The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Harold Reynolds Of MLB Network Discusses The Return Of The MLB

Episode Date: May 28, 2020

Hey, it's Craig Vizio. Listen to the home of the Astros in your home. Just tell your smart speaker, play Sports Talk 790 on IHeart Radio. Thank you, all of favor. 129, soon to be 130 on 790. A second-time visitor to the show. And we had a great time the first time talking about Huddl and all things involved in the MLB Network. We decided to get Harold Reynolds back on the show today.

Harold, it's Matt Ross. Good afternoon. The last time you were with us, we asked you about the Astros going to the World Series and winning. And you said the only reason why they wouldn't win it is that they forgot to get off the bus. Well, they left Garrett call on the bus. Yeah.

Yeah, that was a tough one. Tough series. No doubt about it. Yeah, looking back at that, it seems like years ago, doesn't it? Yes. Do you know, I would die, Harold. It's like five months ago. Yeah, I would die for Astro fans being ridiculed

and the Astros being ridiculed around Major League Baseball this year about the cheating scandal. I'm telling you, I would just go crazy for that. Instead, we have Max Scherzer with that horrible tweet yesterday. Harold, help us out here. We are beyond bummed after what we've seen the last 48 hours from both the union and the owner's side. Well, I look at it this way. You know, I went through three strikes and a lockout. In my 12 years of Major League Baseball, four years of turbulent times, right, fighting over things. and at the end of the day, everybody wants to get on the field and play. And what makes this so different to me is this is about if we can prove we're healthy and safe, we play. That's what the conversation should be.

And that's kind of where I'm focused at. I really believe they get that piece of the polls settled, where they're able to agree on testing and safety measures and everything else, and the CDC says go, then they're going to play. The money, the squabbling, all that will take care of itself. That should be done, though, in my mind, behind closed doors. And I'm disappointed that baseball is out in front talking about finances. If you look at the NBA, not one person asks what LeBron James makes and they can care less

because the NBA basically came out and said, we want to play. We'll figure it out. That's all baseball has to do. And hopefully we can get back to that narrative. but first and foremost, I think we've got to just get the health issues settled, and I do think we'll play. Harold Lowe. I'm sorry, go ahead.

I thought I lost you. Oh, no, yeah, we're here. We're just soaking it all in, my man. We're just trying to find something positive because, you know, we love the Astros. We love Major League Baseball. I'm not necessarily worried about 82 games. I think anything less than that seems kind of flimsy. The Hunter game reaction to what the players want, I know is because they want their sound

It just feels like, and Harold, I've been in media long enough to go, remember what it was like in 94. It just feels like there's such a distance between the two sides and that the clock is really against him as compared to these types of things that have happened in the past where you've been able to have, you know, wrangling for two or three months before our decision was finally coming down. Yeah, but I think we've got a little different scenario. You know, the world's in hurt right now, the whole world, everybody. You know, we've got 39 million people in this country that file for unemployment, and people are trying to figure out where their next meal is coming from, and that's legitimate stuff. So I think that has to come into play pretty soon in perspective. We haven't had sports in 60, 90 days, it seems like, forever. Baseball's got to get back out in the forefront, and they've got to get on the field.

If, again, and I coined it with this, that they've got to be healthy and safe in all those measures. And if that's the case, then you've got to get on the field. There will be no excuse and there'll be no exception from a fan base or a perspective that you squabble over money and decide not to play. So I think it's going to hurt the game long term to the point where we'll see major detriment. I go back to 94, which ended up being my last year in the big league, was 94 because what happened is basically 95 camera. Well, we know you're a good little player. you're more of a veteran downside.

See you later. We'll get a young guy to play. And they're in the middle of this thing. If this contains the way it is, there's going to be a lot of guys that do not play ever again. They don't play this summer. They'll never see the field again. That's just the way it will turn. And what do you think, Harold, like you said,

you went through it on all the strikes and stuff. Can you just relate your experiences, your memories of the interest level in baseball after the strike, how low it was and how do you think it would translate to today? Well, we were fortunate to have Cal Ripkin or somebody come around and play well. And Tony Glyn was chasing 400. So they brought some excitement back to baseball in 95. But today, I mean, if these guys decide not to play,

I want to know who's going to beat Clemson next year in college football. You know, I mean, that's where our attention is in the country today. It's on the NFL. It's the next thing up. And that's why it's so important that baseball figures this out and gets back on the field because we have other things now. Soccer's big in this sport, in this country. Now, it was never at the height that it is. So there's so many other things that you have that you can gravitate to and people will turn to.

I think the one thing that's happened during this whole pandemic is you realize, I don't have to drive my kid to travel ball every night. This is different. and driving 30 miles to go play a game, I think local sports is going to come back. And so all these things have changed the perspective on people in this country. At least it has where I live here in Jersey. We can segue to that. Huddle is something I use with my daughter,

who is playing junior high volleyball. You've been with us before on them, and it's a great website to kind of show other coaches, other players, yourself, some of the highlights of what kids are all involved. So how did you get involved in Huddle again? and what do you recommend it? Because it's more than just baseball.

It's a lot of different sports. Well, yeah, I mean, I got involved with Huddell because I know a lot of the guys there. They're from Nebraska, and I got family from Nebraska. But my nephew was a high school football player at the time, and he was getting recruited. And Hudd was a platform that he was sending his tapes out or setting his tapes on for coaches to come see. He ended up playing for Chip Kelly at Oregon. But he parked with Texas and Florida and a lot of different plays.

places, but he ended up going to Oregon and Huddl was a big base of them being able to see him. So during this whole time that we got set down in the spring, no kids are playing spring sports and not playing possibly in this summer, it becomes a great hub to get your best highlights on, your best workouts, and let coaches see you and evaluate you and recruit you. And they've got seven million kids on that site now, and coaches go to it constantly. I like the convenience of it. I like the consistency of it, and I love the huge platform that it's on because you have coaches from all different sports going to that side. And if you want to be seen with that local travel team or the next college you want to go to,

it's a great place to set your videos for the platform to be saying. Yeah, baseball, my daughter in volleyball, soccer, I know football, all at H-U-D-L huddle.com is how you can make that happen. Yeah, baseball and softball. Don't forget those softball players, you too. All right, yeah, I want to give the shout out of the softballers too. Harold, Scott Burroughs speaking on behalf of this. Is that a good move for him, or is he just somebody got a hold of a email that he sent out to his clients and, you know, by just word of mouth, what he said in telling his guys to hold firm,

can that do any damage to the sport overall? Well, Scott's got a different perspective. You know, he's obviously one that knows how to get you top. dollar and he's been around a long time. So that's his perspective. I don't have the same perspective. I think that this is a different time that we're in. And I understand they made a deal back in March and what salaries thought they should be and the scale that it's on. But I also know that the country is not where it was in March as we enter into June. You know, we didn't have 39 million people thinking at that time they're going to lose the job. You know, at that time it's $2 million or so.

and it's like, okay, we'll get through this. Now it's $39 million. And everybody's adjusting. You look everywhere and every major business is falling apart. So you have to do your part and make adjustments as well. And I know that's part of the whole thing. So I don't know if the revenues and all that or what everybody seems to think they are, but they're putting money on the table.

It's a matter of figuring that out. And that's what Scott Boris does, you know. He's a great agent. He does a great job to represent his clients. I just think that in this scenario, there's going to have to be some flexibility if these guys want to get back on the field. If there's no flexibility and we stay where we're at, baseball's in major trouble moving forward. Because I really honestly believe that we're going to tear down our public trust in a way that's never happened ever before. This is pure conjecture on our part, and I just want to throw yours out there as well.

how many owners do you think could be better served by just saying, you know what, we just can't negotiate. This has got to be what we've got to do if you want to play baseball this year. And if you aren't willing to take an additional cut beyond the prorated cut, we may be better off just taking a season off? I don't know if anybody else wants to do that because it's going to be hard to get that back. But I do know this, just from my own personal experience, that they tried before where you have. have guys crossed the picket line or whatever. And the difference here is, you know, at that point, people want to see real Major League baseball players, you know,

but you had different sports going. You had the NBA. You had different options. Right now, we all huddled up on Sunday night to watch Michael Jordan from 30 years ago and thinking it's the greatest thing ever. People are starving to watch sports. And so my point is, if you don't want to play,

there's a minor leagueer they'll gladly put out there on the field, and people will watch it this time. That's my fear that people are going to watch it because I'd watch a little league game right now compared to nothing. And so I don't know how much leverage players have in saying, never mind, I won't play. Okay, fine, next up. And I think next up might work this time. So I guess we've got to put you on the spot then, Harold. Does something get done this year?

And if it does, how soon? I think it gets done. I think we're playing baseball in July. and worst case, we'll start in August. But again, I'm throwing the finances aside. They'll work that out. I just think we've got to figure out health-wise and testing and all that. And if everything works to be true, we'll be back, I'd say, mid-July, end of 1st of August.

How many games? Well, I think we can still play, they can play 80 games, but I think even 60 is fine. And you go into the playoffs with an expanded. The battle will be, I kind of like, I want to see what happens. It's going to be such competitive baseball in this little short sprint to the postseason. It may be the best baseball we've seen in several years because you're going to be coming all guns blazing. And you're going to be seeing the best baseball played.

Mistakes are going to hurt you. And if you lose five, seven games in a row, you're going to be out of it. You think 60 games you could still see? I think 80 for me, Harold, is about as low as you. get. I think 60 becomes basically a video game. Nah, I still think you can go 60. I mean, if you look at a minor league season, they play 142. And, you know, they split that in half, and those halves are competitive. And so you're just a little under a half of a minor league season. And then you're going to the playoffs, and the

playoffs can be a month long. I think you add 14 teams or maybe even 16 and see what happens at the end. So I think the playoffs might be another a little bit longer than normal and to be competitive. So I don't know. I just just my thinking. I don't know. We haven't been down this road. You can be right. I can be right. I don't know.

I think the main thing we've got to do is get on the field and figure it out. All right. Remind folks again about hudel.com for anybody that has kids that are competitive, they're thinking about maybe thinking about playing athletically in college, how valuable that website can be. Yeah, just go Huddl.com, HUDL.com, and just find your sport, baseball or softball, and to direct you what to do.

And then if you don't have existing video, go in your backyard, play catch, throw hit, let us see your skills, send it in. And you go to the site, they're going to teach you how to upload and build the best video for coaches to see. That's the best way I can plug it for you. Whose idea was it for MLB Network to have two days of Derek Jeter games on? Well, we've been doing these things. We did Albert Poulth Day. Now Derek Jeter Day is coming up. I'm sure as we go through this thing,

we're trying to create all kinds of stuff. There'll probably be a Nolan Ryan day coming up pretty soon with all his no hitters. And just highlighting guys through their careers. I don't know who came up with the idea, but that's kind of the format we've been running with right now. Well, if you have a Casey Candel Day, that means there's no baseball season.

You know this, right? Casey Candell Day. I love it. We'll do that. No, we will not. No, I mean, I love Casey, but don't do it. If you don't do it, that means there's no baseball in 2020, and I don't want to watch your network anymore. That's it. I hear you. I hear you loud and clear. Harold, loud and clear. Please don't be a stranger. We'll always be here for you guys in Huddl, and I look forward to getting your insights down the road as hopefully we talk some baseball before. Not too long from now, but it feels like forever.

I'll leave on this positive note. You know, you're looking at guys who are starting to work out, even teams are opening their facility. Yeah. And just a real quick example. and I'll get out of here for you. But Darnell Cole is the hitting coach for Arizona back. He's one of my best friends. And what they're doing, they have two ballparks. They have the regular Major League Stadium, and then they have the spring training complex.

And a player comes, he's in his uniform, he drives up. He's got his batting gloves. He goes down the elevator, walks out on the field. He takes his swings through his 30 minutes, gets his workout in. Each coach has their own bag. They're the only ones that touch it. That player goes home. They're just going to get them ready.

They're trying to figure out how they can get good to be healthy and get guys ready. So they're working out. They're getting ready. So I think once we settle this, we can get playing a lot quicker than we thought we might. Amen. Thank you. Very much, Mr. Reynolds. Look forward to talking with you soon. Sorry, if you're taking so much time. No, are you kidding? I can talk to in their hour. Oh, I got one more for you since you're not leaving me yet. Will you tell every baseball player to leave the Astros alone and that the Red Sox didn't get enough of a punishment? How about that in this conversation? I don't even think anybody's talking about the

I know. They got a pass on everything right now. They did. They did, Mr. Reynolds. Thank you, Harold, very much, my friend. We'll talk to you soon. All right, bye-bye. We'll see you.

Harold Reynolds, representing Huddle and the MLB Network.