Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - FlamesNation Barn Burner: Atlanta Braves Mike Soroka Live in Studio

Episode Date: January 31, 2023

Live from the Tower Chrysler Studios in Marda Loop! FlamesNation Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener Tuesday January 31st 2023 - Atlanta Braves Pitcher Mike Soroka in Studio - The Pinder Report Village Honda - Betway Bets of the Day Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

And away we go, Tuesday program here in the Tower, Chrysler Studios, Boomer and Pinder. What a show. What a show. No retro today. He is in Florida. And we believe... Wait a minute. We believe he's going to be on the ice at some point.

He's not on the ice today. There's Mark Prince. What's happening in retro? What's happening? Oh, it's beautiful down here, 81 degrees. We're in Pompano Beach. It's just lovely, lovely. You're a son of a bitch, eh?

That looks unbelievable. So is this a... Am I nice? Yeah, it is beautiful. Damn it. Is this a sanctioned NHL All-Star event, or are you venturing out on your own? This is an early start. There's some stuff on Fort Lauderdale Beach later tonight.

We're going to head over to the Wharfill. I'll have some lunch. Listen to you guys talk sports. Right. Get some insight from Seroca. It's going to be great. Yeah, it will be great. So how excited, I know, how excited are you for the whales rib?

When's the last time you were there? He's been talking about this forever. I know he has. Couple years now, I got to go have Turkey Key West or maybe a pastrami Key West, the lobster bisque. It's going to be deadly. He's so excited He's so excited

Oh, Rets. Is this like How was Jasper? Did you guys hurt yourselves? No. Wolverine did. We bludied one of the Oilers Nation guys. We cut his chin rate open

And Wolverine heavy concussion, but you know, he's kind of half-concussed all the time anyway, I don't know. Seems pretty normal. Straight out. Yeah. Third game, he decided not to wear a helmet kind of fell over,

conced his head, and he had that look. I don't know what concussed looks like, but it was the look. It's like, dude, are you okay? Yeah, yeah, I'm good. I'm good. You're fucking not good, dude. You're a guess. Left his stick right in the middle of the plane surface.

Like, dude, you're not okay. You're a disaster. Okay, well, we'll keep you just for another minute or two and then we'll let you go. Look at your big donkey kid behind you. God, is how tall is he? It's very tall. He's very. I got music going on.

Am I allowed to have music in the back? Yeah, sure. It's not my music. Okay, so today is Tuesday. when is the alumni game that you're taking part in? Tomorrow night at 8 p.m. Eastern, it's going to be heavily. It's hard to get tickets right now. Yeah, hard to get tickets.

Mostly because it's at the practice rink. Right. And they don't really have seats. That's probably good reason for it. Now, playing with Sunburn, I'm sure you've done this before. What are some of the keys and techniques that you'll be sharing with the other guys? Just lather up lots of, it's like going into a fight pinder. You've got to have lots of acylene.

the slides right off your face Well, it's good to see your copic It's good to know that everything's okay He's a great spirit, he's looking good You guys want to? That's Summerette right there You want me to flip the phone around And so you can see where I'm going?

Give us a little pan here. Yeah, give us a flip it sideways for starters. Yeah, sideways and then uh Okay. Yeah. Sideways is good. That's better. Yep.

Not that good. Much better. Yeah. Wow. man that looks good hey geez there's the shovelerina

hey family if you want in this is quite a gig he's got right we're leaving the beach we're leaving the beach area we're headed to to the rib

Wales rib is just across the street there I'll walk you guys over there okay anything going on in Calgary is there no shorts

it's pretty quiet right now that's the by week right? a bye week. There's still games being played, apparently. Winnipeg played or something last night. Yeah, Morrissey again, unbelievable. But

but no, we're... We're... Our full place tomorrow night. We're coping. Yeah, there's still games until tomorrow. Three today, two tomorrow and then into the break, I believe. Are people very excited for the All-Star game? I don't know. We got in late last night, so we're not...

It doesn't seem to be a lot of signage for the All-Star game around here. I think they're focused more in the Fort Lauderdale area, so we're a little bit north of that. So you being a big name Florida Panther alumni, did they fly the whole family out and room and meals is all taken care of? Or how does that work? Yeah, no per diem. No, they know how much I eat.

No per diem. They didn't fly the family. I had to fly everybody else. Oh, jeez. Damn kids cost money. Yeah. whole row. All right, here it is.

We're here, the world famous. Or at least the Rettster famous. Yeah. Wales rib. You know what? This is a, we've worked together for over a decade. This is a big thing.

I have heard more about the Whales Rib than any other restaurant in the world. Probably true. Yeah. And there it is. Wow. And it's very much Rett dive bar vibes. Look at this.

Coming in here with Brian Scroodland guys. License plates on the wall, flags. Look at that. Christmas lights. Big, is that a wall? You big walla. Up on the wall?

Oh, he's so happy. Yeah. Oh, yeah. We can't take any more time here. I'm trying to find a, there was a, Brian, there's a picture of us in here somewhere, but I don't know where it is.

Okay. Take a picture and send it to us if you find it. All right. You've been, you've been to the Wales, rib. I'll talk you later. Awesome. Enjoy it.

We got, will we get you tomorrow? Big game day, right? We'll get you tomorrow? Yeah, just before my pregame nap, I'll tune out. Awesome. Perfect. All right. See, buddy.

I need a, and you know what? I need a full list of what you're going to eat. I need the full list of what you're eating afterwards, because I know it's going to just be waves of food coming. So make sure you keep track. Yeah. There he is. See, yep. Thanks, Redd.

Retro down in Florida. Jealous. How can't you be? Yeah, how can't you be? Awesome. It's just it's summer there. That's not fair. Always.

Yeah, it was like minus 11 here or something. You know, heat up the truck before we take the turds to school. And there's kids on bicycles out there with short shorts. Come on. And you know who else is going to be down there? And you'll be jealous of him as Frank Sarah Valley, our NHL and sign. Soon enough, that's right. He was in Jasper, Edmonton, Philadelphia, and now is going to be going down to Florida.

Frank joins us here on the Tuesday edition. Look at this. This is a carousal of hot shot guests. today. Oh, well, I just need to fire up the DJ Pinder here. Just for our faithful viewers and listeners, this was my first extended run getting the Pinder experience. And I want to let you all know that it is exactly what you thought it might be. Exactly. Yeah, there's no exaggeration. What you hear on this show, do you guys really, yeah. It's exactly what happens.

It's not boring. It's high kicks. It's my commitment to you. It's dancing. It's never boring. It's a rave. It's a constant rave when you're around Pinder. Because I get the same remarks.

I will show stuff on social media or whatever. But he really is like that. Hey, I kind of thought maybe it was a bit. There's no off button. There's no bit whatsoever. I turned to Frank on the Friday and it was quite late. Maybe you're around two or something. And I'm like, hey, what's going on?

He's like, this is my place. I can't sleep till everyone leaves. Like, right. Okay, a little word to everyone and five, ten minutes we'd cleared out of there. Yeah. I was really hoping to find that video. I don't know where I saw it. I know I saw it.

But the jubilation for Frank after the wheel showed up at about 1.30 a.m. On Friday. Frank, Frank, Frank, Frank, Frank, Frank. As the camera pans to a tower of cheese pizza with Mr. Sarah Valley. You just saw our team photo and you saw the boiler. on this guy. So they're like you know that I was not an MVP of any sorts on the ice, but off the ice, I can order five pizzas at 105 in the morning. And look at this. Give them a passport. That's a Caesar, folks. That's a huge piece of beef jerky on it. Oh. That was a quality Caesar. Yeah.

It was a $20 Caesar. Probably worth it. But yeah, it depends on the exchange rate, I guess. I guess for you to be like, almost like giving it to you. So now you were free. Sunday we so Saturday we play three games in Jasper at the pond hockey Sunday we're supposed to play it's bitterly cold everyone leaves walk me through your Sunday Monday Tuesday where we talk to you now yeah it's been an adventure I'll tell you that and by the way I feel like you know I furthered my off-ice value by mentioning to Pinder on Saturday night it was like well it is supposed to be minus 25 tomorrow we're supposed to play each other in the championship game What do we just call this a gentleman's truce and get absolutely ripped tonight?

And Pinder did not require any sale on that thought whatsoever. There is no compete in that guy on the ice. But off the ice, he's like, that is a blinking green light. Yeah. Yeah, there was, are you really trying to convince me? Like, obviously I'm in. There's not a lot of arm twisting to get out of those Sunday games. But you had a brutal flight and the whole thing to get,

back to Philly. Yeah, it was a little bit of an adventure. I mean, I tried my best to avoid Air Canada, so I went through Denver, ended up with a 10-hour and 54-minute delay. What was supposed to be a lunchtime flight had suddenly turned into after many hours in the Denver airport, including a nice little meal at United's expense at the L-Ways Steakhouse, turned into a red eye. And so red-eye get to my door at five of six this morning and here I am talking to you guys because there's a lot happening. We had the number one player on our trade targets board traded yesterday. So there's a lot to think about and talk about. Let's get right to it. Bo Horvatt leaves Vancouver, goes to the New York Islanders. I'll have you kind of describe the package because I think a lot of people were maybe

underwhelmed, maybe the wrong to be underwhelmed. And I guess my overarching question is we're We're a month out. Could there not have been more value? Are they smart to deal him now? Just your thoughts on the timing and the return for Vancouver. Yeah, I think the timing is really interesting because I had the same question. And I think a big motivating factor for the Canucks here was the idea of really having a clean break during this biweek and all-star break. And you think about the near constant drama that surrounded this team since training camp, whether it was Bruce Boudreau and

his underwear flying on a flagpole outside of the arena for the bulk of the season. The complaints against the team off the ice, both in family court with Francesco Ackalini, their owner, and in the human rights tribunal with one of their employees in Rachel Dohery, to the J.T. Miller drama, and why did you sign this guy first? Bo Horvatt has been waiting for a while. What's going to happen there? You know, it's been one thing, the Ilya McKay of injury last year playing on a torn ACL. It's been one thing after the other with this soap opera. And now to get a clean break, I think there's a real value in that. But I think the question that I would ask is, would you have prolonged that drama for another three to four weeks to ensure

a better return? Here's the bottom line. The Canucks and their GM and Patrick Alvin has made his bones in the scouting world. So clearly getting Atu Ratu, he's, He's someone that, you know, as a second round pick, they clearly are a big believer in. He's 20 years old and so a nice future piece. They get that first round pick that's top 12 protected this year. Next year, if the pick doesn't convert, next year it slides and it's unprotected. So that certainly is something to look forward to from a Canucks perspective. They're going to be watching the Islanders closely.

But when I talk to talent evaluators around the league, they size this up and say this is a limited upside deal for the Canucks. They say, when you look at Bo Villiers and Ratu, they believe their ceiling is as third-line players. Clearly, the Canucks don't necessarily see it that way. But if it is two third-line players and a first-round pick, even in a good draft year, is that enough for Bo Horvatt, who they also retain 25% on, to get for your captain who's had a 31-goal magical season?

I kind of understand it more from the Islander's perspective. You may not agree with it and think that the Islanders are a good team, but they're in a spot where they've got the goalie. They struggle to score goals, so they add one of the premier goal scorers this season, and he can clearly help on their power play. Obviously, an extension is coming. I was speaking to people with knowledge of Lou Lamarillo's perspective on the deal, this would not have happened if they did not have a strong sense that an extension would be possible and likely. So expect that in the coming hours and or days. Really? And now the Islanders are thinking,

hey, we're going to roll the dice here and see if we can get in the playoffs and make our team stronger. Okay, so, I mean, I kind of don't get it for both teams. Like, to your point of Vancouver, you probably could get a little more if you waited. And we don't really know how good this package is until we see where that pick is.

If it's 12 next year or 13 this year, it could be number one next year. We don't know those things. So it's tough to evaluate that. That'll take time. Islanders to me are older than they want to be and not in the playoff position they want to be. If they extend them to the type of money

he's going to take to sign Bohorovat coming off this deal, this feels like a team that's already old that's committing a lot of money to a guy into his mid-30s again, and they already have centers like Barzell, Nelson, Pajos, Zizekis. They didn't need a center, did they? No, I kind of thought they needed a winger to play with Barzell that could just put the puck in the net.

Barzell, one of the premier playmakers in the game, has one assist in his last 12. The Islanders have, I think, scored more than two goals in a game one time in their last 11. Like, it's their offense has really struggled. And to your point, an older team that is not just older, but also has a ton of term committed. A lot of their guys aren't going anywhere. So if you plug in Bo Horvatt, my expectation is going to be somewhere in the eight times eight neighborhood that you're essentially not just doubling down from your summer with very few moves, but now tripling down on this roster.

And I think their big bet is not just on Horvath, but it's actually on Ilya Sorokin and Net thinking if we're able to get in, we've got the goalie that can carry us there and do the damage necessary in the playoffs. But the Islanders, it's been a full sell mortgage the future. That's essentially where they're at because they haven't picked in the first round since 2019. They're obviously not going to be picking there most likely this year. So they're in a spot where they're just absolutely banking on getting in and doing some damage, not just this year, but the next few.

Clearly, Lou Lamarillo believes that this team is better than what it has shown to this point. So obviously the sale is on in Vancouver. That will continue. Who are the other names on your board? Who else do you expect to go? And is Beauvilliers maybe in that group? Is there a chance that he is jettisoned out before the third as well? unlikely because I think the islanders had been trying to move Beauvilliers for a while and had not been able to do so.

And so that's where the cap complication actually gets a little bit more interesting for me from Vancouver's perspective. They take on Bovillier and they just signed Coos Menko. That's another 10 million bucks committed to next year's cap for more wingers. So what does that do? It puts the focus squarely on Brock Besser and Connor Garland, I believe, in the next 32 days leading up to the trade deadline that they're in a spot where I'd imagine talks will be picking up in a significant way on Brock Besser and Connor Garland. And so elsewhere around the league, will we see any more trades before the actual All-Star break itself? My guess is probably not, but I do have

a sneaking suspicion, keep your eye on this, that the St. Louis Blues are up to something I think their GM and Doug Armstrong is getting pretty antsy. May not be Ryan O'Reilly or Vladimir Tarasenko out of the shoot, but I know they've been in some discussions about Ivan Barbashev, Nico Mikala, as well as Noel Achari. So keep your eye on the St. Louis Blues because they have been working hard behind the scenes to try and shake up their core. And so to be clear, that's the Blues selling ahead of the deadline, not trying to bolster their lineup like the Islanders did in a similar spot.

That's exactly right. It's so interesting to see one team that actually probably has a better core and future when you consider Thomas and Cairo, et cetera, certainly much younger, but maybe the one piece missing in that equation, Pinder, is the netminder. Yeah, fair. Blue's lost their fifth straight last night. Blue a two-nothing lead early against Winnipeg.

So Horvatt is off the board. Who missed out on Bo Horvad? Which of the teams, I know there was a lot of talk about Boston, but as you see it, who really could have used Bo Horvad in the legitimate push this year? Yeah, I really think it was Boston. I think there were other teams in on Horvatt that are non-playoff teams. Like I think Columbus probably would have offered a similar package back.

Maybe someone like Jack Roslovick would have been in the deal for Vancouver. But in this case, I just think of the idea of having this team that's been so almost perfect this year in Boston, although they've lost three straight, are in a spot where they can really make. magic happen this is a team with last dance vibes um and you can see the torch being passed from patrice burseron and david cracci right to beau horvatt you re-sign david pasternac that's getting a lot closer my guess is that deal starts with a 12 and you're in a spot where you know you can yeah have a chance to win now and increase your chances by adding someone like horvatt and then you keep that championship window open next season with Horvatt, Pasternak,

Lindholm on the back end, McAvoy, O-Mark's been great in net. You can see the Bruins remaining really good for a long time, even after Bergeron and Creachy decide to hang up their skates. So that to me was the one team that maybe they didn't necessarily have the assets. That's the one thing about this Canucks perspective is that they wanted current NHL-ready players that they can plug into their lineup, even though Ratu is going to Abbotsford. Bovillier was someone that they want to plug in because they want to retool, not rebuild. And so maybe they kind of get the best of both worlds as well with that first round pick.

Where's Carolina at now that Max Patcheretti is out again? It felt like that was going to be that one deadline ad that they didn't need to worry about because there he was. And now he's out for the rest of the season. Long term, we can worry about that later. But the hurricanes, tops and the metro, where are they sitting right now? Yeah, I believe, by the way, Patiretti had surgery on that Achilles last week in Finland, which is interesting. Where are they at? They are in a spot where I thought Horvatt would have been a fit there.

They're in desperate need of a second-line center. Stasney has filled in admirably there. Gisperi caught Kenyemi, despite the eight-year deal at $30-plus million, has not panned out to this point. he is not a championship caliber 2C. And so that's where I thought Horvatt could have slotted in. They clearly had discussions, but they're in a spot where, again, the Canucks want roster players.

Who are you plucking from that team? And the Canucks aren't giving up their very top prospects to make something like this happen. So they're not giving up Seth Jarvis or Netchash or any of these other guys that Vancouver certainly would have been interested in. And so maybe not so much to play with heading back and return to Vancouver. And that is where I think their focus is going to remain on that second line center. I think they've been vaguely linked to Tim O'Meyer.

I don't necessarily see it. And today we have our deadline countdown series continuing on daily faceoff.com profiling Patrick Kane today. And so Kane, everyone's been linking just a side note here. everyone's been linking Kane to the Rangers. The Rangers number one target is Timo Myers. So not Patrick Kane at this point. I'm going to be fascinated to see how that plays out with Patrick Kane. What do the abs do at center?

They lost Cadry and I don't know that you're going to hang a banner if it's Comfer or New Hook or Rodriguez as a second line center. I sort of thought they should have been in the BohoreVat market. They also have all three of their next three first rounders. I thought they'd be more depleted than that. Yeah, they do have draft capital. I would imagine that the Colorado avalanche are going to be at least pursuing a conversation with Jonathan Taves when the time is right, because he just makes perfect sense. You know, it's not just the championship pedigree, but I think if you're Taves and the ability or opportunity to join a team like that that now has found itself again as they begin to get healthy, that was always the danger if you were one of those wild card teams trying to get in is the abs could clearly rip off.

12 straight wins and no one would blink. Now, with Taves, you know, maybe that, a chance to go there gives you a shot in the arm that rejuvenates your play a little bit because to this point in the season, he started off pretty hot scoring-wise, but has really fallen off in a big way. You see his body language, the frustration, it hasn't looked good. I think he's ready to go, but I think he wants to go to a place where he has an authentic chance to win, and I think Colorado, no doubt, is that. The key is how interested are the abs?

But I think on paper, if you think that you're getting a guy in Jonathan Taves who was, you know, anywhere close to the 2015 version, well, then you've got yourself a home run. I guess just a couple of things. Are the Cracken? Are they, I would not have guessed we'd be here at the All Star break. No, I don't know what Vegas does, but there's the Cracken. Tops in the Pacific, 63 points. You said it a while ago. They're a playoff team.

Get ready. I didn't think they'd be leading this division by any strength of the imagination. Do you still preach patience if you're on, Francis, we're a young team, we're building, or do you look at it? We didn't build our team traditionally, or in the traditional sense of an expansion team. We brought in some older players. We have a roster, why wouldn't we add now? You talk about draft capital.

I would think they've got it out the yinger. Are they a legit threat to add here at the deadline? I think they're a legit threat to add. I just don't see them being a threat in the rental market. I don't know that it makes sense to be throwing those assets around to get a 12-week run with someone. You're probably going to want a player with term or someone that you believe you can resign in the short order. So I would think that's their focus. Ron Francis is generally pretty conservative in that stance.

And I think the other part to look at is, would you make a move for? for a goalie. I mean, that's the real thing to me, I think, for a team that I like the Cracken, and I think their story has been incredible this year. I think they've also been incredibly lucky. If you take a look at their shooting percentages, they've got Guy, like they've got Jared McCann shooting 24% from the field. A lot of it is not sustainable.

It's been a magical year. They've been able to score like no one's business. But I think they really still need help in net. Martin Jones has steadied them, but he's not a long-term answer and or a playoff answer. So between the Cracken and the Kings, could they be perusing the goalie market? That's where my attention would be if I was Ron Francis would be to get that position right. Get it right, not just for now, but get it right for the future. And whatever you need to do with Gru Bauer and the other mistakes that you've made in your

expansion draft process, well, then you need to sort those out. Last one for me, flames are 50 games in. I know on daily faceoff.com, you've trotted out a few names that potentially could be fits. Not to say that you're necessarily hearing that, but who are some players that could be on the move that might fit a role in Calgary. So two things there. Names that you think could be potentially on Brad Tre Living's radar. And secondly, 50 games and still nothing as far as clarity, it seems, on Oliver Shillington. Do you expect the flames will get any kind of clarity? How long does that play out?

And do you have anything, I guess, on the Schillington situation as we're now heading into the month of February? During my hours in the Denver airport yesterday, I did revisit the Schillington situation. And I was told nothing new, but a decision is forthcoming. I think each day that this lingers on and he's not on a plane back to Calgary from Sweden, that it's less and less likely that Schillington will be rejoining. team though nothing is official just yet i expect that's the way that it's heading and it is january 31st i told you that the flames wanted to get an answer by the end of the month and so i'd expect news on that soon um and again not looking good but 50 games in i think the larger

question is who are the flames you know i look at this team and as you watch the standings change on a daily basis. I figured the flames would get it together at some point. It hasn't happened yet. It's been in fits and starts. And I just, I don't know how good this team is. I really don't. And I think the question is, how big of a swing do you want to take if you're

Brad True Living after already taking a bunch in the off season? You know, you might say that that means that you're pot committed and need to go big and do something. From a name perspective, it's pretty simple. You know, the first top objective and priority, as I mentioned, was getting Shillington, getting an answer. You're going to have two and a half additional million dollars in cap space to play with. You've got some already.

So they can use that to their advantage. It's a scoring winger and potentially or preferably with speed. I think the blues and first. Flames have had some conversation. I can't put my finger yet, whether it's on Tarasenko or whether it's on Barbashev. I think either one of those would be interesting fits and reminder that Tarasenko has the full no trade and no move. So he will only go anywhere if he okays it. I don't know how he feels about Calgary.

But I do think there's something going on there that would make sense to keep an eye on moving forward. forward. Yeah. Excuse me. And I was under the impression that in the off season, that Calgary was not something he was keen on. Maybe that changes to the deadline when it's only a few months. But, yeah, I would be holding my breath on that.

Barboshev, I think, is really interesting because I don't think it's going to cost a ton. And I'd give him a pretty long run over the rest of this season to see if you can find something. I think the big question with him is his compete. It wavers from game to game. Obviously, that's not something that's going to sit well with Darrell Sutter, but the skill is there. This is a 26 goal scorer or something like that, 60 points last year. Like, he's really struggled this year, but there's clearly some talent there in Ivan Barbersheb. If you can drag the compete out of him, 26 goals, 60 points last year.

Not nothing. I was going to text Alex here. Alex, do we have the video from yesterday, the video of, Tyler Yeremchuk getting the puck in the chin. Here, look at this. So there are two things to watch here, Frank. There's the puck it comes up and hits Tyler. There is also the, you can see, there's Frank Sarajevoly and the oiler colored shirt,

sweater, white helmet. Really watch the level of concern for Tyler from Frank Sarajevelli as this plays out. So he's coming in. A lot of the other team kind of come over. Oh, are you all right? And here comes Frank. Yeah, I'm good. Yeah, fuck it.

He's fine. I turned around when he said, I'm good. And just for the record, the guy that made the pass and all of our bosses right there in the ski goggles, I made it further than him. That's true. And considering that I needed some AED paddles likely to get through the weekend, I think I deserve some credit for that, that I made it further than the guy who actually threw the rocket, which Pinder deflected into his face. Well, he can't be trying that nonsense against us. Part of the game playing. That's right. Frank, safe travels to Florida.

Say hi to Rhett if you see him down there. He's eating lobster bisk as we speak. I'm going to the whale's rib. I'm going to find Rhett, and we are going to have a night. Nice. I look forward to the details. Safe travels, buddy. Good to talk to you.

See, guys. Frank Cerrovelli, NHL Insider. We're going to take just a break here. We're going to get set up here in studio. Our guest is here. Mike Soroka, Atlanta, Brave. Calgary Kid. Getting ready for a big year. Big interview coming up.

It's Barnburner. Coming right back. Stay there. And back here in the Tower, Chrysler Studios in Mardaloupe, boomer along with Ryan Pinder, Barnburner on a Tuesday. I did get a red update.

He was a big order coming. He sent the photo of a wave runner beverage. It's called the Wave Runner. Okay. Then some smoked fish dip and lobster bisque. So really just starting to have lost lobster bisque. I feel like he's just warming up here.

He's going to say he's really just, just dipping a toe in here. Yeah. He's going to put on a clinic. He's happy. You can see that joy in his face. I don't know that I've seen him look like that since he played. No question.

Pinda report coming up in a little bit for Village Honda, but pleased to be joined. It seems we're in January. It always kind of shocks me anyway. It's pitchers and catchers reporting. It's very quick. It's like, what the hell are we talking about? Baseball, we're talking baseball.

But I guess it takes some time for these pitchers to get themselves in order. And our next guest, he's going to be getting on a plane and heading off. He's at the bar right now. He's at the bar? Mikey. He's at the pub right now. There's Mike Soroka. I don't think that's on brand.

I think he's a well-behaved young man. Not quite yet. Not yet. Not yet. Hey, man, good to see you. Good to see you guys. Thanks for having me on. Yeah.

So we had you in, like early. You were the first guest, I think. I feel like it was late October or early November, something like that. Then you had some stuff going on. You were doing some things. Then you'd be back. So what have you been up to both work and play since we saw you back in October? Yeah, mostly training.

It's been a wild few months here. I kind of came home with an injury that we expected to calm down. And, you know, it didn't quite go as quickly as we thought it was going to. So we just cramling a little bit, a little bit. But I got to throw in it. in December, which was a little later than I had hoped. I'd hoped to kind of get going quite a bit earlier and, you know, get a lot of good work in and then maybe even have a chance to see what the Braves thought

about me joining the WBC. But I got home, got going a little late. So that unfortunately won't happen this year. What is that process like? You mentioned the world baseball, is it classic, I believe? Yep. You know, to play for Canada would be cool, but also, you know, your job that you get paid for is with the Braves.

And, you know, we've talked about it. It's been a wild two-year roller coaster. I'm sure they want to do as much as they can to bubble wrap you, but they also understand you'd want to play for Team Canada. The GM's a Canadian, Alex Enthopoulos. How does that work? Yeah, I mean, obviously any players, you know, they'd like to keep them in camp. They understand it with some, with healthy track records and everything like that,

that there's really not much they can do, right? Because, you know, you want to go represent your country or, you know, pay homage to relatives in other countries. You know, a lot of guys do that with Freddie Freeman doing that for, Canada and stuff like that. But, you know, with starting pitch is a little different, too, because you've got to build up, which basically requires us to get going about a month earlier. And me not having a complete season since 2019 could make for a long year, you know, which was I was okay with at first. You know, I had a lot of work to do. So getting going early would

have been the key. And we just didn't get to do that. So, you know, it's definitely the point where I understand when the Braves and Alex, we talk about it, and it's just not the right time, but hopefully next time I'm there. I'm kind of fascinated by pitchers and their bodies and reacting to what their body is telling them. I have elbow tightness, or I have soreness in my elbow. So is it just sore today?

Is it a thing? Do I just work through it? Do I leave it? How do you possibly know? I mean, sometimes I guess if it's really sore you know, But if it's like, gee, it's kind of tight today. Yep. So what's the next step in that process?

Yeah, that's actually a great question because I talk to people about it all the time. They talk about, you know, obviously hockey guys are going out there with split faces. Rob some dirt on it, play through it. Yeah, yeah. But the thing is you don't need a upper lip to go play hockey, right? You don't need to play baseball if that happen in baseball. I'm sure it wouldn't be too much different. And the whole reentry thing with baseball doesn't do us any good either.

You can't take a guy out of the game for one inning and then put it back in until he gets fixed up. but with an elbow and stuff like that, it's tough because we do play through so much, so much that affects, you know, guys go out there with, you know, tight low back that, you know, they can't quite get through a change-up or a breaking ball, but they can compete, stuff like that. Blisters, right. Yeah, blisters are a tough one too because I said the same thing.

I was like, if you took a cheese grater to your fingers, like I've seen some nerly ones where I'm like there's no way you're throwing a baseball with course seams, no chance. Not at an MLB caliber at least. You might be able to massage one over, but, I mean, it's just not. happening. So I think that's when it kind of crosses a line to where you're definitely out there at a significant disadvantage and you're not bouncing back. You know, I always found, you know, you're going to be sore the day after you make a start, you throw 100 pitches, six, seven innings.

You're going to be sore. But does that soreness last until the next start? That's kind of where once it's bleeding over to the next start and the next start and the next start and you feel like you're on a steep decline. That's usually your little notice to say, all right. And yeah, they'll release it the media is elbow tightness. Yeah. Because inflammation. You know, it's not a lie. It's what it is. It's just, you know, we don't know exactly what's going on yet. And sometimes two weeks, four weeks, six weeks, calm down. And then you've got to build up again, right? So tell us about building up. That's a term we hear all the time. And I think we kind of understand it, but from someone

whose arm is being built up, like, where are you now? What is it like when you're at the end of your offseason before you start training? And where do you want to be on opening day or even mid-season. Yeah, so I've thrown a few bullpens now, which is at a great point, it's usually, you know, you typically about four to six weeks until you get to bullpens even. And the tough part is that you're used to working at such a high level that if you jump right into it, that's, you know, could spell disaster for your shoulder after not thrown for how many weeks. And ideally, you go into the off-season healthy and you can kind of keep throwing a little bit. You know, if it's three times a week just to keep it going.

that would be helpful, and then you wouldn't have to build up quite as much. But we talk about volume. Like, I mean, spring training is basically for the starting pitchers. If you ask most hitters, they'll probably tell you, I really only need a couple weeks of at-bats to be game-ready. Relievers, same sort of thing. They need a few appearances. They got two pitches.

They only have to throw, hopefully, 10 to 15 pitches an inning. But for us, we've got to be there and we throw live BP early February, and then, you know, hopefully you're in a couple innings by early March, and every time you go out, you go one more. Can you in more detail, like more specifically? So you are going, what's the date? You get down there in about a week. I think of an 11th thing going down.

Yeah. So you land, it's day one, you get set up. We'll talk about that coming up. But then day one to two, it feels like of the 24 hours that are in a day, what is it you're doing at the facility for those 24 hours? Because it feels like they really do kind of ease you in, as you said. So hitters need a couple weeks.

Pitchers not the same. Yeah. When we get there, it's pretty quiet still. It's pretty chill when we get there with the catchers. And there are a lot of guys that are there early just kind of hanging out. But nothing super structured until the entire team's there. But a lot of it is, you know, strength staff, coaching staff, catching up with guys, finding out what the plan is.

You have your meetings with analytics staffs. You do your physicals. Make sure you're not broken. and stuff like that. They want to get that out of the way early in camp and kind of get off on a good start. But I think, I mean, it's probably two weeks in, and that's when we start doing team fundamentals.

And we go through all the stuff, bunt defenses and bunt plays and pick-off plays, stuff that you really only use once the playoffs comes in. Is it boring? Like, Scott, you're telling you're boring, right? Sometimes, sometimes. But, I mean, the way they've kind of approached it now and the way it used to be was that we're going to do it,

we're going to beat it to death. but now it's we're going to do it right. We're going to make sure everybody's focused and we get this done here now. And that way we don't have to keep hammering it instead of just being out there all day. But, you know, they've really made spring training a lot more efficient even since I've been in. We used to be there. Like my first big league camp was rookies shouldn't be there any later than about six in the morning. You know, that's kind of where it was.

And even if you had nothing to do until team takes the field at eight. but now it's a little more like, okay, practice 10, 10 o'clock. It's, you know, get there, have breakfast, maybe get a lift in. And, you know, they've split up all the pitchers so we don't have 45 pitchers taking pitching fielding practice at once, fielding bunts and stuff like that. We split it up, so there's groups of five, six, and we get to kind of motor through. Yeah. It's a lot more efficient than it used to be.

I know last time we had, because it was October, we were like, so what's saying of the contract and this is a little uncertainty, somebody, avoided arbitration. I don't know if you saw that. Somebody got it to get them to the clay. They know what they got. And were you happy to get that done? Yep.

You avoid arbitration and just, okay, let's just go. Yeah, so I went to Arb the first year. So my first year, and that ended up setting the stage for my next two, right? Because I didn't ever play. So obviously the way it works is if they want to keep you and keep your contract and keep your rights, then they have to kind of give you what they did the year before. So thankfully my ARP team did a good job. We won that one.

So that's paid off for me. Because there could be, you never know, right? Because you had, like you said, you hadn't played. There could be a chance where they're not going to. 2.8 million is what I believe the number. What's the 2.8 million? I believe that's an American dollar. A 2.8 million for those of you keeping scored.

They could decide maybe we are going to take this money and do something else with it. But I had the quote, Alex Anthopoulos, Seroca, quote, will be a stud again. quote. That's what we've been saying. I'm glad he's listening to us. I mean, I don't know what the hell if we know what we're talking about, but we felt that way for a while. Sure, we did. Yeah. That feels good, right? Absolutely. You know, I'll always say like Alex, Alex has supported me through this entire process. He was one of the best calls I had when I re-ruptured my Achilles. And, you know, I was kind of in a place where I didn't know, I didn't know of anybody that had done that. And,

you know, I'm sure you guys mentioned Patcher Ready and stuff like that coming up. But, yeah, he was one of the best calls that basically told me like, look, you know, we've talked to the doctors and everything and, you know, Jake Berger running with the White Sox, he's, he's back and playing and he's done it twice. And, you know, if he can do it, you can do it. And that was the main thing. And now, you know, fast forward to this last summer when he allowed me to go work with Bob Kyes down to Utah with mechanics and stuff like that, see a biomechanist and figure out how to give myself a better chance to stay on the field. He was all behind that. And, you know, he's, you know, he's supported me the whole way. So, you know, it does feel really good to see that and hear him say that

because, you know, I'm giving everything I got on the backside to get going again. So, the goal is to come back and stay out there. After we had Mike on, because I know you guys with Red, you kind of got into it, Red's really, he's kind of into that sort of stuff, whatever kind of treatment and just the medical field. Sports medicine stuff, right? It was some real cutting edge stuff. Yeah, we actually got some reaction about just the state of sports medicine and all of that. That is like witch doctor, yo. Is there they got smoking sticks and what are they doing some voodoo stuff or what? Like, do you, was there any part of that was kind of like you're looking at it sideways?

Okay, if you say, we'll try it. We'll try it. Was it ever kind of in your mind that I don't know what we're doing here? This is my body. I need this. We need to do a little more research or were you good? You mean as far as like? Just all the, like you said, going to Utah and just, because there's, there's a lot of, it's not like you're just doing stretches anymore with tensor bandages and it's a little different.

Yeah. So the group I work with, we talked about it a little bit last time with their evil ultra fit is their outfit out of Phoenix. And ironically enough, you mentioned K's and Tane. They've both been to work with them for a long time. And, you know, they're a little more prevalent in hockey and have been for a little while. but kind of bleed into some other sports. And, you know, they're kind of a group that you don't really get to until you've had a bunch of problems and you feel like, you know, this is what I need. You know, I've seen some pretty incredible things the last year or so that I've been with them.

And it basically revolves on working more efficiently. It's training your body how to turn off and on and be able to recover itself. Like it's not, like you said, a lot of people, when you explain it, it's like, oh, yeah, they're doing voodoo stuff. Like what is this? Does it really working? When you get down to the principles of it, it actually makes a lot of sense. And it is off of some older principles. You know, Jay Schroeder, you know, he went over to the Eastern Europe on his own journey in rehab. He was paralyzed and kind of went over there and they got him back walking again.

And he kind of took off with that. So, you know, there's some concepts that are a little different. But, you know, once you understand and get there, it makes a lot of sense. And it took a minute to grasp a lot of it and okay, why am I doing this? But every time it gets explained, it's like, yep, you know, I need to be at my strongest at these wild positions. Like I'm sure we could pull up some positions of guys in when they're throwing when their elbows, you know, in front and their hands way behind.

You know, it doesn't look like it should happen. And, you know, the strain you're actually putting to throw ball 95 miles an hour. You need things working efficiently, right? So that comes down to just how my body's working, how my body's working, and how my muscles are opening up. But, you know, biomechanically, that's what we went to look at and found that, yeah, I was making a lot of things a lot harder than they should have been for myself

in some places that I wasn't getting to anymore. Went back to old videos of high school. I actually threw quite a bit cleaner back then and even early years in pro ball than the last couple, and that's really when injuries started to pile up for me. So that was kind of a cool thing, and that's something that I've talked about with that Alex Anthopoulopoul,

as well. And I think that's another reason why he's confident that, you know, we got it off the tracks a little bit, but we're on our way back on. And so this sets the stage for a big spring training for you. We know the last time you were healthy for a season. It was incredibly impactful. You got some young votes. This was incredible stuff. Whereas the Braves aren't a middle of the pack, lower third team that it's like, hey, we're happy to bring guys back. They are loaded up, especially with starters. Like where do you see battle lines and what do you need to prove this spring? Because, you know, you've been very open about it.

Like you haven't contributed the last two years of the club and there's guys that have and they've backfilled understanding that there's a chance, you know, this guy that hasn't been healthy isn't healthy. How do you approach this spring and what's at stake? Yeah, I think approaching it as a job to compete is number one. But tempering expectations is also going to be really important for, you know, competing. I think I get back out. there and you know expect everything to be absolutely perfect and pristine is is going to be asking a

little much and it's just going to be taking it down day by day right like you said you show up day one let's get that out of the way and get that first bullpen going so once once all the eyes are on you officially that watch all the work that you've put in over the off season they haven't seen you that's going to be number one for me and kind of setting the stage going forward but yeah I think there's There's one, maybe two spots in the rotation that are up for grabs because of, you know, potentially a six-man out of spring training. But yeah, no, I mean, we've had some incredible pitching over the last couple of years. We've had some guys really step up.

Obviously, Charlie Morton, who's 38-year-old Adonis, he's still cruising. And, you know, that was another one. He's been huge for a lot of us, huge for Freed in the rotation as well. And Spencer Strider coming up and doing what he did and then signing extension. There's some guys that are planted in the rotation. So at the end of the day, we all know that competition brings out the best in everybody. And, you know, whether it happens or not, that's something that is out of my control. What I can control is going out there and continuing on the work that I've done and kind of trying to not necessarily show it off, but put the head down and, you know, keep that fire down lower, if that makes sense.

Sure. Are you and your roommate fighting for the same job? I'm led to believe that you have a good buddy, he's your roommate, but yet this could be your stiffest competition for a spot in the rotation. Yeah, pretty well. So Ian Anderson, who's actually a big Rangers fan, by the way. He's him and I have lived together for the last few spring trainings, and he's got a place down in Northport and lets me kind of shack up with him

for those six weeks. So, yeah, he's been my best friend the last few years. and it's kind of a tough thing because we both know that we've been there before, right? We've both had success in the big leagues, and he's had some incredible success in the playoffs. You know, statistically, I think in that sample size, at least, he's one of the best Braves starters ever in the playoffs. That's saying something, which is pretty wild. You know, we've both had some really good times in the big leagues, and now it's about showing that we can do it again.

And again, I think, you know, it's not out of the question that if both of us are there and both looking really good, I think they might do a six-man because they wouldn't feel like that six-man is, you know, really a step down from getting back to the number one guy. So, yeah, a lot of that's out of our control. We're both fairly mature, I think, to be able to, you know, go do what we need to do. And, you know, we wish each other the best also. And we understand that if we're both competing, you know, you know, you know. need more than five starters in a season. So if one of us or both of us end up in AAA to start the year,

keep going and, you know, it'll all pan out. Or you could just, was it like Lloyd putting Harry's hot chocolate with their little turbo lax? Yeah, yeah. Oh, you're starting today. Oh, yeah, put a little X lax in your, in your protein shake. Oh, she's got the shits. Can't go today.

That's a shame. Soroka, you're in. All right, sounds good, yeah. It's a little sabotage. I'm just saying, I know you wouldn't be the guy, but it could be an option. We've talked about just the maturity that we've seen you, just the evolution in you as a man and as an adult and obviously as an athlete. I think that that, how steep a learning curve is that?

How shocked would we be, I think, that with that maturity and part of being mature is controlling pretty much every aspect of your life. It's sleep, it's diet, its activities away from the way. the ballpark, away from the facility. Everything you do, I think there's scrutiny on what you're doing. 24-7 all year-round. It's pretty much a year-round thing now for you, isn't it? Oh, yeah. Yeah, it has to be. You know, it's always been, you have a chance in the off-season to go out and get better and show up to spring training, the better, you know, a better player than you left the year before. You know, we heard it from all the grades. I know, Max Scherzer said it pretty vocally that if he's not getting better, you know, somebody's going to catch up and pass him. And, you know, it's, it's, there's

truth to why he's been able to do what he's done late in his 30s and Verlander, same sort of thing. Now we're seeing 40-year-old's making 43-milly year in, in Major League Baseball. So, yeah, it's, it's a small window when you think about what you're able to show. And, again, like, you know, just me being able to show to Alex that I'd taken this as seriously as I possibly can. And, and, You know, it gives people a reason to fight for you. I think is another reason, you know, it's a no-brainer to go do the little things like sleep properly and eat properly and keep training and train the right way. I think that's something that I've learned over the last couple of years especially was that,

you know, what got me there isn't necessarily what's going to keep me there. I had to change things up a little bit, and that's why I'm working with this group, you know, for health purposes as opposed to let me just get big and strong, even though I only need to throw a five-ounce base. baseball. So I think, you know, there's just so many things to learn in this game. And it's a constant learning curve talking to guys like, you know, Charlie Morton, who said, you know, took him 10 years to figure out how to throw and not hurt, you know, and then shortly after that performance came along and then he's in Houston having a breakout year at 34. But obviously somebody kept saying, you know,

Charlie, I believe that this guy is going to find it one day. And, you know, I want to be that guy. So that's kind of a no-brainer. And, you know, I got to time to go sit at the at the beach in Florida at Rett's restaurant there. Yeah, yeah. I got time to do that in retirement. So, you know, we can do that later. Well, and if I may, if you want to see discipline, how about Montreal only comes to town once.

We got a big flames fan here. We go to the game. I was going to say, you know, meeting up with my Lugan idiot friends and brother and not nary a sip, nary an ounce of alcohol. Never mind. Like, this was, I'm like, dude, it was months away. And then you do you. that's discipline right there.

You're not having a sip with me at a pub before the game. I was going to say, though, didn't his one outing with you end up with him being sick? He did end up puking, but I don't think, I think he was blaming that on a bad shwormon. It wasn't alcohol. There's none in took or taken in, I should say. Part of the maturity process is to avoid him at all costs. Because again, even when you're trying your best and you're making the right choices, things go sideways. What happened that night?

Yeah, so I go to the Jerusalem. show them show them on 85th street every day or i mean three three four times a week they see me all the time they love me there um i ventured out i won't say which one but i tried a different one and ended up in bad shape i was like every i had i had two meals after that chawarma and had to do it because i was training i was like i need i need fuel i need to go kind of tasted like blue cheese i i knew something wasn't good for a while but i was like i can keep it down i can keep down i had a nice big burger with Pinder and honestly I almost wish I hadn't had something to drink because it might have kind of accelerated the process a little bit but I had to dip in the third I was like man I feel so

bad it's just his orbit no it's just whenever you're in his orbit you would love it it was classic so we're sitting and of course the happens to be the suite right behind us someone was like pender get up in there so by the second period we're in the suite and I'm like Mike if you have to leave like buddies in a suite you're not leaving me alone here you're all good Don't puke at the dome in the attendance of 18,000 others. Go puke at your own at home. If you're not feeling good, get out of here. Major League pitcher has seen puking at a hockey rink.

TMZ.com with the story. The worst part was that the box was the Scotia box. My girlfriend works for Scotia. Her bosses were in there. Had I had to use that box, she would have been in trouble too. That wouldn't have been a good night. Small world. That was so funny. Not ideal.

You mentioned Verlander. and earlier on you talked about just how violent in some ways throwing a fastball is, you're just everything, groin, arm, back, the whole thing. You watch guys do it. I just remember Tim Linscom watching him pitch. I don't know how, right? Like just so violent, so aggressive.

And then you see guys like Verlander doing it so late in their career. I don't know what I would be looking for. I think we all know a nice, a sweet swing when we see it or a great defensive play by your shortstop. Who do you look at, whether it's stride length or delivery? Who are some of the pitchers for you as a pitcher? They're like, man, that's a nice, that's a sweet pitch. Well, and the word you used was efficient.

Like, who's a pitcher? You're like, no, that's an efficient move, but that's a guy that isn't going to have his body break on him. So the ironic part is it's pretty easy to kind of dwindle down that list. And this is where Bob Kyes, the biobeckiness that I went to see, He's got a 35-year database of, you know, motion captures and, you know, handmade mechanical data. And a book, basically, he's got just got a book came out.

And they have the data to show you exactly what parts are most efficient, least efficient of your mechanics, everybody's mechanics, right back all the way to Nolan Ryan, right? So the ironic part is that the guys that threw real hard and stayed healthy for a long time, were also the most efficient in baseball. And some of them did it, you know, a little more naturally, but then there's some that kind of figured it out late. You know, when he kind of boils it down for you

and shows you that Randy Johnson and Greg Maddox actually threw pretty similarly is pretty wild. You know, they do a lot of things. Different guys. Very, very different bodies, very different repertoires. But a lot of positions that they got into at the right time and the right place and were efficient and did it so well

for a reason. Yes, they're talented. Yes, they're gifted and all that kind of stuff. But, you know, there was also a reason they were able to remain on the field. And so all those guys, I mean, currently, like, you know, Jacob de Grom's one that, you know, people will say, oh, well, he's hurt all the time. And they're smaller things for the most part. And he's also, you know, throwing a hundred plus miles an hour for an entire outing at, I don't know what he's weighing at right now, but he's a pretty slim guy. You know, guys like him, Garrett Cole. Guys that have thrown real hard. Like I'm talking like the hardest throwers in baseball.

Orles Chapman, there's another one. He's been one of the few relievers ever to be able to sit 100 plus miles an hour for what is he in his like 12th or 13. Yeah, over a decade. That's crazy. So, you know, there's a reason those guys can do it for so long. And again, I kind of refuse to believe that, you know, someone just has stronger ligaments and tendons. It's just not, you know, some guys, yeah, they're put together a little better. they can move a little better.

They're a little more athletic, bendy or whatever. But it's no coincidence. The guys that stayed around and did it the longest. We're also the most efficient. So kind of learning where I was going wrong was the biggest thing and where to get back to the right place. And it's right down from, you know, stride length all the way up to, you know, where your elbow is at the time of foot strike.

It's pretty wild. golf swing, right? When you're all in your head, okay, where are my feet? Where's the ball? My hands. It's okay. Where's my club head coming? I'd say it's even more than that. Right? Like, how do you focus? Yeah, there you go. So, I mean, and that's why they do 3D analysis because you can look at a picture. You can look at a center field cam and see things, but you're only watching it in two dimensions. You can't actually tell how far down the mountain is when these certain things are happening. And yeah, I mean, there's, it's right in the foreword of his book. I think Dr. Peter Chalmers says right there is like, You know, the shoulder rotates at this like 7,000 degrees per second, which is about what a car wheel does at 100 kilometers an hour. Jeez. You know, so that's when you put that into perspective,

when something's not in the right place, the right time, it can spell disaster. And, you know, that's unfortunately a lot of guys get into bad habits. And that's where injuries start to pile up. And hopefully we're on the way out of that. Well, I know I feel pretty stiff after the pond hockey. So that's probably similar. Well, high performance athletes.

My stride length. probably just isn't quite right. It wasn't long. The wooden stick was, though. I feel like you made up for it there. All are, I disagree with like, I think some bodies are made differently.

Well, sure. They are. They are as well. I get that. Real quick, two years ago, before the first rupture to now, how difference your body?

Because, like, you were quite a bit younger, and you also had spent a lot of time rehabbing, but you've also talked about training smarter and training in a way that's going to allow you in theory to be healthier, longer, sustain levels.

Like, do you feel like your body's composed differently now? It's in a different world. I mean, it's, and this is where a lot of right now going into the training that I've done recently over the last year, I haven't lifted heavy in a long time. And ironically, doing a lot of the stuff that we've done, I've, you know, put on some size and a lot of it's just getting older and filling out a little bit. but a lot of it is moving within an entire range as fast and as efficiently as possible, and a lot of it's centered around just being a better athlete,

being able to use everything that you have to create a whip on the mound. A lot of what they preach and understand as a starter is that you have to remain in a proper position that much longer as a starter into 80, 90, 100, 110 pitches to be able to succeed and remain healthy. So a lot of the work I do is, you know, very long holds or very quick stuff, repeated every 10, 15 seconds. You know, it's much more specific to what I need and, you know, how I detrain for so many years just picking up big weights. Just because it felt good. And I was, you know, happy to be strong and be a meathead. But it just wasn't helping at a certain point.

So, yeah, it's in a different world. And ironically, there's more muscle. on you considerably, I'd say. Yeah, well, I mean, that's where, again, getting a little older, I had 25 now turn in 26 this year. I always said that's, you know, that's when you can kind of call yourself a man that a 25 range. You kind of fill out a little bit, but yeah, it's, it is ironic that that's kind of what happened, and, you know, these muscles are able to stretch a lot farther and kind of use that band to hopefully create power a little more efficiently. From your time in the majors, because we're going to go from one kind of conversation where it's

about eating right and at sleep and all of this and the diet and that whole thing. Have you been, have there been some guys where they're on your team? And I'm not looking for you to necessarily throw anybody under the bus. But there will be athletes in all sports who maybe aren't as dedicated, but yet still show up and are at an all-star or close to it levels. Are there some guys that you're like, man, I have so much respect for you for how you can perform on a daily basis given really how little you. Who's the RET? I think that's what you're asking.

Because not all guys live that and preach that kind of. And you sort of said it. Like sometimes you have to hit rock bottom or a dark place before you're willing to revisit those habits. Because it's baseball. It's every day. You're in this city and that city. It's every single day. There's got to go out and have, you know, unwind every once in a while and some guys can do it. And some guys play guilty. Some can't. I mean, it's pretty easy to see. I think a lot of people could guess in any sport. a lot of the more truly naturally talented players never kind of had to do that work, so they don't feel like they need to when they're out there.

You know, whereas I'm not saying I'm not talented because, you know, I would pride myself on having some talent in this game. But a lot of where I'm at was because of, you know, some of the values that were instilled in me through my dad was if you love it, you got to go for it. You know, we're giving everything you got. And that was way back in high school even. So getting to where I was, I had to put in a ton of effort and work to do that. But, you know, I think we see guys when it matches up, they do both, right?

You see the Sydney Crosby's of the world and Nate McKinnons that have top talent and learn how to work. And you see the product of it. But, you know, baseball is a little different because it's a little more skill sport. And skill can't necessarily be taught. easily is just, you know, we can make you a little more physical, we can make you work a little better. But, you know, if you don't have the skill and the quick twitch, you know, somebody like a Kunya, he had from the time I saw him in the Gulf Coast League in rookie ball, he just turned and moved better than everybody else, you know, and that's where he's got that whip. And a lot of the,

a lot of the qualities that I'm trying to train for are qualities that he kind of has innately. And so why would you, right? He doesn't need to squat. He doesn't need to deadlift heavy. He jumps, he jumps into spring training when we're testing verticals and jumps a 40-inch vertical and doesn't even really care. He walks up and says, all right, I'll jump. And then he's got the top score on the team.

And that's kind of how it is. But that's why he's able to turn and hit the ball, you know, 500 feet. And he's super fast, too. So a lot of these qualities that we all train for, some guys kind of just have. So why would you in a lot of sense? And I get that. And they see, you know, some people and I could be guilty of this was getting hurt in the weight room.

They would see and say, I'm out. I don't need to. So why am I going to risk that? So it makes sense, right? It's good. Rett's not here. He'd be like, see, I told you. Oh, it's overworked.

Job justification. Get rid of the video and get rid of the video and get me. Yeah, yeah. He'd be telling you to go eat burgers and not. Thought over to play guilty, he'd be telling you. So before we let you go, I kind of, it's, I find it kind of, uh, I find it kind of cute, how big of a flames fan you are. One of the first things, he's like, geez, you know, if you look at it's like seven points,

if we could just get some wins here, gosh, so close. I don't wonder what they're going to do it. It's like, six points. Yeah. You, you love this hockey team. You're right into it. Yeah, it's your first love, right? And we've been over it.

And the fact that you guys are on 34th ab. is pretty wonderful, I'd say. It's a good omen, being a big Kermostaf fan. But, you know, like I said, it's your first love. And that's why people ask me about baseball, football. I'm like, I don't really get into football, baseball. Same sort of thing until Blue Jays were, you know, good.

And Bautista was sitting all those home runs. But I still was never a massive baseball fan. And I wish I had a little more time to spend on the intricacies of what happens with the flames and with the NHL. but yeah I mean you guys have been great I see your content on Instagram all the time and that's been good to keep me up to date but yeah it's it's always your first love and it's always the team that you feel like the fan for so when they make trades and you know I want to know who they're trading for and why that's a good option that's why I have you guys so thank you for that and yeah we're uh

we're hopefully hopefully gonna make a push here who do you want in round one who do you like like flames versus who makes you feel good Because it's weird. And I was just looking at it, and we don't seem to have a team that you really don't want to run a run into, kind of like a Boston. You know what I mean? Like on that side, I'm like, stay away from that team. I would almost put Emmington in that category just because it's all PTSD and it's the superstitious. I don't know.

I mean, obviously Winnipeg and what they've been able to do, I think we went. Did I go to the Winnipeg game? I think I did with my girlfriend. Split two, haven't they? Is that what it's been? But, you know, if we ended up against one of those top teams, I wouldn't worry that much if that's a bad thing to say. I wouldn't at least.

There wouldn't be a team that if we ran into that I'd be like, we should pack it in here this year. So I don't know. Anybody, I'm good for anybody. Let's go. I could avoid the alves if I was picking. And you notice how he says, we. He's, I don't think we need to be worried.

It's awesome. He's in. I like it a lot. Get him a job at Oilers Nation. So we're going to get you a spot in the rotation, and then we're going to pick a ballpark. Yeah, do it. And we are going to fly in, and we're going to bring some of our,

we're going to bring some of our buddies, and we are going to get right torqued. Chicago would be a good place for that if you want to go back. Riggily? We're in brave jerseys. What about San Diego? Because that's an L team, and that ballpark apparently is unbelievable. Yep.

I'm not fussy. I just want to go watch the big. big man, watch the big man rip and have some beers and I'm into that. Yeah. Okay. So that's going to happen. No pressure, but that, I mean, to keep that in mind. The other thing you want to keep in mind, boom and pender really want to come to a game. So I should put my best foot forward. You might be pitching really, really well with no distractions in your life. You don't necessarily need to run into a drunken mob of Canadian idiots at like, you know, oh, guys, kind of got to get some rest here. Yeah. Hell is this. Stop throwing beers. Hold off the swarma. I don't, I think maybe you

realize, but maybe you don't is how many people really are rooting for you and watch every step of your progression. We're all in with you. We're so pumped for you. And we know that this, that the work you've put in is going to pay off and this is going to be an unreal year and a Cooney's going to be there. And you guys, it's a big year, right? You got to, I guess that's the one thing we didn't really ask you about for your team. Why not the Braves? That division's unreal right now, too. Great division. It's the best division in baseball, in my opinion, has been for a couple years, I think. Yeah, and now the Mets are splashing cash like crazy,

it only makes it better, right? Always, almost the Correa deal. Yeah, it's true. Might still be. We don't know. It's not off and on and off and on, yeah. Yeah, so, I mean, no, it's exciting to be in a division like that, and especially what happened last year were like 10 games out

and came back and took it all. So, yeah, it'll be a great year, and thank you guys for the support, and thank you to everybody who's out there. I see it when I'm actually at Flames games. I get stopped your own strong on. Probably from being on your own. show now. Oh, yeah, yeah. A lot of times they kind of knew the name, but now all of a sudden, you know, the face is starting to show a little more in Calgary. So hopefully give them a good reason

to cheer this year. Oh, we switched to video, right? So, I mean, obviously that's what it is. Yeah, enormous. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, thank you guys. Thanks for coming by. You can hang out for a little bit. You don't need to run. You can watch Pinder do the Pinder report. It's really amazing. It's not. I think I might have to eat. I told, I told Reese, where Reese was meeting at the facility at noon here. You get out. We're good. You can watch this on YouTube later.

Thank you guys. You bet you. Calgary ambassador and beauty. Mike Soroka. Mike Soroka. The hell out of here. It's hard to get flights more expensive to San Diego. I don't know.

Is there seasonally direct flights? We're going to have to look into this. San Fran, you can go direct from here. That's a great ballpark too. It is. You know, if it's summer, great weather. Never been to that ballpark. If you want to get beaten up, we could go to Philly.

Frank's there. He's a season ticket holder. You could probably get some line on seats. I do like getting a divisional opponents out, yeah. Anyway, that'd be a great trip. Yeah, I don't care where we go. Again, it's like Frank saying, let's cancel the game

and turn tonight. I mean, yeah. All right, Pinder Report. You got to do it. Let's go. Let's do it for Village Honda. They, of course, are your dealership for life in the Northwest Auto Mall and online, village Honda.com. That new CRV hybrid, it's there.

Stopping. Road test it today. and get one of your own. Here's the Pinda Report. All right, we start with the Calgary Flames, nothing. Crickets, I've seen pictures of people on boats in Mexico. I don't, we don't have enough to, there's, it's a bye week, Dean. Don't ask you about the flames.

There's nothing going on. The play on Monday, Feb 6th on Broadway. We need a Sharpie. We've got to get the big man to sign these things before he leaves. Oh, we do. I know, I'm very, you know, I'm glad to pay attention to that. Also, his buddy that he's pitching against the roommate? Yeah.

Rangers fan. Yeah. He's Flames fan. Feb 6. Sure. MSG. And Cup final. Cup final as well.

That's right. It'll be Zabinajad and out there against a sled home. Yeah. Something like that. Yeah. Let's go to the NHL last night. The Jets hosting the Blues for the only game on the entire Sked. Have a look at Calgary boy.

Josh Morrissey. Down 2-0 early in the third. Is he pumped? Have a look. It's not a great goal. I mean, he puts it off-posted in. Is he pumped? Yep, let's go.

Leap and go. And they did. Down to nothing, turned it into a 4-2 winning score. Another two for Shafley. Two for Morrissey, who knows 52 points in 52 games.

Decent. You like point per game defenseman? Yeah, that's okay. And are they looking for a captain, or are they just going to wait until next year to give it to this guy? He's a mega stud. You mentioned Calgary guy.

Great guy. Mature kid. Happy for him with, you know, turmoil in life and has been dealt a few things. Awesome to see him coming on on this side. Better than never. Three games late tonight. Let's take a peek. It's very light here. Only two games tomorrow and then we're right into the All-Star festivities. Kings at Cains is particularly interesting to Flames fans as we are hoping L.A. could maybe have a little tumble here before the all-star break and a lot of the flames a better chance of getting into a slot there. Ottawa, Montreal.

We'll see what happens there. Betway bets the day later. We'll be mentioning that one. And caps at Bluejackets. cheese pizza at home there for that one. I don't know where that season's at. Big trade. Yesterday in the NHL, Bo Horvatt on the career year, shooting 22% captain on pace for 50. An islander, Dean, which contender would get him? None of them. A team on the bubble would get him as he becomes an islander. There are only a few points out of the playoffs, but the games played aren't Evie Stevie. It's a little bigger gap when you look at the points per se. They give up Anthony Beauvillier, middle six-winger, Atu-Ratoo, as Frank Saravalli pronounced his name, who I think many people think will be a number three center.

The Canucks clearly think he could be better than that when they add to him as such a principal point of this package. And a first rounder that'll either be this year, if it's 13 or later, or if it's a top 12 pick that the Islanders end up getting, meaning they would have missed the playoffs and or have won the lottery. That'll slide to next year's where it's unprotected. It could be the first overall pick next year and it still goes to Vancouver. We need to see where that pick is before we can really see how big this hall is that the Canucks get. I think by now, Bovili is what, 25. So I think we...

This is what he is. An idea by a fine player. Half point for game winger. It's not a hard thing to find in the league. He's making probably a little too much money and they already have a ton of wingers, but he's not bad player. And if Ratu... You know what, I just remember going into that draft. There was a lot of...

There was some buzz about him. and then it went away. Yeah, and he went 50 seconds. You wonder, is that just one of those things that happens in a draft year? Kids 20 years old? I don't know. I defer to the guys that have really watched him closely. And the Swedish GM probably has a good clue about him, right?

Of the Canucks. It sounds like they're really high on him, which would make sense. Let's go to how this deal came to be. It was an Islander heckler finding Lou Lamarillo letting him know what to do here. Lou, hey, Lou. He says a couple other names. Yo, Lou. Lou Amarillo!

Tim O'Meyer, yo. The choir, Timo Meyer. Hey, Lou La Mirolo! Tim O'Mire, baby. Bo Horvette. Come on, man. 19 shots on gold to three beers to play. What the fuck is that?

Jesus. Come on, man. Poor Lou. He's in his 80s having to deal with New York hecklers. So, I mean, he's halfway there. He's got Horvette. All they're going to do is bring Timo Meyer, and this heckler's living his best life, right?

And Lou isn't afraid of making the big cuts here. made a ton of big deals of late. Remember, it was a first rounder for J.G. Pajot. They moved a first for Romanov. He also sent out Devin Taves. He was a very good player for a pair of seconds. Palmerian Zajak for a first from The Devils a few years ago. He's not selected in the first rounds of 2019, as Frank alluded to.

That's a lot of punting away firsts on this core that's a little longer in the tooth already. Here's a clip from an article on the score noting, yeah, the first. They just, they don't exist when this, since this guy's taken over. He's moved every single first round pick from 2020, 2021, 2021, 22, and now 2023, unless it's top 12, then I'll be next year. And I don't know that any of those guys there are megastads. They're all good players, but is there any great players in there? They're also all over 30, if I'm correct.

Yeah. Like the, the Pajot was a big price. And I think everybody would love to have Pajot on their team. And it was always they're going to resign them. Okay, well, yeah. And they did immediately. But he's still J.G. Pazzo. Yeah, he's probably the third best center now.

That is the one thing I don't really understand. They didn't need a center. Barzell Nelson-Pajos-Zegis. That's four-deep pretty good. I wonder who moves to the wing. Maybe it's Barzell to the wing. And that's the thing with Lou. You never see it coming.

Yeah, it's fair. So could he be done? Is there more to come? Hard to say. Here's the criticism they're facing. One of the oldest teams in the league on the fringes of a playoff race, one of the worst prospect pools in the league. This will be their four-start year with no first rounder,

and they move their top prospect for a rental until he's extended, which Frank's suggesting it will be done. Incredible. That's a tweet from... You said it earlier, though, until you know what A, the kid is and B, where the pick is, if it's a top three pick next year. Oh, my goodness. It's a whole for Vancouver. It's a bit of a better deal for Vancouver.

And it's the aisles that's really confusing because what happens if you lose your next five? are you really like wouldn't wouldn't you be better turning this around and trading him to Boston or Colorado but like you said if it'd be more about getting the player now an extension isn't would be in place and I guess one of your opponents isn't getting it the Canucks weren't allowing teams to talk to the Horvath camp at least publicly that's what we'd heard I don't know if that change if lose just really confident or if lose just willing to pay him too much money um because you can't pay him to be a 50 goal guy it's not who he's ever going to be again he might

do it once in his year and if it's any year the series shooting 22% this year. We'll see. I mean, you could if you wanted to pay him to be a 50 goal guy. Finally, Atu Ratu, you'll like this. Incredibly creative hockey nickname, which I know we always have appreciation for the creativity of hockey players. Yeah.

They're playing chess, not checkers. He goes by the handle, rats. Rats. Got it. Okay. So there's Phabes. Fabes. Oh, Fabi.

Let's get to the NFL. there's a lot on that trade. We'll spend more talking about it. I'm sure later in the week is pretty quiet in the NHL with the All-Star Week upon us. NFL, did you see this? Nick Siriani had coached the Philadelphia Eagles. You got to love when you bring the kids into the press conference

because anything can happen. Have a viewing here, would you? He's got a couple sons and a daughter sitting at the press conference table with him, talking about that big win. Off to the Super Bowl. Look who's having fun. Your girl, that I don't know.

Each game's a little bit different, but it was great to set the tone there. and get the lead, right, and get the lead and put them behind. Taylor, stop. Love it. Don't know why I liked that, but I liked it. Taylor. Stop it.

Taylor, right now. God, he says, cut it out. Nick, excuse me, I keep calling him Nick. Big save Nick. Brock Purdy. Remember when we, people, you're using the wrong name. Yeah, using the wrong something. People were questioning why he wasn't in the bag of the game.

What's going on here? Well, you know, when you tear your elbow legs. segment. Yeah, I guess maybe you're not soft. It's actually quite admirable you even came into hand off the ball at later portions of that game. And what is that now? Surgery in six months? Yeah, I think they're going to go see a second opinion, but the prognosis for a typical, you know, torn, it's Tommy John pretty much. That's not ideal. And how about this? Josh Allen, not going to the Pro Bowl, but it allows us to see star quarterback Tyler Huntley, as he somehow is an Altered in for the Pro Bowl.

Snoop Huntley. Yeah, I took, what, two touchdowns, three interceptions. On the season? On the season for Tyler Huntley. If that doesn't scream Pro Bowl, is everyone else not available? How the hell do we get to Tyler Huntley? 658 yards in passing that put him 48th overall in the NFL.

That's what the Pro Bowl is all about, I guess. Finally, it made me smile. My brother sent me a video the other day, big Jeopardy fan. You watch Jeopardy. I know you're... No, I don't. You don't.

I don't really either. but when the trailer park boys and the trailer park isms slide into jeopardy, you know the Canadian show has made it big. Check out this category they had in the last few days. Worst case Ontario, which is how we'll end the Pinder report today. First case, Ontario, you fast forward through a bad Pinda report. How would Bubbles tell us about Village Honda? It can't be drinking like Julian, but if you're sober, not cross.

own dope like Ricky, head out to Village, dealership for life. 76, 6,310th, Northwest, VillageHonda.com online. They want to buy your car. Sell it to them today. You'll get paid in 24 hours. No hassle. Get your no obligation appraisal done today. Fricking Anthony handing out crisp hundies for your car.

Get your ass out there. We need any carts. and then the shopping cart you know what it's so stupid it gets you every time it gets me every time there's nothing I can do

like sorry about that it's all right today is the final day of January which means and I told you this last week

going to do it again Vena Nova it's coming man Valentine's Day Feb 14 it will be here how do you think I got time I got time

maybe you got time. Just let that be in the front of your head. Vinova. Stephen Avenue place, second floor. Vena Nova, the lab grown Calgary's only specialized spot for lab grown diamonds. Justin and his staff are doing it better than anybody else

and the savings that you're going to experience and that you're going to get are so worth it because the diamond you're getting is in many cases better. Justin, he told me that first time because I just thought, well, you're a gemologist or whatever it is. You get that thing there. I can see it's clearly. Can't.

Well, there'll be fewer imperfections because you can control the environment. It's made it. You cannot, in some cases, tell at all. And sometimes, yeah, the one with imperfections. Oh, that's the real one. How about the one that's perfect? Vena Nova.com. More details on, you know, maybe there'll be a little something coming your way for Valentine's.

Just keep, just, you know, just keep it in the front of your mind. Vena Nova.com. V-E-N-A-N-O-V-A.com. Don't screw Valentine's Day, guys. Really don't. Well, especially when we're here to help. That's why Justice's, like, we're giving you all the notice here.

Because it is easy to muck it up. It's on the calendar. Like, just know the sooner you get there. That's right. More time you have to make it. Do it. Perfect. Just do it.

There it is. I write that time right now. There is. St. Valentine's Day. Betway bets of the day. And we'll get out of here. Three games in the NHL tonight. I imagine you're leaning that way.

I am going to the Carolina Hurricanes taking on the LA Kings. The Keynes have won five in a row. The August win streak in the league, they're riding, I believe. And the Kings, they've got some wins. I think they've got six in their last 10, but they've beaten some, it's been some low-hanging fruit. Chicago and there's not a bad team. San Jose, I think, was one of their wins.

there as well. So I'm going to go to the Sebastian Aho well a couple of times here. He has uh, goals, seven goals in his last four games. And in his last 10 games has points in all but one of them. I like that. Kane's money line and a point for Sebastian Aho plus 115. And I'm going to go to the goal as it's not big game hunting, but it's a little bit more perhaps risky. Sebastian Aho, anytime goal plus 162. I like both of us. You're getting plus on both. I like them both. Those are my bets of the day.

Yeah, with Chicago and Philly, they beat both by one goal and one in overtime. Two seller dwellers nearly got the Kings the other day. I also like the Hurricanes. I'm on them tonight. I'm going to go hurricanes minus one and a half. That's the puck line. That's plus money. So beat them bad or just add an empty netter?

Whatevs? I'm also going to focus in on the good Eastern Canadian matchup tonight. Sends at Canada. Brady Kachuk, two plus points, plus 162. The Habs have embraced the tank, finally. Alex is very excited. He's very happy with you. Well, it's got to be.

I mean, if you can't beat the HABS, you're never coming back to the Betway bets of the day. So Brady, have a good night. Get your fat ass in front of the net. Tips and pucks. That's right. Create some chaos. Bang some in. Let's go.

Betway bets of the day. Get the app on your phone. Be 19 years of age. Be in Ontario. Be so responsible. I mean, have fun or whatever. Please be responsible. We hit that Morrissey 2.8 last night, too.

Out of boy. Catching. Out of boy. Tomorrow on the program. Canucks talk? More Canucks Talk tomorrow? It's actually Flames Talk, too, as our pal and phenomenal broadcaster, Scott Rintoul, who's been out in Vancouver forever, has like a mini-series on the West Coast Express.

Now, that sounds very Canucks heavy because it is, but recall Todd Bertuzzi spent some time in Calgary at the end of his career, recall Marcus Nasland and that group had to play without Todd Bertuzzi in the 2014 playoff, or, Schumer 2004 playoffs that, of course, famously Rhett went to the final. Brendan Morrison eventually came out to be a Calgary flame. And there's some other tie-ins with Rhett as well, as we'll talk to him about the chaos in Vancouver and his new miniseries coming out

that happens to be a couple former flames. It's one of the best lines in hockey for a while. And it's one of those things that's a bit of the nerd in me when it comes to this. It's a documentary podcast form. Yeah. That I think this is really where the success in the digital space, you see a lot of that becoming more and more prevalent.

I think it's awesome for Scotty, because there's really no template or roadmap for any of this stuff that we're doing. He put a ton of work on this. Rett comes up a bunch, he said. He said there's a lot of weird coincidence that Rett was right in the middle of. So I'm hoping he can join us for a bit of it, or at least we'll be able to enlighten him when he's off the beach. I don't know.

Yeah. Yeah, do I have an update on his food? Look at this. There he is, eh, in his happy spot. Oh, he's so happy. That's probably how it looks to him right now. It's a little bit blurry. Blackened Mahi-Mahi-Kee-West is the sandwich he was having.

So when you say Key West, is that a particular sauce or aoli they put on it? Yeah, I'm not sure. Is it a style of sandwich? He thought to include it, so I'm sure it matters. So that would be added to the lobster bisque, the fish dip, and the... The Wave Runner beverage. Yeah, the Wave Runner. That's going to be about a $500 tab.

Never mind the shoveler and the kids. Looking forward to tomorrow's show already. Can't wait. Hope you'll join us for it. Thanks to Soroka for coming in. And thanks to you for the bubbles. Oilers Nation sucks. See you, buddies.