Fantasy Baseball Today - Bonus ⚾️ Talk: MLB New Year's Resolutions plus Chris Rose joins the show! (12/30 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: December 30, 2020

Danny Vietti and Will Middlebrooks are back to make New Year's resolutions for specific MLB teams but first they react to the new-look Padres (2:05). Just how good are they with both Blake Snell and Yu Darvish? ... Let's stick with the Padres. What should their New Year's resolution be (5:38)? ... Let's stay on the west coast with the Angels (10:05). They need pitching! ... How can the Red Sox get back on track (13:30)? ... Should the Phillies consider shopping Bryce Harper (17:30)? ... One of the best in the business Chris Rose joins the show (22:32)! Chris offers his thoughts on Intentional Talk now that he's left the show. ... Danny and Will hit Chris with some rapid-fire questions (25:05). What should Cleveland's new team be? How much does he love the movie Major League? ... Who are some of Chris' favorite interviews throughout the years (34:25)? ... Why is Intentional Talk moving on from Chris (38:30)? ... Chris and the guys offer their New Year's resolutions (46:00)! ... Email us at [e-mail]. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @AdamAizer, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. I drive, center field, and swing. This is magnificent. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, Chris, and Adam.

What do? Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast. That's Hump Day, December. November 30th, hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday weekend, a weekend jam-packed with blockbuster traits, not to mention that. The World Series champ, most importantly, my co-host, Will Middlebrooks is here. How is your holiday weekend, Will? Amazing. Christmas, best time of the year. You know, I have a two-year-old and a little girl just turned one yesterday. So it's a little interesting around here on Christmas. One of them

likes to eat the wrapping paper. The other one just likes to rip everything to shreds. So it's fun. It's great having like the family here. I miss having my mom and dad come in town for it, which they normally do because of COVID. But we made the most of it. We had a good time. We hung out with our neighbors.

They did a little Christmas party. It was a good time. Good. Well, we got New Year's right around the corner too. And Chris Rose is going to be joining us on the program today. Whenever I say Chris Rose, I always want to be like that intentional talk intro like Chris Rose. Yeah.

I butcher it. How much did you practice that? Be honest. like at least 12 times before. I still butchered it. Over 10 years of Fox Sports and another decade within an intentional talk Chris Rose had. So he's going to give us a lot of insight

and kind of tell us why they're going in a different direction because it really is the end of an era. The show is going to continue, but it sucks. Let's be honest, it sucks. I love him on the show. He and Malar, they're like the perfect combination of, didn't play super fan and then just grinder baseball player. Yeah, it's sad to see, but he's going to be joining us.

And as I mentioned, the holiday weekend was filled with activity. I mean, the Padres headline, headline, headline, Los Petinos going over to Tampa along with some slap blank prospects. I can't say that word on here, but some slap blank prospects going to the raise for Blake Snell. So Snell is coming over to the Southern California down the five. And then Udarvish is also headed to San Diego. He's going to the 619. They traded Zach Davies and four.

prospects for you Darvish. He finished, of course, second and Cy Young voting last year. So they got two Cy Young caliber pitchers in less than 24 hours. Your thoughts? I'm so fired up that the hot stove is heating up. All right. It was so quiet up until the past couple days. And now everyone doesn't, no one wants to be the first to make a big move for some reason. But as soon as that first domino falls, boom, boom, boom, boom. They just start rattling off moves. But the Padres, man, they are going for it. Like going for it. And the moves they've made at, my first thought was, wow, they got one, two, three.

Snell, Darvish, Lamett. If Paddock can find a third pitch, like, he's really good. He's just fastball slider. He only threw his curveball like 15 times. Like, you've got to have a third pitch to be a starter in the big leagues, unless you're like a Kershaw who can just go fastball cutter or fastball slider. But they got three guys, one, two, three. could be an ace on most teams.

And then you can they get Bauer? I don't know. I mean, fast forward one year to 2022. Clevenger's back from T.J. All right. They're loaded. Like they could literally, if they sign Bauer,

which a lot of people are saying, oh, they can't sign Bauer. They don't have the money. Listen to this. I did the math this morning. I got on and looked at their payroll with Darvish included.

And player benefits, which is about 15, their insurance. is about 15.5 million a year. Minor league salary, you'll like this, only 2.5 million for all of the minor leagues. It comes out to about 169 and a half,

170 million. 210 is the threshold. They have $40 million of wiggle room. Bauer supposedly saying, if he signed a one-year deal, he wants $35 million. That fits, like how close do you want to get?

How big are marbles if you're in the front office with the pods? But the issue with that, if you get that close to the threshold, let's say a couple of guys go down and you get to the trade deadline, you have no wiggle room. So I think if they really want to sign Bauer or if they do sign Bauer, you're going to see like a Will Myers or someone like that get traded because it's $20 million alone he's making this year. So hypothetically, of course, you worked out. If that happened, if that happened, you would have you Darvish, Blake Snell, Trevor Bauer, De Nelson, Lamette, Mike Cleveager on the I. Chris Paddock. That is arguably the greatest rotation we have ever seen. It, when healthy, I don't, I mean, one through five, dude, you can, you could literally in 2020 have a number five

starter that could be an ace on over half the teams in a week. The number five starter could win a sigh. Like, how are you if you're a pitching prospect and like double AAA with them? You're like, this, this sucks. I've never getting to the show. Here's the problem. And, okay, let's Let's just get right into it. We're going to talk about resolutions on this show. We have the new year right around the corner here. We're dedicating this episode to New Year's resolutions. We'll talk with Chris Rose about this as well.

But let's start with the Padres. We're already talking about the Padres. The problem with the money, and I agree, there's probably a way they could figure out monetarily how to bring in Trevor Bauer. However, this is what the red flag is to me. If you give Trevor Bauer 30 mil, what are you doing with Fernando Tatis? Because you're likely not going to be able to extend him right now. And he is still a years away.

He's going to be a free agent in 2024, okay, after the 2024 season. So we're still a ways away. But right now, there is mutual interest. According to MLB.com, AJ Casabelle, there is mutual interest between Tatez and a Padres to have an extension. And that benchmark, if you're kind of looking at what monetarily they're looking at, Ronald O'Kunia signed an eight-year $100 million deal, excuse me, just a couple of years ago. So if you're looking at numbers, you're likely not going to be able to do Bauer and tautis. It just doesn't, I don't think there's not planning out there. So you drop the hammer on and you

say, you know what, Treb? And we know we know he wants a short term deal. We know two years is probably what he is looking at max. He would love it when you deal because he likes betting on himself and he likes going year to year and changing the scenery. Good for you. You can do that. You earn that at this point in your career. So that being said, go out and give him a lot of money for one year. And then after this year or even towards the end of this year, you extend Tatis and have that money kick in. You can give them a signing bonus, have that money kick in next year where Bauer won't be on the books. Yeah, I agree. I do think you would have to trade somebody like a Will Myers because he's making a lot of money and I don't know if they necessarily need him and you can sell high after last year.

He had a great year last year. And I think you could get some prospects for him. You could get maybe a bullpen arm, which they need. They might be re-signed Rosenthal. I don't know. There's a a lot of other pieces to fall for them. They're not done as complete as they look right now, especially with their rotation and their lineup looks good too. But they still need a couple arms in the bullpen, I think. I think they need a closer. But back to your original question, I think you hold off on extending Tate's. You sign Bauer this year, give them 30, 35 mil, but you're going to have to make a move. So your resolution is signing Bauer if you're San Diego. Is that your resolution? You push for it because at this point,

go all in. Next year you have Clevenger back. You don't necessarily need Bauer. You would love to have them. You would love to have them. But Clevenger steps in. He hasn't pitching a year. A lot of guys nowadays with rehab coming off Tommy John,

throw harder. So we're looking at him in the upper 90s. And I failed to mention the podgers also landed Korean star, Hassan Kim, who plays second base, maybe even a little bit of outfield too. They're thinking about, we're still going to be a question

whether they kick Kim out to the outfield or maybe they kick KronoWorth out to the outfield. There were rumors that KronoWorth might be going to the Cubs for Darvish. That didn't end up happening. So that's a good problem to have when you have too many good players. Too many good players. As you mentioned, Will Myers is making 20 mil across the next couple seasons. It could be a trade piece if they can find a way to get.

And of course, Bauer tweeted out. He said, I see San Diego. I don't know if it's Bauer. He loves stirring the pot. He loves stirring the pod. Take it with a grain of salt. but he sees you San Diego. So it's interesting.

Yeah, we all see San Diego right now. Yeah, so my resolution, I think is a great idea to go for this one year. But when I'm looking at their championship window, it's 2021 through 2023. After that 2023 year, Darvish and Snell are both free agents. Tatis will be entering a contract year. They also have Machado controlled through those three seasons. Cronenworth, Hosmer has an option after 2022. Clevenger is a free agent after 2022.

But those three seasons, these next two and especially three, this is your championship window. To me, I'm putting Fernando Tatis as a priority over Trevor Bauer. I think he makes more of an impact on the game. Every day. I think long term, Tatis is your priority. So my resolution for San Diego is sign an extension with Tatis, get it done. If that means you have to sacrifice Bauer and not get Bauer, so be it. I agree.

I think either way they go, they're going to be fine. I think they can hold off on Tatis or like you said, they can do it now. It's not a bad decision. We see the player he is. We know what he's going to be. No one has a crystal ball, but it's pretty close to a lock on that guy. So let's stay in Southern California. Let's go up the I-5 here.

Let's stay in, let's go to Orange County with the Angels. What is their New Year's resolution for 2021? Well, we talk about Trevor Bauer a lot on the show. And we should. And we should. He deserves that. They need pitching. We talk about this all the time.

Mike Trout will go down as the best player of all time. How's his legacy if he never gets to a World Series? How's his legacy if he only plays a few postseason series? Yeah. Who knows? You know, like, I need to see Mike Trout. I know how good he is. I played against him.

I played with him. He is a god on the diamond. He is. He is. He's not human. All right. But I need to see him on the big stage. I need to see him under the bright lights in the World Series.

Hopefully, by the time he gets there, there's fans in the stand. So it's the real deal and not like last year. Baseball needs to see him in the postseason. So they need pitching. Their offense is unbelievable. When healthy, they have one of the highest ceiling offenses in the league. I think you can agree with. They're up there with the Yankees in production when healthy.

Rendon, up them when he's going, trout, poo holes. David Fletcher at the end of their line, up is a really good player as well. Like, they have it, man. They just need pitching. And everyone knows it. This isn't a secret. Everybody uses people who holes as a scapegoat for their demise.

It's not, yes, he handcuffs them financially. But he's producing runs. He's still driving guys in. The problem is that you just mentioned is pitching. So for me, their resolution is fine and ace. I don't care who it is. I don't care if it's off the free agency market. I don't care if it's on the trade market.

Sunny Gray could be available. Luis Castillo, both Reds pitchers, of course. And then their bullpen's been trashed, too. Last year they led the league in Blum Seiz. Josh Hader could be out there if Milwaukee's not competing. And I think another guy that is right now available, that might not be an ace, but he's just a veteran guy that you want to have on your rotation.

And maybe he can lead to other guys signing is Masahira Tanaka. He's just a grown-up. He's a grown-up that knows what to do in big games. I just think they need to find an ace. That's all they need to do, because their rotation the last two years, it just hasn't gotten it. It's not a playoff team when you're looking at

in 2019, Trevor Cahill, Matt Harvey, Tyler Skaggs, Felix Pena, Chris Stratton, last year, Dylan Bundy, Shohei, who got hurt, Andrew Heaney, Griffin, Canning, I mean Briah and Julio Terran. That's not good enough to be a playoff team. No, not even with that offense. Here's my question. I never even thought about Tanaka.

And you know the influence that he would have on Otani? there's your vet to shape one of one of the best talents we could see in the game on the pitching side. He's going to help him on the pitching side. But then again, he has the best hitter of all time, arguably Mike Trout, to work hitting with him and hitting the cage with him every day. If they signed Tanaka, Otoni goes through the roof. I think there's so much knowledge to gain.

He just does so much off of raw, just raw talent. And I think he's still pretty green. and a lot of room to grow. And Justin Upton on one of our previous shows said, you know, he's the most talented baseball player I've ever seen. He does it all. I want to see him do it all. And I think Tanaka can actually make him better.

So let's move out east, a familiar stomping ground for you, of course, with your Red Sox jersey hanging behind you. Red Sox. What are we thinking for 2021 with the Boston Red Sox? I'm going to stick with what I'm saying about the Angels. Then he pitched. man.

Sale was hurt. He'll be back. Not sure how he's going to respond to Tommy John with that arm slot and throwing across your body with that amount of force and velocity. I'm curious to see how his arm holds up through a season, especially if we're playing an extended, you know, 150, 160 games. Eddie Rodriguez would be back. He had a heart condition post-COVID last year.

He pitched well the year before, but their bullpen was a mess. their pulpin was a mess and I think they can add another starting pitcher obviously I mean they're looking for a second baseman Dustin Bredgearia is no longer I think they add a Kike Hernandez I think he could be a good fit

because he's a Swiss Army knife and every team can use someone with that there's so much value on a player that can play just about every position I think that would be a great sign for them but Heim Bloom just needs to make a splash he needs to get a big name

or two in there, not only for their team, but for their fan base. That fan base is tough, all right? They want to win now. They're not used to losing. It's been a tough year. You look at the Patriots, go to the Red Sox. They're ready to drop the puck up there. Get the Bruins going, and hopefully they can win some games.

Who knows what happens with the Celtics? But they're not used to losing. The past 20 years, they have been spoiled. Completely spoiled. And it is not pretty when they're not winning. So, Hain Bloom, make some big moves. a splash, get these fans back on your side, because you're going to have fans in the stands again next year to a certain capacity. I don't know how much. You don't want those Boston fans

on your bad side. Yeah, we talked about it before. It's the best place to win, but it's one of the worst places to lose. So for me, we're on the same page here. I'm just not targeting towards pitching. I'm targeting towards just having an identity. I don't think they know who they are because they're, and I'm giving an excuse. They were in a transition period last year. It's a weird year, new front office. But when you look at their previous years, their previous World Series runs, back in 2018, they were athletic with strikeout starters with Mookie, JBJ and the outfield. I mean, that's an athletic lineup. But you look at their starters, Chris Sale, Price, Iovaldi, they could strike out anybody. Back in 2013, they were just full personality. Of course,

you can mention it because you're on that team. Johnny Gomes, yourself, just a lot of really good dudes and veteran guys, 2007, just really wise, grown up people, veterans. I don't think this team really has an identity. And again, I'm giving them an excuse because it's a transition year. But if they want to get back to being the boss of Red Sox, they need an identity. Are they going to be a big spending team or are they going to go be the kind bloom of the Tampa Bay Rays where they spend low on guys and they depend on analytics? That's what they need to figure out in 2021. You know what? I just want to add one more thing. Yeah. In 2012, we were in last place. We finished in last place. All right. It was my rookie year. Bobby V was our

manager. It was, I'm just going to say it. It was a show of a season. It was. But were you, were you on the team where there was rumors that they were playing video games and not like beer, chicken? Yeah. Or me. I wasn't part of that. But the point I'm getting at, we were in last place and we didn't have an identity. And then the next year we won a World Series. So that's how fast it could happen. Now, to get their identity, you know what they need to do? Compete with the New York Yankees. Because that when that, when that, rivalry is dead when one team is super weighted or that rivalry is weighted one way or the other, it's not fun. It's not fun for the fans. They hate it. Both teams need to be good and you need to

have, you need to be able to compete with them to have an identity as a boss of Red So our last one on our list for 2021 year's resolutions. We're going to stay out east, but we're going to go to the Philadelphia Phillies. What do we think we need to do in order to get them back into being contenders? we should just name this this show pitching we should just name it pitching all right they have Harper

let's not forget about Bryce Harper this guy he's still stud and when he has a down year he still produces they have Reese Hoskins who is going to pick it up my last spring training I ever had

before I got hurt I was with the Phillies and I got to know Reese and this guy is going to be really good he's going to have a really long career he knows how to hit he has a great approach at the plate.

And I mean, they need a catcher too on top of that. They need to re-sign real mute, too. I think that's a resolution. Can they afford them? That's the question. Can they afford them? That's the thing. With being able to add a couple arms too,

because their pitching just wasn't very good. It wasn't. And I like what they did with the front office. Dombrowski, they got Sam Fold. I love having Sam Fold because we talked about this a little bit is he's able to compete. not compete, but you put him in a room with Harvard grads, Yale grads, he fits in. You put him with ballplayers, grinders, anybody, he fits in.

He just fits in anywhere you put him. And putting that experience in a front office and putting that type of baseball mind in a front office is different. And that's where the game is going. And I think that is going to play well for the Philadelphia Phillies. So I think pitching is certainly a direction you could go. I think another direction, I'm just going to lay it out there. I think they should trade Bryce Harper.

I do. And it's not to say that Bryce Harper is a bad player. He's not, in my opinion, he's the greatest above average outfielder the game has ever seen. But he's not worth that much money. And I say that because Dave Dombrovsky is now in the front office. He likes to spend. He cannot spend with Bryce Harper's contract and Zach Wheeler. just Bryce, but in Zach Wheeler, he can't spend with them handcuffing him like this.

One question. Does he have a, does he have a no trade? That's a good question. I'm pretty sure it has a no trade clause. He was like, I'm in Philly for the rest of my career. But Giancarlo did too. So this is who I'm comparing. The player has to agree to that. I know. I'm aware, and I should have done more research on that. That's good of you for calling me out on that. But I will say that Marlins found a way to get it done with Jing Carlo with his massive contract. I think the Phillies at least talk with Bryce and see what he thinks. Because when I'm looking, it's not fair for me to get rid of his MVP season. I'm not trying to do that. However, we have to look at recent statistics and look at what he's done recently. Since his MVP season, all the following

players have a higher war than Bryce Harper. Kyle Seeger, Carlos Santana, Jonathan Scope, Gene Seguer, his teammate, Brett Gardner and Kevin Kiermeyer. Those are all decent players. They're good, solid player, but they're not worth $330 million, and I don't believe Bryce Harper is either. I can't say, I mean, I agree. I agree with you. So you're going to, they're stuck.

I don't know. Here's my question, if Bryce Harper wasn't like the child prodigy that he was, does he make that much money? Does he probably not. I mean, he still wins an MVP. If he's a 15th round pit, he's not making 330. million dollars. Right. Yeah. And I'm glad you called me out on the new trade clause. It wasn't to call you out. I was just, I'm not even, I'm not even completely sure of it,

but I'm pretty sure there was a no trade clause in there. Yeah. No, you're absolutely clear. The player, the player just has to sign off on that, which, who knows? I mean, 13 years a long time in one place. Yeah, absolutely. Those are our 2021 year's resolutions. We're going to continue this discussion with Chris Rose coming up next on the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast. We're back. here on the fantasy baseball today podcast, back with the former host of the Best Damn Sports. It's been over a decade with Fox Sports, over a decade with Intentional Talk and MLB Network. Chris Rose, thanks so much for joining us, Chris. Thank you guys. Appreciate it. And of course, intentional talk, we've got to get right to it. It's coming to an end. And in my mind,

it's end of an era. The relationship you had with Kevin and that show, 2 p.m. my time, every single day, I had it on my TV. And to see it go, it's, I think, from a baseball perspective and just being a fan, it's sad to see it go because you guys had such a good relationship and you could feel that. As a viewer, you could feel it. Well, I appreciate that a lot. Here's the good news. The show isn't going anywhere. I'm leaving. So, like, if we were to do this interview in, like, two weeks, like, that bookcase might be gone. You know, who knows, they might, they might have to take the bobbleheads. Do they want to take the bozzal, the Rose-Milar bobblehead with I don't know. I'm going to have to clarify something on that.

Listen, this is the business. Does it suck? Absolutely. Do I agree with the move? No. But, you know, until I own my own network or my own baseball team, I don't get a say in it. So I'm not going to sit here and cry about it. Listen, I had an amazing eight-year run at the Best Ham Sports Show period from 2001 through 2009. I thought there would be no way that I would have the ability to have another show that was that enjoyable to do on a daily basis. And I did. And I don't know how I lucked into that. But, well, you know, you know, Kevin.

He is one of a kind. Like, God created the imprint on that one, then threw it in the garbage can. And there were days where I thought, God, why didn't you throw it in the garbage can before I met him? but he is he's great he's great to work with you we are like brothers uh i wasn't just saying BS on the last few shows that i mean i love that guy and people were just able to see our relationship on tv for an hour a day and how lucky is that yeah and i think me and will obviously we're still growing ourselves but i think we look at you guys and we see how you guys interacted. And we try and

reminisce that same relationship. Obviously, you can't reminisce it, though, because it was so unique. And so we kind of want to get to know a little bit more about you. And we're going to start off. We like to do things differently like you and Kevin did. So we want to start off with some rapid fire questions. Oh, hold on. This is at the beginning.

I'm usually used to the end. This is new, too. We normally do it at the end and we're just thinking, let's switch it up. Yeah, we're throwing you a curveball. Let's switch it up. It's only a few. It's only a few. It's only a few. It'll get things rolling. I'm going to start it off nice and easy, though, for you, Chris. Yes.

Is Barry Bond's a Hall of Famer? Yes. Agreed. Agreed. Okay. MLB network talent you would not want to be quarantined with. Well, the one person I would want to and not want to at the same time is the same person.

And it's Sean Casey because I love the guy. But, man, I'm not so sure what the hell. house would look like. And more importantly, I'm not so sure what it would smell like, brother. I feel like he'd be pretty messy. It'd be like beer bottles around the room. Okay. Yeah, but that's okay. I can handle the beer bottles. It's the rest of the stuff. Plus, he's the only guy that's got a better comb over than me going these days. He does. It's slick. All right. All right. I don't know if you can get into this or not, but Malar's deepest, darkest secret that you can tell us on air. Oh, yeah. No, no, no. I can't.

That's in the vault. The deepest darkest one? No. I'll give you a couple of Brooksie secrets if you trade me for a couple of Malar. That's a fair. He did one day. See, actually, Malar, most of, they're not really secrets. Like, he shares so much stuff. He did almost get arrested as a, as like a teenager for almost burning down, like, some grasslands near the freeway in Valencia, California. Like, I know that he blew something up and really, like, almost created like a major fire out here one time.

So that was probably not the best thing that ever happened. Okay. That was in the midst of a crazy night of cal tipping, I'm sure. All right. We'll go a little bit like two more. What's been more enjoyable for you in TV, football or baseball? Well, the daily shows, it's baseball because I never, you know, I never had that opportunity. But with football, I've had the good fortune of it's going to be a little different this year when I'm at the Super Bowl.

but the last seven Super Bowls to be on the field when they win that thing and then they come over and they sit on the desk, like that's hard to replace. It's just for just a little while, all the business and all the, everything else just stops. And it's just about these guys seeing their lives change forever. It's pretty cool. And you can kind of turn into a fan for a second too. Yeah, absolutely. I'm at work, but like this is really cool.

By the way, if there are future broadcasters listening, Don't ever have anyone tell you you can't be a fan. I think that is the biggest load of crap ever. Like, I am. I'm from Cleveland. Like, Sunday suck when the Browns lose. You know, like my kids were pissed off yesterday. And so you're not all, well, you can't show buy it.

Why? I got into this business because I love certain teams. Yes. I mean, what's the matter? I don't affect the outcome of them. I have nothing to do with the outcome of a game. So for all you morons out there, they're saying, I hate it when it's so, then don't listen.

You don't have to buy the product. That's fine. I mean, that's cool. But if I'm going to be there, like, I did the Browns Jets highlight. You really couldn't tell if I was from Staten Island or Shaker Heights, Ohio. You can't. But I'm telling you, I had a rooting edge in it. And I don't have a problem saying it.

So being from where you're from, what, east side of Cleveland, right? Major League had to have been like one of your all-time favorite movies, right? Okay. Not only is Major League one of my all-time favorite movies, but... Here is. Let's go. Jaboo? Oh.

Harry Doyle. Oh. Joe Boo. Yes. It's a little cold in the house. Come on. This was not planned, by the way. way. This was not planned at all.

Yeah. So I will tell you a funny story about that. I know we're in the middle of rapid fire, but oh, who cares? Um, it's going to be better than your next question you're going to ask anyway, Will. So that, that movie came out when I was a senior in high school in 1989. And I think it was coming out like right at spring training. The Indians were terrible when I was growing up. The first 23 years of my life, they didn't finish higher than fourth in their division. So if you can I mean, like, you can't even lock into a third place finish. They were terrible. So when I was a senior in high school, everybody's excited to go see the movie Major League.

And we get into the theater and they start winning and start turning their season around, you know, when they're ripping the stuff off of Rachel Phelps and all that sort. And people are cheering like they're at a sporting event in the movie theater. Like when we're taking on Clue Haywood and the Yankees and Jake Taylor drops down the bun, and here comes Willie Mays Hayes. The place starts erupting. It is no long. People aren't sitting in there.

They are standing up and cheering. Like they are at a playoff game. And it was insane. And we walk outside to our cars and there's like a dozen inches of snow on the ground. And it snowed like a foot during the movie. It was like, too. You needed that, though. That was like the best two hours of many seasons for you.

So good. I don't know if that's the greatest story I've ever heard of the saddest. Because that's just how Cleveland sports were at the time. Yeah. or pretty much have been. Yeah, just kind of how we roll. Well, what do you think about the name change for Cleveland? I'm in favor of it.

Yeah. I have no problem with it. I have some friends who are disappointed. Why are we doing this? The tradition? Or you mean the tradition that's brought us two world series in over 100 years, like 1920, 1948, like that sort of stuff? Yeah, remember that?

And if you're that type of fan, I think you have to do a little interesting. here because for me, yes, the name was Indians across the front, right? I cared about the players and the teams. Those were the memories. It wasn't the team nickname that gave me those great memories. It was the players. It was the human beings inside of the uniform. So I'm all for change. I'm all for like going back to the Cleveland spiders, which is what they were named beforehand. I think you could get some cool gear to buy. And by the way, you know, here's something I'm having a hard time with. Like, I've got an old Frank Robinson red Indians jersey.

I mean, it's a great jersey from my childhood, you know, from the 70s. Like, can I not bust that out? I mean, it's, I'm all for the name change. But at the same time, I don't feel like people should be labeled something. if they have something from their past of that nature. I don't know. It's something I'm wrestling. I don't have an answer.

And they don't have fans in the stands of the Washington football games this sure, do they? Because I haven't seen Redskins' jerseys. I don't think they've had fans in the stands. Right. Sure. You can't just go out and drop 120 bones on a new jersey. That's tough to do for a lot of families.

So what I would do if I were wealthy enough to own a team and my franchise had a name change, I would be willing to say, we will take your jersey and donate it, and you can have the jersey of your choice. But people don't listen to me. Yeah, that's a great point. All right, well.

You mean it's a great point that people don't listen to me, Will? No. People should listen to you, Chris. Listen, I'm team Rose. Oh, that's good. I'm team Rose. I love Malar, but you know what?

I text him today. and I said, give me a question that Rose would know that this is from you. Okay. And he didn't text me back. He ghosted you? He ghosted me. I know he's busy. He's probably out on his ski-do or his boat.

You know what? In fairness, so he did take the week off. I don't think that's because he's golfing. So sad. Let me see here because we had a little text chain with our intentional talk crew and he has not responded. So if he doesn't respond to these guys, do not feel. badly that

okay I send him a text that says Will Middlebrooks is really sad uh I don't don't let them no I don't want him to know my weakness I don't know I'm gonna stay strong it doesn't bother me you do the ego check anyways

listen I've had tons of those okay tons ever heard of AAA stop hey hey up and down you ride that hey that's part of the grind that's what makes it beautiful man that's what like the big leagues is like

that's why it's like the heaven of baseball. It's really hard to get there and it's even harder to stay. Hell, yes, it is. I have nothing but respect for your business. It's a good thing that it's that tough because everybody could do it. So I have a quick question. You don't have to give me a long answer. I'm just curious out of all the interviews you've done.

Is there one that just sticks out the most of you? It doesn't have to be an athlete, doesn't have to be a baseball player. It can be. I'm just curious, like, which one sticks out to you the most when someone says, what's your favorite interview you've ever done? There's been a couple of them. You know what? Let's go baseball.

One was on the best damn sports show period. And it was when Pete Rose came out with his book where he admitted to gambling. And Pete used to come on our show as a guest host. He lived in Southern California and he would fill in occasionally. And Ken Rosenthal, who's one of the greatest reporters in the history of the sport, in my opinion, would come on occasionally as well, just for an information. segment. Well, Ken came on when Pete was there. And Pete asked him point blank. He said, Ken, why aren't I in the Hall of Fame? And Ken's a Hall of Fame voter. And the place went silent.

You know, we used to do this in front of the studio audience. And Ken looked at him and he said, Pete, I think if you hadn't written a book and had come out earlier, he said, I think you would have had a chance. He basically said, though, I don't, Pete, I don't think it's going to happen. And like, for a second, Pete Rose, who, he became a human being. Like, you could see it almost hit him over the head with an imaginary club. Like, holy smokes. Like, I'm finally hearing for the first time that I really cost myself a shot in the Hall of Fame. Like, because I don't think he always heard it, you know, he'd always do the autograph signings, the week of the Hall of Fame. Right. So he could get his coin and all that sort of stuff. And he'd always say, well,

you know, they're putting other guys who've done worse than me in the Hall of Fame. I think he, I think it finally resonated with him that he didn't have a chance. That's, that's, that's, it was, that's tough. But on the fun side, can we go to the fun side for a second. Yes. Intentional talk. We were having Johnny Gomes on, your old teammate. And Johnny texts Malar.

They're very close. See, so Malar would text him back. Well, this is how that works. It's fine. I get it. And Johnny says, hey, Malar, I want to bring on Stephen vote. We're like,

okay. We're like backup catcher. He goes, just to have a second headset. He comes on and that was the day that vote shows up. I was in Oakland. I remember this. In the NBA referees uniform and does like a five-minute skit where he's calling like offensive fouls and the over and back. And it turned into a Stephen Vote bobblehead night. It was so good. Now, I've been too cheap to change the battery on this thing, but it does the

whole, it's got like the interview on this. That's cool. So those are kind of fun. Stephen Vote. We need to get vote on the show. He's, oh, God, yeah. He's so. Such a fun guy to talk to. And he's liked it all the time. All the time. Coach one day, too. He's so smart. So he went to Azusa Pacific out here in Southern California.

And when we interviewed him one time, he goes, hey, Rose, I was with my college baseball team in the audience at Best Damn Sports Show, period. Because we used to have a bunch of college baseball teams roll through there. He was like, yeah, I saw you in action one time. And now I'm getting interviewed you about you. I was like, Jesus, am I old? Well, let me ask you this. You've been so classy through this entire process, this entire transition process. I think intentional talk was so productive for the game.

It promoted players. It allowed fans to see what players are like off the field. And to me, I think the game needs more and more of that. And I think social media serves as that purpose at times. But I think intentional talk gave it a unique angle that nobody else provides. Why do you think, why do you think, why do you think, for you, they're moving in a different direction for an intentional talk. Money.

Yeah. It's just like baseball teams. I mean, I think for the, I will never, ever be an athlete or I never was. I think I peaked at like 10. I was a terrible athlete. But I have paid attention to the business of sports. And I knew this was a possibility. My contract is up in a couple of days.

And it's not they don't like me. It's not like I was some Ahold of somebody. I mean, I'm tough on producers because I like to make sure our show can be the best it can be. And you can talk to any of the five producers that we've had. They will all say the same thing that I'm demanding from the standpoint of I'm demanding from everybody on the show. That doesn't mean I'm a jerk. But I think we all got to. better together. All right. But I'm not, I didn't get my contract renewed because of an

attitude issue or anything else other than money. And that's it. Like your favorite sports teams make financial decisions all the time. We're seeing it now more and more in the sports and entertainment world with broadcasters. I'm not saying I'm happy about it. That's the honest to God truth. If you put my boss on here or my former boss, my guess is he would say the same thing. He didn't want to have to do this. But at the end of the day, Will, you're shaking your head. At the end of the day, even though I know the place appreciated me, you are a name with a dollar amount next to you. And if they have to change tact a little bit based on what is going on in the world and you have a certain dollar figure and your contract is up. I mean, if it was reversed and

Kevin's contract was up, I'm not so sure. I mean, Kevin might be the one where we would have been kissing them off goodbye. That's possible. I don't know that for a fact, but it's possible. The Brutal truth of the beast. Yeah, brutal truth of the business. It's just sad because I just think it does such a good job voting me. And I know it's going to continue on. Yeah, but listen, it's, it's, and it might be better. I'm not saying, because we, whomever they put in that seat is going to be very talented. There's no question. But the show was created because of our relationship.

Yeah. I mean, we had been friends since 2003. We're basically the same age. His mom lives 10 minutes from me. We know each other's families. We vacationed together. They've stayed here. We've stayed there.

We were friends before you ever put a camera on us. And I can just tell you from having been in front of the camera for 25. years, that does not happen very often. So when you saw that if we were pissed off at each other, which was a rarity, or if we were happy for each other, like he helped me when my dad died, when my sister died, he was there. Like that sort of stuff is real. You know, I've helped him with certain things. And he's not going to have that relationship with the next person. And that is to no fault of the next person at all. And all I can tell you is that guys,

and the social media response by people has been overwhelming. The number, I mean, I didn't, you reached out. I don't know you. Well, I mean, you're deserving, though. But I, and I just, and that's just based on a fan of some of the show. Yeah.

And how appreciative. And we hit on this, you guys grew the game in a time where a lot of people were turning their backs on the game baseball was getting boring it was too long it was too slow well now it's more fun that show was fun and and we know it's on in the clubhouses the players look forward to it the players hate baseball shows they hate being talked about but you guys did it in a certain light where the players appreciated it because it boosted them never once were you guys downgrading or degrading towards player because Kevin knew how hard it was. And we talked about this before this show. I told Danny

said, I never want to be the guy on this side of the ball and in the media that forgot how hard the game was. Because it was tough. And you guys did a really good job of highlighting the right things. Well, I appreciate that. And you know, some critics would say they don't ever ask the tough question. Right. I'm with you. This is not real sports. You know, this is an hour where you can kick back and have fun and discover who your favorite players really are. And by the way, Will, I'm sure you played with guys who would never, ever want to come on the show, not because they didn't like us, but it's just not who they are. And we were perfectly fine with that. Guys are shot. People forget that like athletes are still like human beings.

These guys are scared to talk. They're scared to do interviews. They don't like speaking in front of people. Right. But at the end of the day, if you wanted that avenue, if you wanted that opportunity, we're good with it. We're here to provide whatever you want. And we always said this since day one. And I told this to Joey Vado, who ended up being our final guest with the two of us together, that the show has always been about one thing.

The players. Yeah. The players. And it doesn't mean that we weren't critical. Like, if a guy's struggling, you have to talk. talk about that stuff. It's part of the game. It's part of the game. And it's how do you bounce back from that? I mean, I think this sport more than any other one teaches you so much more about life. I mean, it's how do you get through when Malar always uses this story when you're one for

28 and it's 3 a.m. and you're on the road and you're standing over a pizza box as your home plate and you're sitting there in your underwear and you're looking in the mirror trying to figure out what's wrong with your swing. Like, that's, I didn't know that. until I met him until I started doing the show. Yeah. It's cool stuff. So you're still doing NFL Total Access on NFL Network. I was watching you yesterday, of course.

What's next on the Chris Rose journey? I'll be seeing the last of you with baseball, or is it still kind of... I hope not. Yeah. I love the game too much. You know, I don't want it to be the end. I am taking a little time to just kind of step away. You know, I've got two boys that are 20 and 15.

and I've had the good fortune of, you know, we were kind of ahead of the curve in terms of the pandemic. We've had that camera in our house for 10 years so that I could be the kind of father and husband I wanted to be, right, for a long time. And I still missed games or, you know, performances and things of that nature. But I was able to do a lot of stuff because of that opportunity. Well, right now, you know, our lifestyle is not. going to change. I still have an amazing job at NFL network. I still do a show called Battlebots on Discovery. And so I'm not going to jump right into anything. I would be surprised if I did. The point of this show was kind of New Year's resolutions. Do you have one yet for 2021?

I wouldn't say it's a resolution. You know, when I said my goodbyes last week, I said that Kevin, I'm hopeful that he rubs off on me in the ability to live the moment a lot more. I've been grinding so long as a lot of people in this country have that I haven't paid attention enough to what makes me happy sometimes. I'm focused so much on my family and the next job that I haven't taken a breath. And so I don't know if that's a January 1, 2020. thing or if that is a hopefully it happens today, tomorrow or a month and being able to encapsulate that in the rest of my life moving forward.

You know, I've already done the losing 25 pounds thing. And my wife says I finally look hot again now that I'm growing up to you. I'll say flex another day on the show. Yeah, well, you know, the guy begged for 10 years to see me with my shirt off. so why not do it on the day you're leaving. Hey, why not, right? Go out with the bank. Yeah, I'm better later.

We appreciate it. This has been awesome. This is going into my file is one of my favorite interviews, just so you know. Which one? So this is going in my files under favorite interviews. I hope you know that. Well, then you must have only done like two. Five.

Five. So I've made top five. You heard it's up five. That's for sure. Now, this has been awesome. We really appreciate you. Yeah, I know I speak for Will and baseball fans everywhere. We're going to miss you in 2021 and beyond, but we're really looking forward to what you

have next plan. And I look forward to watching you on Sundays for NFL Total Access, too, because I just like hearing your voice. So thank you so much. I appreciate it. Yeah, we got a few more weeks to go. And then we're off to Tampa for what will be a very interesting and different Super Bowl. When we come back, we'll be trashing Chris's Browns when we come back from the break here.

We don't want to do it with him on camera. but we'll be back with you guys. Thanks so much for joining us, Chris. Wait a second. I'm not even going to get a chance to defend them. Nope, absolutely not. I guess I got to go. That's the point.

All right, guys. Thanks. Welcome to Fantasy baseball today. I'd love to having Chris on. He's just another good guy. We get a lot of good guys on this show. Chris is definitely one of those good beings among the game of baseball. And hopefully we can have him back.

And I really like to his New Year's resolution because I don't know if you've seen it. I know you have kids, but Soul, which is new on Disney Plus. and a new Disney Pixar movie. The whole point of the movie is stay in the moment and live your life because so often we grind. We see our goals and it's good to have goals. But sometimes we forget to live our own life. Sometimes we forget to stop and smell the flowers.

And I think Chris Rose basically mentioned that just in a different way. And I think that's going to be my 2021 resolution as well is stop and smell the flowers, live the life and try and enjoy yourself a little bit more. How about you? Yeah. No, I mean, that's always a good one, especially like you said, I'm a family. And the last couple years of my life has been a lot different away from the game. And it's less about myself and more about taking care of my family, my wife, my kids.

So I think being in the moment is huge, especially enjoying those moments as your kids grow up and things like that. But I think as a parent, you have to also make time for yourself. And my time for myself is doing things like this, which I love talking baseball. I love hanging out here with you. So I think just trying to find a little more time for myself, me and my wife, go to dinner, go whatever, whenever we can go to a restaurant. Even if we just go sit outside, maybe make more time for my wife and I, because all of our energy is working kids.

And yeah, so yeah, just find a little time for myself and my wife. How about that? And Aruba, that's not huge. She got to be a trip for Aruba. That was the best Christmas present, man. She, we need a getaway so bad. My fiance, I need to step up for example. She surprised me with like a three and a half day trip.

Quick trip because, I mean, we got kids here and we can't leave them for too long. We have work. But a little getaway. It's like a two-hour flight from here in Fort Lauderdale. It would be nice to get away. That's great. Well, I got good news for you. More good news on top of Aruva, better than Aruba.

Frank and the rest of the fantasy baseball today crew is allowing us back through January every Wednesday. So you down to kick it with me for a few more, a few more hump days. dude i'm i'll get on it i'm gonna get us some awesome guests i promise i love it all right we'll be back happy new year to everyone hope everyone has a safe happy 2021 we'll see you we'll smell you at 2020 we never liked you see you'll bye we don't like you goodbye we don't like you goodbye we'll miss you guys we won't miss 2020 fancy baseball today podcast