The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - People We Miss Hearing From - Mike Stanton

Episode Date: May 13, 2020

is the Matt Thomas Show. Basically final hour of the Matt Thomas show, people we miss hearing from. And we miss hearing from our next guest, longtime major leaguer, current analysts on AT&T Sportsnet, does a show MLB on XM radio. He is a man that I think Mike Stanton, I've seen every one of your playoff games ever because that's all he, ESPN puts on a Yankee postseason games. How are you, sir? I am doing well. Mr. Thomas. How are you today? No complaints, no complaints. First of all, thanks for joining us. How have you been biding your time? I mean, this is just supposed to be your your heaviest work action of the season of the year. Right. Yeah. It's obviously been a

weird start of the season, or well, lack thereof started the season. And yeah, we've all had to made adjustments. I have no complaints. We've been blessed. I don't even know anyone that's being been sick. Really more than anything else, I'm just trying to stay sane and not get cabin fever. I think you're joining a large club with that. So let's get over the most recent news about an 82 game schedule trying to play in the home stadiums. And there's so many layers to this, obviously. But when you first heard of this reduced schedule, what were your initial thoughts? And give it to me from the player perspective. It's obviously, You spent your entire career as a major leagueer and been able to speak to what guys are doing back in the day

and then what they're doing now in 2020. The first time I heard it, you know, as a former player and as someone that was heavily involved, part of my career heavily involved with the Players Association and negotiations with Major League Baseball for CBAs, you know, I was, I was, tell the truth, I was a little upset. But then I have to remember, you know, This is a negotiation. Okay, so what do you do in those situations? Well, you shoot for the stars to get the moon.

And I think that's kind of what's happened here is, you know, the owners want to play fewer games, so they don't have to play the players as much. They want to expand the playoffs because they get more money in the playoffs. And that's just smart business. So we'll have to wait and see, you know, how the back and forth, how the negotiations go between the two sides. But I was a little surprised with the 80 games.

I was expecting a minimum of 100, maybe even 120. But like I said, we'll just have to wait and see where the final number falls. You were a part of the strike in 1994 where revenue sharing was put into play. You as the players said, no chance, no way, no how? How much have things changed in 26 years? And does the virus play a significant role into maybe accepting, maybe not necessarily a 50-50 split, but some sort of revenue share for this 2020 season? You know, Matt, I don't know how revenue sharing would work in this situation.

I mean, if this was truly going to be on the board, this is something that should have been negotiated and talked about a long, long time ago. Because in order for the, if you were going to do a 50-50 split of revenues, does that mean the players don't get paid until the revenues start coming in? I mean, I don't know how that works. So, you know, the issues of the financial part of this industry hasn't changed. You know, the owners still want as much as they can get. The players still want their fair share. And that's always the discussion. Now, does the virus play a part of this?

100% it does. I mean, you know, when you have two sides in an industry that's as big as baseball, you start complaining about money. I think this is something baseball, both sides, both of the owners and the player's side, they're going to have to tread lightly here, you know, because what's going on in this country, there's a lot bigger things going on than, you know, the financial part of the sport of baseball. And I think that, you know, where people are already maybe a little short-fused, you don't want to tick off your fan bases because you're talking about,

you know, billionaires and millionaires making money. Generally speaking, none of us like lockouts, none of us like strikes. We just think, you know, if you don't give us live games, we hate you. But in theory, most labor, sports labor negotiations, typically the fans will favor the players because it's billionaires versus millionaires. And, you know, you always want to root for the, I guess, the millionaires in that particular case. I had the sense that if this becomes a really, really can tanker a situation in 2020,

that the players may not win the court of public opinion. How much does Tony Clark think about that type of thing? Or does he have to close off everything to make sure he's doing the best interest of his union and not worry about what the fans may be saying, especially during this time of year? Well, I don't think he can close it off. I think that he has to keep at least a partial ear on what the fan bases are saying. But, you know, Matt, being a longtime player and being on that side of, never being on the other side, you know, negotiating with Major League Baseball, I actually think

it's the other way around. I always, we always felt that the fan bases were more against the players because the players are just trying to be greedy. And so, you know, that's, and I feel like it can be the same situation through this. That's why I said, but I think, you know, both sides. You know, everyone knows, with information on our fingertips, no, everyone with, with information on our fingertips all the time, everyone knows that this is a $10 billion dollar industry. People, you know, on both sides are making good money. And I think that's where the treading lightly has to come, is that, you know, this is an industry that has done nothing but grow over the last couple decades. And now you have one year that maybe it doesn't get to

grow because of what's happening not just here in the United States, but happening all the over the world. You know, maybe this is a situation that both sides have to suck it up a little bit and just get on the field, help the nation, help the world recover, and then you can try and get back on track later. This thought of, and we're visiting with Mike Stant from AT&T is, you know, having the spring training in your home buildings as compared to going back to Florida or going back to Arizona. Does it make any difference to the player? Does being in home, being in their own beds after being gone for as long as they have been? Or do you think if you're going to be in this sped-up process of trying to get ready for the season,

that maybe being down with six fields and being with the huge cages and multiple places to throw may be an advantage? Is there any advantage of staying home as compared to going back to the spring training facilities? You know, man, in these situations, really try to look at both sides. And I understand, you know, the owner's side of this. I mean, that is a, that's another huge financial hit, getting everyone down. to Florida and everything that has to happen to have those spring training sites open. So I understand and don't disagree that, you know, it may be easier and it's definitely a reduced

financial hit in the home ballparks. As far as the players are concerned, I think that, you know, I don't think I would have a big issue with it, especially if I lived in the town that that I played in. You know, I think that I would be okay with that. I mean, you may have to do things a little bit differently. I think the key to this is, and basically what we're looking at for the people that haven't heard, is basically about a three-week spring training between the middle of June to the beginning of July. So the big question was, you know, how was everybody getting ready?

Three weeks is plenty of time, especially since now that you can kind of see the light at the end of the tunnel, they're doing the negotiations. It does look like we're going to get baseball in some capacity back. Guys can start ramping it up. And, you know, you start, I can remember go back to spring training 95. There was no ramp up. It was like one week, hey, we're going to spring training. And, you know, so you really did have, you know, three weeks to get ready.

I think the players now, since they've already been through spring training, and most of them have still been. Nobody shut it down completely. I know several players, they're still hitting, you know, they're trying to get, you know, the workouts they can get, they're still running. So, you know, it's not going to be like starting from scratch getting ready for the first spring training. So I don't think it's going to be a real problem getting everyone ready, including the starting pitching, you know, getting them ready for, you know, the start of the season, which hopefully is at the beginning of July. But if you were active right now, how would you prepare yourself? What would be your routine right now, not knowing when the season is going to begin, not knowing when you got spring training, and knowing that we're already basically two months into this.

What would you be doing right now? Well, I would still be running. I mean, I wouldn't be doing it all the time. I would be getting my exercise, you know, my exercises in. I would, you know, be lifting when I can. I would still be throwing. I mean, that's the one thing, you know, yeah, we're supposed to be sheltering in place, but that doesn't mean I can't go in the backyard and throw. Matt, there were a few off seasons towards the end of my career.

I was still living up in New Jersey, and I'm throwing in the basement against the cinder block wall. And that's how, for the most part, that's how I prepared my arm to go to spring training. You know, now that, you know, spring has sprung, it's warming up all over the country. Guys can get out and throw. You know, they have to be, you know, a little bit creative with how they do it, with who they're doing it with. Maybe it's with, you know, a high school kid. Maybe it's with other professionals, whoever it may be. But you can get your work in.

And, you know, this situation, this generation is different than mine. I mean, these guys grew up, you know, working out all the time, even in high school, you know, going to personal trainers, doing all that. It was a different mentality. You know, when I started back in the late 80s, I was actually told Matt, when I was drafted, don't lift away. Do not lift at all. You can run, but don't lift at all. And that was because of my body type. They felt like I would get too big.

I'd lose my flexibility. And now it's like if you don't work out, you're not keeping up with the Joneses. You're not keeping up with the next guy. So, you know, these guys have been working out. Yeah, they're going to have to change it a little bit. You want your infielder start taking ground balls. But even if they weren't able to do that, position player-wise, three weeks are plenty. For a reliever, again, three weeks, that's plenty of time to get ready.

because I don't have to extend my pitch count. So if I were working out right now, I'm still throwing bullpins, I'm still doing my running, I'm still doing everything I need to do. Last question, because your career spans, I think, every best-of-game on the MLB network in ESPN. Has there been a game that you've accidentally turned on like, I'm not watching this? I know what happened, and I'm not interested. Because you pitch from all the 90s and into 2000s, and that's, I feel like when ESPN's putting on the MLB networks and putting on the last two months or so.

You know, last night they were playing on ESPN, they were playing the, I think it was game four of the 2001 World Series. And I had a buddy of mine text me and saying, hey, I just saw you got out of the inning game four, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then he texted me back, oh, sorry, because the next inning we end up losing the game. And he thought that that was going to upset me. No, I don't. I don't have any game that I don't feel good about. You know, whether we won or lost, whether I gave it up or pitched well, you know, I've been out of it long enough now. I've been able to take the emotions out of it and kind of enjoy it.

Well, it's good hearing your voice. You are missed on television, and we thank you for spending some time with me today, and hopefully we get you back on television very, very soon. Thanks again for joining us on the show today. Matt, thank you very much. Everyone stays safe. Continue to wash your hands, take care of each other, and we'll get through this together. Perfectly said. Thank you, Mike Stanton. AT&T Sportsnet. You see him on the pre-and-post game shows with Kevin Ashenfelder and Julian Morales, and we look forward to seeing him back on very soon.