lower millions of dollars, uh and again, I say lower because, you know, it’s not spending 40 or 50 on your payroll, but spending, you know, seven or eight and trying to go after international picks for, you know, 2 million here and a million here and 750 here. They’ve done very, very well with that. They’ve been extremely successful with that. and then their eyes on other development players uh especially double AAA guys somehow has been phenomenal and and so when they’ve traded for a kid uh they they feel you know they’ve done enough research and those kids have panned out whether it’s been a guy they traded to bring into the minors and then shot up to the big leagues or a lot of the trades especially for bullpen arms where they’ve you know retread them or redevelopment in a different. Well, and that’s and and that in that sense goes to Kyle Tucker. So, Kyle Snyder, their pitching coach’s uh his mantra and his way of uh kind of reshaping Mars has been really good. Rick also asked, “Does the new group get the Tropree as well?” Yeah. Yeah. So, that’s, you know, that’s money they don’t have to spend on a stadium right away. Yeah. You know, which will allow them I’ll ask you a quick question about that. Do do you think, and we’ll talk about that down the road, uh, during the winter and stuff like that, but do you think that there’s going to be a resurgence of appreciation for the trop after the one-year sbatical in the sauna? After the one-year scenario of being in the sauna and not being at home, you think that there’ll be this like tiny little nostalgic, you know, like uh like second honeymoon type thing with your with with the misses. Hey, let’s go to Hawaii and kind of spark everything up again. We had a year off and we got separated for a year. Separated for a year. Got some therapy. Got some therapy and now we’re back inside. Yeah, I know. Cash has been looking forward to getting back in the air conditioning. For sure. Yeah. And there’s there’s another feeling that, you know, this team has always been built to play in the troper ballpark and playing at at the at the band box was probably not it didn’t fit the roster, right? You which I think there’s some some validity to that. Um, but both teams have to play in their spot. I get it. So yeah, I think there will be I think there will be there will be a little bit, you know, a little Keith Urban, Nicole Kidman need to come back together and uh come and maybe have redo their vows at Tropicana Field, but the whole thing but we but we know eventually we’re going to split again. So So I So you say, you know, hey, let’s just let’s put a timeline on it. Let’s put a little timeline. Let’s do three years and we’ll we’ll go at it. We’ll have a great time. We’ll do it for the kids. Yeah, we’ll do it for the kids while the kids are still in school. But once we’re done, we’re going to I’m going to a new I got a new I got this hottie over here, baby. No, don’t do it. I got this hottie over here. Tampa. She looking good. For the ladies like I got this hunkah hunk of burning love over here. I got a It’s got air conditioning, too, but I don’t have to drive as far. You’re fresh from US? I got I got I got a lot more points of sale. Oh my god. Yeah, that’s a lot more comfortable. The premium seating is awesome. It could be a little, you know, renewing of vows. Sure. Little drop. Maybe open up the upper deck and sell cheap seats. Who knows? We’ll let Ken Babby handle that. But that’s that’s a thought though. That’s a thought. You know, I would like to see another playoff game there. Oh my god. Back that place and get the energy going. And listen, I think with the new group, there’s going to be, you know, I can’t tell you how many people I’ve seen on my timeline go, “Hey, the the moratorum on supporting the Rays is is not supporting the Rays is over. We got a new ownership group and I can’t wait to get back in the truck.” Yeah. Yeah. I think there’s going to be a lot of a lot of that, which is good. All right, partner. Anything uh any Oh, by the way, we got today? I mean, uh, no. I mean, I I kind of hit them with the um Yeah, the the the youngsters pitching today. I think it’s a kind of a cool thing. Yeah. Um, you know, what a day for baseball though. Three days. A great day for baseball and um just enjoy it and and we’ll, you know, we’ll be back over here and kind of give you the recap and then moving on because it’s about moving on. Tuesday’s the press conference. So, we I think what our plan is is to go you and I go to the press conference. We hopefully we’ll get we’ll have some sound from it and then we’ll come back here and we’ll do a we’ll do a podcast. Sound. How’s that sound? Tranquil and tropical. All right. There it is. It’s the big O show where we’re always tranquil and tropical.
The MLB Wild Card round is heating up! ⚾ In this episode of The ‘Big O’ Show, we break down all the wild moments from the opening games of the postseason. Who’s in? Who’s out? And what comes next? We also dive deep into the Tampa Bay Rays’ ownership update, with the new owners finally speaking publicly about the future of the team. 🗣️
Get all the insights, reactions, and Orestes’ signature takes on:
MLB Wild Card results & surprises
Standout performances and key stats
Rays’ ownership press conference recap
What the ownership shift means for Tampa Bay’s future
Predictions for the Division Series!
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👇 COMMENT below: What was the most shocking moment of the Wild Card round?