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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You got me.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Sorry, open and Gena’s water under her laptop.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
It’s pretty crazy, okay. Warren Shafer joins us in the booth.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Uh he is the Colorado Rockies manager and much younger.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Than I thought he was gonna be.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
And and he has agreed to play name that tune
and see if he can see if he can name
this tune.
Speaker 4 (00:22):
So hit it dragon, let’s see here. Come on, that’s
Springsteen Glory Days. There you go, nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Just just because warrants here, we won’t take more time.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
But it’s got baseball lyrics.
Speaker 5 (00:36):
Uh So there we go.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I’m gonna I’m.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Gonna ask you one question and then I’m gonna get
out of the way and let keenan who knows way
more about baseball than I do, jump in and have
a conversation with with Gina. But I saw an article
about you that one of the terms used to describe
you is relationship builder. And I don’t know if that
if you think that applies to you, But if it does,
and if that’s the kind of thing that’s important to
(00:58):
you as a baseball team manager, can you talk about
that a little bit?
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Yeah, it’s for me it’s just about giving people respect
every day. I mean in one hundred and sixty two
game season, it’s every day monotonous, day after day after day,
and sometimes it can get you know, just like that monotonous.
But you have to have respect every day for everybody
you work with and make sure that they matter on
a daily basis.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
So that’s all that that boils down to.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
What has the steps been like becoming a relationship builder
not only with the Rockies team, but with the new leadership,
a couple members new leadership that you’re working with.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Yeah, all winter at getting to know Paul, getting to
know Josh Burns.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
It’s been easy, Walker. We’re all in it for the
same thing. We all want the same result.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
We all want this place to be great, and looking
out their course field, it’s such a beautiful place. We
want to bring winning baseball to this place. So it’s
easy to develop relationships with those guys.
Speaker 5 (01:48):
If you talk about bringing winning baseball, that starts with
the guys on the field, of course. And sixteen new
names in this opening day roster that weren’t in that
opening day roster season ago. That’s a big overhaul, and
some of those guys have been players like TJ.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Rumfield. What have you seen from him?
Speaker 5 (02:05):
A guy who’s a rookie, you know, making his big
league debut last week and he’s played very well.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Yeah, just the quality of a bat.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
I mean, it’s not an easy thing to step right
into the big leagues and take good quality at bats.
He did it all spring, but for the season, he’s
done it so far in the season. So really happy
for him. It just it seems like it’s who he is.
But the turnover is a good thing. I mean, you
lose one hundred and nineteen games, you need some new
life into the clubhouse.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
So we like where we’re going.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
How has it been for you transitioning from the interim
role to the official role.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Did it feel like there.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Was any type of big change in the mix or
was it a pretty fluid process.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
For the fluid process for me, the only big change
is the ability to run a spring training and I guess, well,
I guess some other big changes bringing in a whole
new staff to work with these players.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
So it’s been great so far. That spring training was great.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
To be able to start the culture afresh. So other
than that, it feels the same management, game.
Speaker 5 (03:04):
Changing culture in a program and an organization that has
had some struggles over the past few years. Three straight
hundred lost seasons. How do you get that out of players’
minds and say, hey, we are a completely different team
this season. Obviously some guys like Kyle Freelan’s still leading
the way, Hunter Goodman is still leading the way, but
really a completely different looking team this year. And it starts,
(03:27):
you know, front office all the way down to the
guys on the field.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Well, I think that’s the point.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
I mean, there’s so many new people, it’s not even
close to being the same team. The only thing that’s
the same is that it says Colorado Rockies on our jersey.
So with new people comes fresh energy, comes new culture,
comes new atmosphere.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
So that’s I mean, it started in spring training.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
It’s blatantly obvious the new direction that we’re going, starting
with Walker, so we’re all excited about him born.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
What does the Rockies home opener mean to you? I mean,
Governor Polas always loves to call this an unofficial holiday.
He makes a little excuse that people can in.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
For their work.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
If they’re calling off today and calling playing hooky, What
does this mean for you?
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Yeah, it’s just such a unique day.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
I mean we always, at least since I’ve been the
Big Leagues, we’ve opened on the road, and when you
come back, it just feels like you’re coming home to
people that love you. Seeing the fans here in this
beautiful ballpark, blue skies today, everybody going to.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Be cheering for us, It’s really special.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
I’m excited for the new guys, like you said, to
experience the first home opener.
Speaker 5 (04:27):
Your relationship with Paul Deepodesta, how is that going? And
I will say, just observationally listening to you during spring training,
doing interviews, doing press conferences, a lot of focus on
guys getting on base in the walk you know that
was obviously made famous and moneyball and everything. But Paul’s
approach is very much that. How is that translated to
(04:48):
your approach with building this lineup?
Speaker 4 (04:51):
Yeah, I mean him construct him and Josh Burn’s constructing
the team that way. Where you have Eddie Julian, you
have Troy Johnson, you have these new guys that are
injected in our team, Kyle Carros that are going to
be on base.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Guys.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Listen, you can’t lose one hundred and nineteen games and
punch out as much as we.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Did and not make a change.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
And I think that Paul’s the perfect guy with what
he believes. If we get on base here at course field,
anything can happen.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
So the huge.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
Outfield, we need to take that into into play for
what we’re trying to do.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
So it’s been good.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
What’s your biggest motivation or your biggest words of encouragement
to Rocky fans we’re walking in You know, you’ve pretty
much said it street that we’re looking at optimism, we’re
looking at a new team. But you still have those naysayers.
You still have those people that are down trodden. What
do you say to them?
Speaker 1 (05:37):
They’re always going to be there. There down is always
going to be there until things change. So you listen.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
We didn’t win a series last year until June first.
We want a series in Toronto to start the year
against the defending American League champs.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
It’s a good start. Just come out. We’re playing exciting baseball.
We’re going to play hard every.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Day for these fans and we’re looking forward to turn
things around.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
What is winning that series in due for this team?
I mean that for fans, just hearing their reaction seems
like a big confidence boost. Hey, we can go out,
we can compete with these teams that were, you know,
obviously a small sample size, but you took two of
three in Toronto.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Yeah, that’s a big deal, especially you know, we talk
about building culture and spring training. I mean, it’s all
it’s it’s a lot of talk, a lot of talk,
a lot of talk, and then you finally get to
play and then to immediately get results like that after
three tough games in Miami which put us behind the
eight ball. I mean, it’s huge for the guys to
see that they can do it. So, you know, it’s
(06:33):
just it’s just moving in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
I can’t say it enough.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer, we appreciate you joining us in
the booth this morning. Best of luck to everything. A
beautiful start to the Rockies home opener. Let’s let’s see
a win here.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Thanks, thanks for having me, appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Thank you,