Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Who Will Have the Toughest Time Adjusting to the New Rules? (with James Loney) | 606

Episode Date: February 20, 2023

Trevor Plouffe brings in his friend and former Los Angeles Dodger James Loney to break down the new rules, sign stealing, modern day youth baseball, and more!Use code TALKIN for $20 off your first SeatGeek order. https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALKIN++++Timestamps:0:00 Blitzball0:30 Intro3:55 New Rules Will Be Strictly Enforced6:00 No More Shifts12:55 Pitch Clock20:00 Position Players Pitching21:05 Evan Drellich's Latest on Sign Stealing30:30 Youth Baseball Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, thanks for tuning in to the podcast. Just wanted to let you know that one of the best tournaments we've run thus far is premiering on the J.M. Warehouse YouTube channel. One inning league roulette. Quick games. Lots of action. One team doesn't make the postseason. One team doesn't get drafted. Hearts get broken.

Heroes get made. Make sure you tune in and join us in the live chat. JM Warehouse YouTube channel. Games premiere at 6 o'clock. Thanks. Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. It's Monday, February 20 at 2023. I got my recreational sports partner here with me.

James Loney's on the show. Let's go. That's so, man. You ready to me? Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. Like I said, you know him as the four major leaguer, Dodgers, raise a bunch of other dang teams. You're kind of just like me in that respect.

But I know him. as my rival coach at our Little League, my recreational sports partner, we're playing golf, we're playing tennis together. James Loney is in the building. Again, we're filling in for Jake and Jimmy, who are just frolicking naked on the beaches of St. Lucia right now. But we're here working, James. What's up, Doug?

What's up, man? Appreciate you for having me out of. I'm excited to have you on. Like I said, we've been spending a lot of time together after our playing careers have ended. You moved out here from Vegas. We've just been, like today, for instance, after this, we're going golfing. We played tennis yesterday.

A lot of stuff, I tell people all the time, you've got to find something to get that competitiveness out of you. And I think you're kind of my guy. You beat me in tennis. I think I'm going to take you in golf today. Which one do you like better? You know, it's been a process for me lately, right? I'm still trying to figure it all out. You know, I will give you some credit for tennis.

You're definitely stepping your game up. You know what I mean? But, you know, I'm going to take you a tennis every time. James is one of those tennis players that just gets to everything. And, you know, every once in a while, he'll just smack one back of you. He's a very defensive player for the most part. And then he'll just get crazy on you, come to the net and take you down. But this show, James, I don't know if you know this.

It's called talking baseball. And we're going to cover some topics today. We're going to go over some of the rule changes. I want to get your take on the implementation of the stuff that's going to happen this year. we're going to talk about the Evangrelich book and some of these quotes that are coming out about a Red Sox player naming some Dodgers players it's a hell of a quote

and then finally at the end I think we'll talk about youth baseball where we think it's headed what you should do if you're a parent all that stuff it's going to be a good episode it's brought to you by Seeky Beers why don't you bring it down for us the show as always is brought to you by Seeky Code Talk and gets you $20 on

your first order. Red circle on the ticket means a bad deal, but they tell you about the good deals as well with a big green bubble on there. They give it a score. Very easy to use. You want to get a good score on the seat, so you're making a good investment.

So yeah, easiest app in the world to use. Jake's really good at it. That's what we use every time we go to a game. And if Jake's really good at it, you'll be really good at it. Seek. That's our litmus test for anything. If Jake can do it,

we know it's easy enough for the mask. to do it. So go to Seekek, get the green bubble, go to a game, go to a concert. We just had Valentine's Day last week. And you know what's a good gift is concert tickets. I need to go to some more live shows. I'm going to see geek. I'm going to bring a liby to some stuff soon. Let's get into it. There was a big conference call between the media and kind of everyone and MLB hosted it talking about these rule implementations, what they're going to do. It sounds like they're going to be really, really strict. with it during spring training. And I was talking last episode about how, you know, you can liken it to a horse that needs to be broken. A lot of these guys in the big leagues haven't played with these rules. A lot of them have, but I would say like the upper echelon players haven't really played with these rules.

And it's going to be an adjustment. And they're going to use spring training to really hone in on that. They're going to be calling box. They're going to be calling balls and strikes, you know, without having a pitch thrown. I think guys are going to be really mad. Jason Stark, I said last time, too, he put out a really good article and basically said it's going to be a shit show in spring training. We have the shift being banned. We have the pitch clock.

We have the bigger bases. We have the zombie runner, as we're calling it, in extra innings now right away. That's going to stay. Is there anything that jumps out to you in particular where you think it's going to have like the biggest effect on gameplay? I would probably start with the shift. You know, I know, I know, playing. throughout the years, especially being a left-handed batter. Like, there would be so many rockets that I would either hit right up the middle

or even to the pool side and guys were just making plays, right? And it's tough. You know, I remember hitting a line drive right over C.C. Zabathia's head, you know, when he was pitching and it's an out, you know. So the shortstop's right over second base. And I don't believe the game was intended, you know, to be like that. You know, when the game was created, I don't think they were like, man, a line drive up the middle should be an out.

So I'm for that. You know, I do like that. They are trying to implement some of these things. get some more offense into the game, get some younger viewers, you know, hopefully, you know, engaged. And yeah, I'm all for that. I think that's interesting. We kind of talk about that sometimes on the show, like, what were people thinking when they invented this game?

Why 60 feet, six inches? Why 90 feet? It all seems to work out really well. The one thing that I'm curious about, and this has kind of been talked about between different organizations. When I went to Minnesota, they were even talking about this. So we thought there was going to be a pizza sliced cutout in the infield where you couldn't be behind second base. Now, that's not true.

It's just a straight line and a shortstop has to be on the right side of the base and vice versa for the second baseman. So I think the ground balls up the middle are still going to be outs. And then we're still going to have guys shifted over into that three hole. So you might have a bigger hole like kind of where the second baseman would typically play. and I'm talking about like a pull side for a lefty. One thing they're talking about. And I heard this with the twins as well, but apparently yesterday they said,

this is not going to happen. So you have to be on that side of the base as the pitch is released. After the pitch is released, you can go over there. So they're saying, are we going to see short stops or second baseman, time it up and be sprinting over there?

And they said, no, you can't do that. Okay. So I'm happy because that would be so stupid. and it would make our sport look ridiculous if that was the case. Yeah, and it would be a lot of moving parts there. And, you know, I think even new fans, right,

they're trying to get that engagement. They're watching the game, trying to figure out, like, wait, when can he move? Or why can he move that far? You know what I mean? So, yeah, I'm not a big fan of that. But actually even going back to, like, the shift thing where it's like, you know,

I always would see pitchers with two strikes. And then, let's just say the pitcher at two strikes on the guy, right? And then the coaches, whoever, would still leave the shift intact. And a lot of times with two strikes, you're not going to put the ball, you're going to hit the ball at hard. So it's like they would hit a weak ball right through the shift. And I'm just like, if that shift wasn't there, that's an automatic out. So I think the pitchers actually will benefit from this where it's like maybe you have the guys back in the normal positions where they kind of used to be.

And it's in the, you know, they're not getting frustrated that they jam the guy and then now nobody's in that position. It's interesting. Another, another way that teams are going to try to circumvent these rules. They want that like shallow outfield in right field cover. That's what they want for big bopping lefties. So people are saying, and again, I heard this in Twins Camp too, like they're going to be trying stuff like this. I'm curious if they actually do it, bringing, like basically creating a two-man outfield and bringing one of the outfielers into that same position. You can do that.

That's okay with the rules. Like there's nothing against that. Now that I guess it hasn't really happened in the minor leagues a lot, probably because, you know, a regular routine fly ball might turn into a triple. Right. that's the thing. So like, you know, but I guarantee we're going to be seeing something like that this year.

I guarantee, I bet the, the Rays will do something like that, the Astros will do something like that, just to try it out and to see, hey, can we get away with, okay,

for instance, the twins, you got Joey Gallo, Byron Buckston, Michael A. Taylor. I don't know if they're all going to be in the outfield at the same time,

but Michael A. Taylor and Biden Buckson can go get it with the best of them. Right. So, like, you know, backup second base, Rover or something like that. I don't know if we're going to see it, but I'd assume that I'd assume we're going to see it. Yeah, you know, teams are going to try stuff.

And then come to the CBA again, the collective bargaining agreement, hey, are we going to have to outlaw that now? You know what I mean? Like there's always that way of looking at it, right? It's like teams are going to try this and then some guys aren't going to like it. And then is it going to work out, you know, for the betterment of the game? You know, I'm not sure. I mean, I think it'll look at a guy like Cody Bellinger as a hitter. You know, I know he's kind of gone down in average.

And I feel like he's a pretty good hit the ball the other way. So I think, you know, a possible, like the shift change this year may help him, right? You know, I think you may get some more balls through the hole. He can hit the ball the other way. But a lot of times, you know, a lot of fans or, you know, people I'm sure you've talked to you, too. They'll be like, well, he should just hit the ball the other way. It's like, it's not that easy. Like, a guy's throwing a 94-mile cutter in on your hands.

you can't just beat the shift every time because you want to beat the shift you know what I mean so I think that's you know you're some like real traditional like oh we don't need to you know need to keep it like it is it's like oh these guys are throwing harder than ever the ball's moving more bullpins are nastier than ever you know we're talking about like when they invented the game I don't think they would invent it at 60 feet six inches if the game was invented sure sure everybody throwing like a hundred down you know it's like it'd be a safety risk right I think we'd all be like No, that's too close, bro. You need to back up with a few more feet, right?

Dude, we would have been, I would have crushed it back in the day. If I played like the 20s or something like that. Oh, help. Maybe. Like, come on, man. What are we doing? I would have been the first person to wear a helmet. They'd be like, what's this guy doing?

And then I would just drop it. Yeah. Like, Babe Ruth? What? I mean, come on. And you hear about, I mean, I've done some research and I've looked at like how hard guys were throwing back in the day, you know, like, 86, when the game was, like, that's hard.

Like, you know what I mean? So it's just like the evolution. 86. Baby, I would have still been playing if they throw 86. I mean, we could try to change it back, maybe. The thing that I'm curious about also is, you know, now that we've implemented these rules, these are big changes. Yeah.

That's not like sugarcoded. These are massive changes to the game. And we know that we don't need a CBA to change rules. Right. We, the MLB can propose them to the Players Association. They can say yes and they're implemented right away. If not, I think it's a year or they might even to cut it down to like less than a year where they were Matt Manfred or whoever the commissioner has can come and just say, nope, we're going to

implement these rules. So if some of these work and like I think they will, the pace of the game is going to be quicker. You know, they've cut an average of like 20 something minutes off the games in the minor leagues. I think that's going to be really good for the game. So what's next. That's what I'm kind of curious about is where else can we go? I know they put in a lot of time and effort into, you know, coming up with these rules.

but I don't want to use slippery slope. I hate when people say that term. But this, it could end up being something like that where the game looks a lot different in five years. Yeah. And maybe for the betterment because we need those younger eyes and we need, you said, you said something yesterday. We were playing tennis. And you said you're talking about the Super Bowl and your son. And what did your son say to you?

Oh, he's like, just call me in when the last two minutes are on. And I'm like, bro, that's a great game now. It's the beginning of the fourth quarter. Like, you don't want to watch this? But that's not, that's not like his fault. It's not a shot at your son. This is the way that we're programming kids these days. Everything is short.

You know, even us for this company, we understand there are like short content is killing it right now. And like, that's kind of what we're aiming at. You know, this is a rarity that we do a long form show like this. Right. We have a decent demographic on this, but I don't think we got any 11-year-olds, you know, and that's kind of what we're looking for in baseball is to get more eyeballs on the game. Well, yeah, more options to my son, like, oh, I'm going to go play this video game.

I want to do this. So it's like kids have more options these days. And so it's like how do we, it's not that we're trying to eliminate video games. You know, we played video games growing up, but they're just so much more addicting now to where it's like,

oh, I think I'd rather be doing that most of the time versus watching a baseball game and learning. It's definitely options. I totally agree with that. Let's move on to the pitch clock. And I want to get some of your thoughts. We've talked about it quite a bit on here.

And the rule is pitchers will have 15 seconds to throw the pitch with the base is empty. And 20 seconds for the runner on base. the batter has to be engaged, I believe, with seven seconds left. Now, again, Jason Stark's article calling this a shit show. I think this is going to be the shit show aspect of the new rule changes. Because we have a lot of guys who, veteran guys, the stars of our sport who haven't done this yet. And there are times in games, as you know, where you just need to think a little bit,

especially as a hitter, you're like, dude. Yeah. I need to like process the information I was given. I need to think about what his sequence is going to be. And I think that's going to be the bigger thing. Pitchers, I've heard them say, well, we might get a little bit tired because it's going to be more rapid pace than anything that's been ever, that's ever been done before. So I think that aspect is interesting.

What do you think, do you think this is for the better of the game? Because you said you did play with it at AAA, and do you think it's going to affect the pitchers or the hitters more? Yeah, actually, I think it was an independent ball when I tried to keep hanging on there. But no, I didn't mind it there, but I don't think it was 15 seconds. You know, I thought it was either like 20 or 25. I felt like, you know, I think 15 is maybe a little minimal right there, right? I mean, I just feel like guys, and I think the biggest thing is maybe grip, you know,

especially different climates where it's like, okay, I'm trying to throw a split finger and I'm trying to throw, you know, a nasty slider. And if they're not getting a great grip on it, it's like, oh, should, do I change my pitch? You know, do I just throw it? like what do we do? I mean, you know, I think what we were saying? Can they even like delay the can they call it time out? Well, they can disengage from the rubber and at the time we'll start again. But to combat that, we have the three disengagement rule. Got it. So now you're going to get rid of one of those. Now you can only pick off twice.

And the second time you do that, you have to get the runner out or he gets the extra base. Right. Yeah, I mean, I'm okay with the idea of the pitch clock. I just don't know like timing why is this is the best number, I guess, you know, I guess we'll see. And I believe what you said, AAA, I think was doing 15 seconds. So, you know, I'm sure they've done their research. I'm sure they have the numbers and the data to back up the reasoning for this. I played with it. I end up liking it. I think that will happen at the baby level. I think people look back, like, we should have done this a long time ago. I really believe this is one of those changes that everyone's going to like. Initially, we might get some fuss about it. Right.

A point that was made in Jason's article was, you know, the WBC is here. So a lot of the big name guys are playing in that. And in the WBC, these rules are not implemented. So you're going to have a bunch of guys in spring training getting used to it. These guys will be coming back from WBC and it's going to be an accelerated course for them. And I think that's when we'll see a little bit of like the eye rolling to the young pie or like the slumped shoulders going back to the dug out like, dude, you know. Well, Mike Trout might hit one less. one less home run this year.

I think Mike's going to be just fine with all of this stuff. We'll be good to go. All right. And the disengagement will quickly go through that. I mean, do you have any thoughts on that? Like three times, the third time, if you don't get them, they move. Do you think that's better for the game? What are you feeling about that?

Yeah, I'm okay with it. You know, I mean, like I said, the number, you know, I thought was maybe kind of small at first, too. Like maybe, you know, I think sometimes you start with a higher number than work from there. But like you said, they must have the data. to support it and think it's a good enough number. You know, I do like the idea of the pickoff, though. You know, like trying to trick guys with different moves and stuff like that.

So I don't think I'm a big fan of, like, the number three as being the max. You know, I think I'd like to see it at five maybe just because, especially in certain situations, you know, teams put in a new pinch runner, right, to try to win the game. And this guy has a really good pickoff move. But then, you know, does he want to use it the first pitch, the second pitch? Stuff like the strategy of it. Oh, yeah, the A and B moves. Right. You know what's, I don't know if you know this about this show, but I don't like pitchers.

I really don't. They annoy me, dude. Like, everything's about them. I've always said, pitchers should be working on their pickoff moves, like, a lot more than they do. Especially left-handed pitchers. You should have a hold move, a hang move, if you will, that completely shuts down the running game. We saw Mark Burley do that. There's some lefties that do that.

Everyone should do that. You should work on it enough to do that. they don't. So like, I'm okay with this. Like you guys, you guys aren't working on your moves anyway. So you get three, you get some BS move anyway just because the catcher calls it. Now we're going to be putting more of an emphasis on like, dude, if you're trying to pick a guy off or hold them, give us your good move. Yeah.

I didn't, I pitch in high school and I love picking off guys. I was lefty, you know, so I'd love hanging and kind of seeing what they're going to do, doing the, you know, head movements and stuff like that, just trying to toy with them. But yeah, I mean, I think pitchers need to work on that, like I said, especially lefties, right? Yes. I mean, you shut down the game. At first base, you can try them again at first base so many times, right? Because the ball hit in the gap.

Yeah. If that guy's holding closer, it's hard for him to score. You know what I mean? But if he's able to get a bigger lead or even steal on you on that one pitch, a double in the gap is probably going to score. All we try to do defensively in the big leagues, I mean, to get your numbers up is to avoid extra base hits. Right.

That's why they'll give you the bunt or give you a base hit because on first base it doesn't really matter. Right. Once you get in the second base, things change. So that's, you know, if you're a freaking pitcher, how could you not want to keep people on first base. I never understood that. The guys that have a 1-5 or a 1-6 to home

plate, I'm like, dude, you have to figure it out and they just... Some guys don't. I think sometimes they think, well, I'm in the big leagues and, you know, these guys are so good at these runners, it's almost like I don't think they're confident in their move. You know, I think they're like, oh, these guys will be ready to get back or

they know how to read me, so I think they're like, I'm just going to focus on the batter, right? Like, my job is to get the batter out. I think that's like their thought process behind it. Yeah, it is. It is. It is. But at the same time, if you can get the guy out at first, why not? But, dude, you can only think about one thing at a time. That's what I'm saying about pitchers, bro. Like, come on. Especially, they don't even have the hit anymore, like, at all. Yeah. Maybe they'll see more pickoffs now, then, because they can focus on that.

I sure hope so, man. That'd be honestly, if I became a manager, it'd be one of the first things I implemented on my team was all you fucking pitchers are going to go work on your pickoff moves. It's going to win ass games. What do hitters have to do in spring training? We got to work on everything. Run bases. Defense. Defense hit everything. But the pitcher's like, I'm going to throw a bullpen and go fishing or go golfing.

Godly. I think you're just jealous of their golf game. Maybe, maybe. The start to get the golf four days at least. The rest of the stuff here, I don't really care about. The new base sizes,

like it's supposed to help, you know, base dealers and all that, whatever. Position player is pitching. I'm glad they kind of got rid of that. Really? Well, they didn't get rid of it.

Oh, you want it? Why? I don't know. Oh, no. It got, got too much for me James now like there's only certain times where people can pitch you know they have to be down a certain number of runs uh they or an extra innings what is it beavers i believe it's in extra innings winning team up 10 or more losing team down eight or more where like teams the last

couple of years has started getting like they're down's five or six they're throwing a position player out there not about that life at all i i it's it was gimmicky and cute for a little bit but when you start to see it over and over again. It's not cute anymore. They killed it. They killed it. Is everything? And selfishly, you know, I'm two for two homers, position players pitching. So I'm the greatest player to ever play the game against position players pitching. So I think my like numbers are going to be like intact forever now. I'll have that crown. Bebers, I think I need to get a plaque for that. Once you tell Jimmy and Jake when they get back from frolicing naked together to get me a plaque, get me a plaque for that. You can get you another plaque. You mark that for me.

I think you might have to have a minimum number of the bats to qualify. Two's good. Too's good. Move on to something that a lot of people have been in my mentions on on social media. Evan Drellich, you know, he is a writer for the athletic, and he's him and Ken Rosenthal. They had the article about the Astros back in the day. Now he's written a book.

It's called Winning Fixes Everything, How Baseball's Brightest Mind Created Sports Biggest Mess. And in this book, there's a quote from a, Red Sox player, I believe. And in that, he talks about Jock Peterson, running back during a playoff game, going into the video room asking if they had the catcher's signs yet. And there was like an NLB official in there.

And basically he was saying, look, they were cheating and nothing happened to them. Now, my understanding, and I'm sure there are people who think that the Dodgers, the Red Sox, the Yankees were all. all doing the same thing as the Astros. Now, I've got to be honest to you, I've never heard that. What the Astros are doing, signs in real time relaying them to the batter. They're the only team that I know that was doing that. And I've taught to a lot of different people.

We both played for a lot of different organizations. I never encountered that whatsoever. I will say, if you're going back looking for signs that the catcher is giving and decoding them using video. Yeah. That's a tale is oldest time for baseball. players. And I think as an organization, if you weren't doing that and you weren't looking for tips on a pitcher using the video room, then I don't know what you were doing. Like, you still

have to go out there and get on base, get the second base, and relay the signs. And people want to think that like baseball players just cheat all the time. We would try to get the pitches from the catcher, you know, his signals, whether that's, you know, second sign shake first, outs plus one, whatever it could be. If they were using dummy signals, you'd try to get him. You'd try to get on second base and you try to relay him. But like throughout a season, how many times did that happen for you? Yeah, like I remember we'd go over it, you know, maybe before series or, yeah, hey, we think the catcher, you know, we think these are the signs. And if we're at second base, you know, maybe hands on your knees for this or that, you know, whatever it was. So yeah,

you're always just trying to get that edge. I mean, when the pitchers are watching video on the hitters, you know, that's essentially what they're doing, right? They're watching the hitters. They're using video to make a plan and come after you, right? So it's just like, well, we always I thought like, well, if your catcher signs aren't good enough, that's not our fault. You know what I mean? And that's, I've never heard that as, you know, being close to cheating. No, that's the game within the game. That's gamesmanship.

I don't know. Maybe by the book it's considered because we're using technology. I guess video is considered technology. But I got to be honest. That's been going on forever. And I don't think anyone that's ever played the game will tell you that's cheating. Right. It's just, it's doing your due diligence.

Am I in my mind? Now, if you're going there and you have a camera, pointed at the catcher with nobody on base and you're relaying the signs in real time like that, that's cheating. Right, right, right. And I also think I want to make this point. If you have some fucking video guy doing it for you,

getting the signs or getting tips, I think that's cheating. Yeah. I think you have to do it as a player or even a coach. They have to be the ones doing it. If you have some software program, if you have someone that you hired some outside firm or counsel, whatever it may be to do that for you,

then I do believe it's cheating. It has to come from the team. The game is played by the players and it's coached by the coaches. They have to be doing this stuff. If it's someone else, then I look at it in a different light. Is it the same as the Astros and relaying those signs? No, no. It's not. That's on a whole different level. And I will say again, I don't know of any other team that was doing that. Now, if someone does and they want to come forward and say it, I'll look at that team the same way that I do as the 2017 Astros. But until then, this, this, looking for the signs from the catcher, going back and trying to decode them, that's been going on forever. And I just, I'm sorry, I can't put it on the same level as that.

No. I mean, I've talked to pitchers about this too. And it's like, look, if our signs aren't good enough, you know, tip your cap to you, right, for stealing them. You know, I don't think, you know, the pictures that at least I've encountered would even get mad at that, right? No, they get mad at themselves or the catcher. Exactly. You got to get better signs, right? I mean, that's the whole thing.

Or like, you know, the catch, I mean, even a runner at first. Sometimes you're trying to peek in. You're trying to see the signs. A lot of times catchers aren't mixing it. So it's either like, all right, well, you might need to not just put one finger down anymore, especially if you have a real alert base runner. There were some days back then when that happened. Like you get on first base.

I never did this. I wasn't good enough to do this. It's very hard. Again, people think the baseball players just like cheat all the time. Dude, like go ahead and try to get the signs from first base. It's very difficult. Then you have to worry about getting. picked off. That's another thing. But nowadays, the catchers are so aware of everything.

Right. They're not going to. They got their knees all pointed different angles. They know how to like get in those positions. But if again, let's let's get into it. If a catcher's got his legs open, he's not covering his signals and nobody's on base and the first base coach can see. Yeah. And he relays them to the batter. That's not cheating. That's game within the game. That's gamesmanship. Right. You know, there is a line. And I don't exactly, I don't know if it's like a hard line somewhere. I think you'd have to just ask me about different. instances yeah but there's a line where it goes from gamesmanship to cheating and I don't think you know getting using video which is readily available to

everybody before the game right to decode the signs from second base I don't think that crosses the line no I don't think so I mean like you said it's either the guy's gonna be out there at second trying to see the signs and pick him up or relay him or you said well we're just watching the video and being like oh look there it is right there we we're supposed to not use what we saw you know what I mean um so yeah I think uh I think you're good with that yeah like I said if someone comes out and says hey these teams were doing it differently then I'll we'll talk about it then but until then like this quote and everything to me it doesn't

change much man and honestly I can't wait to get to the day where we're like don't have to talk about this shit anymore because we talked about it a lot and it was obviously a massive story in our sport right but dang like I just want to talk about the games on the field. Well, people will do what they got to do to win, right? Because even like the Astro situation, do I look at them as like a terrible team for doing that? I wouldn't say terrible.

And the only reason I would say that is because they probably had a feeling that the consequences wouldn't be hard enough, you know, or, you know, be, you know, when they won the championship, it was kind of like, well, we got fined. We need to get fined, right? Our owner got fined. It's not like they stripped them of the title. You know, it's not like any of those things happen.

So I think they just felt like, all right, well, it's worth the risk. I wonder if you went and asked it. I've never done this. I wonder if you went and asked them right now, like, was it worth it? What they would say. Because from what I gather, a lot of them were like under the understanding or the thought process that every other team was doing something like this. And again, I haven't heard from any other teams that were doing this.

I really haven't, dude. And I've poked around. I do get mad at them, though. Yeah. But I'll tell you who I get mad at. I don't get mad at the young guys. I don't get mad at Bregman. I don't get mad at Alex Cora.

Carlos Beltram. Hensky, the manager. I get mad at those guys because you're in charge. And Hensky, you know, he's come out and said, I tried to stop it once. I broke the TV. Well, bro, they kept fucking doing it. You didn't stop anything. And if you really wanted to stop it, you could stop it.

But you did it. Those guys I put the blame on because they're the leaders in that. You know as a rookie you come up. You're going to listen to what the older guys are saying. And you might even think it's commonplace for this to be happening. Yeah. And you're like, fuck, I'm in the big news now. I guess this is what goes down.

If they were doing that as a young player, I'd just be like, oh, okay, I guess this is what you got to do to win, right? Yeah. That might be an unpopular take that I don't. I believe you're referring to AJ Hinch, not Hinsky, right? Oh, did I say Hensky? I'm sorry. Eric Hinski, well-regarded coach, I think.

I like Hensky. Yeah. Yeah, he was good buddies with my boy, T. Skagg. So, hence, I'm very sorry I just put you in the same breath as A.J. Hinch. Next time, don't have the same first three letters of the name, though. That's not his fault either. But that's kind of my take on it. I mean, people wanted us to mention it on the show.

Yeah. They come at us, like, almost like it's like a gotcha moment for everybody else in the league. But that's my take on it, man. I just don't. There's the line and that doesn't cross it. In fact, I think, like I said, if you weren't, looking for tells on a pitcher or the signs from the catcher in your pregame video where you weren't working hard enough.

Yeah. No, I mean, that was always the goal, right? It's like, it's already hard enough to hit a baseball. It's really hard enough to get a hit. Like, I mean, I don't know the other sport where it's like, you could do everything right, right? You hit the ball hard, but you still get out. You know what I mean?

So it's like, you know, it's such a game of failure as a hitter where you're like, you know what? We got to do what we can. You know, if it's picking up a tell from second base, if it's reading the catcher sign from first base, you know what I mean? There's so many different ways to do that. And, yeah, as far as when I was playing, guys were always trying to do that.

Always, bro, I love picking up the pitcher, man. You know, I feel of pitchers. You know, I feel of pitchers. Oh, I know now. You know now. We'll talk about it more. All right, let's end this show on a more jovial note, not so solemn.

You and I both coach against each other at a Pony League baseball facility. I'll try not to name it, although I probably have named on the show before. I kind of want to get your thoughts on, youth baseball, where it's going with travel ball, you know, kind of like the decimation of a lot of these community leagues that's happening. Where are you at with all of that?

Because we have a lot of people that listen that have young kids that play ball and they're going through this. I get this question asked about me all the time. Like, what should we do? Should we be giving lessons? Should we be doing travel ball? Should we be doing your community league? Like, where do you stand in all that? Yeah.

I mean, you know, in 2023, I mean, there's so many travel leagues. so many teams. I do believe it's a bit diluted right now. I mean, you know, some of these are, you know, just money makers, right, in a way. You know, and some are really great. So it just kind of depends, you know, where you're at. For me personally, you know, with my kids, I always just want to keep them at the lower level as long as I can. And then I feel like once they outplay that league, then I think, okay, you know, let's just say like if I feel like they're in the top, you know, five players of the league, then I feel like, all right, maybe it's time for them to travel league where they don't they can see the new competition and then they don't get cocky or feel

like oh I'm the best player and like yeah in your league let's go see what's around the city and I'm okay with that you know but as far as like having to do it at such a young age like before 10 you know I don't think you have to do it I think what you really have to do is get the reps whether it's at home whether it's going to take lessons you know doing that work is really what's going to make you a better player and it's not necessarily what travel team you're on or what pony league you're in as far as like developing. Yeah, I agree with that. Like right now, I tell my players that all the time and my parents.

I said, we're going to get a bunch of reps in. We're going to say ground balls, every practice. We're going to throw and fly balls. We're going to run the bases. We're going to take swings. Eventually, you need that better competition. Yeah. But right now we're learning fundamentals at this age.

I'm talking our younger sons or my son and his younger son are seven and eight or seven. They're both seven. Yeah. So I think at this point, it's really about fundamentals, teaching them. Yeah. And having fun. Making them fall in love. Yeah.

Oh, man. Yes. Over here all day. I love it. Well, actually, we're almost ending in the show. Okay. We'll be with you later today. That's true, too.

So I think that's a good point is, you know, if you are watching this, let them have fun. Let them, let them fall in love with the game. And then, you know, like, there's plenty of time for, like, the increased competition. Do you have, like, a favorite drill that you do with your kids that you think that have helped them more? Like, I'll give you my example while you think. Okay. When I was growing up, my dad never let me use a big barrel bat.

Okay. I was a skinny barrel bat until I got in high school. Okay. And then his favorite thing to do with us was we had like a small like metal aluminum pipe that was about this big around smaller than that. And we'd hit the golf ball wiffle balls with it. Okay. So it was really like implementing barrel accuracy and like hand eye coordination and stuff like that. And I really believe that helped me as a hitter, you know, as I was progressing, you know,

in youth and into my profession. Right. Do you have something like that that you do? So we have, you know, I'm really big on defense, you know, especially just with, you know, this level that we're at with our younger kids. And, you know, everybody wants to hit, right? I'm like, no, we'll hit. We'll get those reps in.

But like, I like to do this throwing program with them where we either point our throwing. I guess it's our gloves. I'm a, I'm a lefty. You are a lefty. I'll just show up the lefty then. Okay. This would be my glove side. Yep.

and I like to point the elbow towards the other person I'm throwing to. Like that. Right. Or sometimes you could say point the glove, but I tell kids that and they kind of swing out sometimes. So I like to say point their elbow towards their target, towards a chest, and keep them in line.

I like that. That's like a big thing that I like to talk to them about and have them really think about it because like kids at that age, they're like, I put my elbow, but they're not really thinking. It's like, no, think about where your target is, focus, you know, get in line and make a good throw.

Because, you know, I tell them it's like, hey, you can make a great play on defense, but if you can't make a throw, it doesn't really matter. We're going to keep you guys up to date on the standings of our division. You're the Cardinals. I'm the Diamondbacks.

I'm always the Diamondbacks. I don't know how that star, but go Snake Spate. We play for rings in the desert. Evan Longoria, Diamondback. What do you think Madison Bumgarner's going to do with the pitch clock?

What the fuck is Matt and Bumgan? He'll get a couple more fights here. I have two things I want to end on. One, who's going to have the biggest problem with all these rule changes? who do you think one particular player one player yeah you probably did name it right there um i feel like what's the other guy i feel like he's getting a little um salty about certain things on the surzer no what's the other guy i feel like he sorry sure Robbie ray i feel like he wouldn't like oh

robbie red i don't like it i don't know just from watching him i don't think he's gonna bebers you got one oh Robbie ray is good he could be a little ornery off the top of my head you know let's say shurzer makes a little bit of a stink once it's all pictures pitcher. I'm trying to think who's like a really ordinary hitter that's like just pissed off

all the time. Soto said he's already working on making the shuffle quick. Hitters don't have a luxury to be mad because we're always kind of like sad.

Oh, that's a good one. Josh Donaldson. Oh. That is a good one. Josh might have a problem with this but also he understands like I'm not trying to strike out on some fucking no pitch.

I think hitters are going to be okay with it and get into the groove. Mine was, Mine was Madbone, for sure. Mad bum might be just mad at it and just like, this is stupid. I mean, he gets mad when a guy swims three and those. This is dumb.

That's the best pitcher of baseball. What do you do? All right, three rapid fire questions for you, okay? All right, let's go. Let's do it. I got to get in my head right now. Okay. Doja cat or duolipa.

Ooh, dualipa. Okay. Sushi or tacos? Sushi. AL East or NL East? Better division this year. A.L. East. A.L. East. We're a freaking coastal elitist pod.

That's going to do it for today. Bebers hit the freaking music. Appreciate you guys. Checking us out. Go show James Lonieson, some love on his socials. He's a stud. The beat of my golf though today. Jake sucks. Ballo today.

TPP is a star to check those out. TPPs are out people. Go check what you said about your favorite team and tell us why we're wrong. Love. Tea time in 15 minutes. You didn't even make you. 25 minutes.

Nice.