Golden Bats, Winter Meetings, MLB Stadiums, Juan Soto & Women in Baseball - RaysUp

265 RaysUp, Golden Bats rule Women in Baseball,  Fisher Vegas Stadium with Mat Germain

[00:00:00] Mark Corbett: Welcome to BaseballBiz On Deck. I am Mark Corbett with me. Of course is Mr. Mat Germain. 

[00:00:05] Mark Corbett: Hey Mat. How you doing today, buddy?

[00:00:07] Mat Germain: I am sponsored by the golden at bat.

[00:00:14] Mat Germain: But, you know, Louisville could make us a golden bat and the hitter would have to use that golden bat when he's at the plate.

[00:00:24] Mark Corbett: I absolutely love that. I mean, my gosh, if nothing else with Major League Baseball, there is such a great deal of entertainment value above and beyond the game itself. It's why I stay involved. Gosh, that, that was, that was a big bell ringer this last week at the, at one of the big bell ringers at the , winter meetings with all the Managers gathered together there and, and Dallas and, uh, the owners and should say it's, I guess they're doing their little Texas Hold'em and trading player cards and players and owners and, uh, agents and seeing what comes out the cards out there in the Texas Hold'em circus.

[00:01:09] Mat Germain: Right. Well, what I was told is this is what I, I thought happened, you know, nowadays, because I, I, I've heard a lot of executives talk about, you know, the wild, wild West that it was back when, and that, you know, 10, 20, 30 years ago, everybody gravitated to the room where that had the best food and had the most booze.

[00:01:31] Mat Germain: And it was just a big, you know, um, Schmooze fest at that point when you ended up in that whatever room had the best booze and the best food And you maybe got a deal done or you didn't But I I didn't think people drank that much anymore and obviously the commissioner got into something somewhere in the bar because I I don't know how you put that idea out there in public and and really think of it.

[00:01:56] Mat Germain: Seriously I I i'm just baffled by it like mark all in all honesty You You have the Dodgers who assigned the best player in baseball, right? 

[00:02:08] Mark Corbett: Yeah, 

[00:02:09] Mat Germain: this rule specifically Amplifies his value and nobody else can match it. It's clear as day that this is all meant to help the large market teams and the big budget teams to have yet another edge over everybody else, and it is sickening in all honesty.

[00:02:32] Mark Corbett: Well, well, let's give a little detail to folks with this golden bat rule is, I mean, how does that play out? What, what, how's that actually look? So let's. 

[00:02:41] Mat Germain: Let's say that you're, you're, you're playing the game and it's the ninth inning and you haven't used your golden at bat yet. And all of a sudden the first hitter gets on base, but the guy that was, that should be at the plate is, uh, I don't know, Kike Hernandez, let's say, but you're not satisfied with Kike Hernandez.

[00:03:00] Mat Germain: You want Shohei Ohtani to get that at bat. Well, guess what? Kike sits down and you bring up Shohei Ohtani instead, and you get to make that call at the key moment in the game with the game on the line, and you get to say, you know what, you're a good player, Kike, but, you know, baseball's changed so much that your value is going to diminish now, and you're going to go off into la la lanes.

[00:03:23] Mat Germain: We're never going to let you get one of these moments. Instead, we're going to give it to the superstar who's already raking in lots of money, and he's going to get all the opportunities now to drive in all those runs and all those big moments, and he's going to get all the glory while all the young guys are sitting on the bench.

[00:03:40] Mat Germain: Like, honestly. Like, you're, you're It's just, there's so Mat things that are wrong with this, from the lack of opportunity for other players to prove themselves, from the, the amplifying the value of guys that other teams can't afford, like, there's just nothing good about this idea at all. I can't believe that he spoke it out in public, and some people are actually .

[00:04:05] Mat Germain: Buying it and all I can think is they must be fans of large market teams that are just saying Oh, I want another ad bad of Aaron judge or I want another ad bad of shohei. Watani But everybody else in the league's going no. Thank you 

[00:04:20] Mark Corbett: Yeah I mean I saw that Mat, and honestly the first thing I checked is Is this source from The Onion?

[00:04:26] Mark Corbett: You know, is, is this some satirical thing? Is this a national lampoon? On, uh, on April Fool's Day come early? Cause this is insane, brother. I'm, I'm, it doesn't make any more sense. If, if you have People who love the tradition of the game and who felt a little offended by, by baking the bases larger or putting a pitch clock out.

[00:04:51] Mark Corbett: This is such a big offense to any kind of tradition to the game. It's, it's Savannah banana ball, Mat. Come on.

[00:05:00] Mat Germain: I mean, they're walking a very fine line, uh, and becoming a joke of a sport, to be quite honest, they do this kind of thing. They become a joke of a sport, um, where you're, you're. You know, you're now in the line with the Savannah Bananas and the Globe Trotters and that kind of ring stuff.

[00:05:19] Mat Germain: You're not, you're no longer a viable league, in my opinion. And you're already getting closer to that, anyway, over the, so, one of my pet peeves in baseball, right, and it drives me nuts. Okay, so, if you throw a perfect three point shot in any NBA court, right, it's a three point shot. Right. If you, uh, take a wrist shot and you hit the corner of the net, the nets are all the same size across the league, right?

[00:05:50] Mat Germain: They're all the same size. End zone in football, your feet are inbounds, all the football fields are the same size. Baseball You know, you playing Yankee stadium, you just have to loft it up into the wind and the right in the right field. And you'll probably hit a home run and, and, and, you know, you do that in another stadium and you're going to be, you know, halfway to the, the, the warning track.

[00:06:16] Mat Germain: So it drives me nuts that a baseball. Player can hit a ball as hard, you know, with the same launch angle, the same exit velocity and have a different result in every single park. 

Yeah. 

[00:06:30] Mat Germain: And there's got to be, especially with the technology we have now, to make it closer. I'm not saying to make it perfect.

[00:06:37] Mat Germain: You're not going to be able to fix wind. You're not going to be able to, but it's just an example of where baseball should be going so that you have more, you know, I shouldn't have to worry, for instance, about acquiring a player from Colorado because, you know, his away splits were terrible. Or conversely, right, the opposite way, going the other way.

[00:07:01] Mat Germain: If you're getting a pitcher. I shouldn't have the Orioles changing the shape and size of their outfield and left field over and over every year. And every year they're taking a chunk out. It looks like Lego bricks are going out there. Like, what's going on? Ha ha ha. It's time for the Red Sox to purchase enough property to have a regular sized baseball field, you know, like there's just certain things that should happen in baseball instead of talking about a golden frigging at bat, you know, 

[00:07:33] Mat Germain: I don't know.

[00:07:35] Mat Germain: It's no,

[00:07:35] Mark Corbett: I think you do. It's just insane. And you and I were talking a little bit earlier today too, with, uh, being on TV. Blue sky and the count codify baseball, which are, they're always great to read folks. So it's a Codify baseball. bsky. social. Anyway, they, they had to address the whole golden at bat rule idea.

[00:07:56] Mark Corbett: And they came up with a few of their own invited other folks. Some of the things they had is each team is required to select one fan from the crowd to play one inning in the field or take one at bat. I thought, okay, that's, that's interesting. But people came up with some , really, really curious ones too.

[00:08:14] Mark Corbett: Pitchers must hit, but they are permitted to use aluminum bats. That was Dave now, said that one. Let's see, Mat, we get, Every, this one's from Ty Herron. Every five strikeouts causes a team to lose one run. 

[00:08:30] Mat Germain: Yeah, you all have, I have one for you, Mark. What about every team has to have two women on it? 

[00:08:36] Mark Corbett: I love that one.

[00:08:37] Mark Corbett: As you might well guess that would be fantastic here. Here's one. I think, I think owners have need to have a little more skin in the game. Literally. Now, if you're the owner, your team's up. And your pitcher just hit a guy. Well, the next time your guys are up, you should be the lead off batter in the lineup.

[00:08:58] Mark Corbett: That's that's one of them. But, uh, let's see. Oh, 

[00:09:02] Mat Germain: you know what I would like though. And I thought about this way back. This is like, I was still blogging when I thought of this. But I always thought that if you want to grow the game and you want to get owners to take every single game seriously, the best way to do it is to have a penalty in terms of funding for every loss.

So if 

[00:09:25] Mat Germain: you're, if your team loses, you got to put 20 grand in the kitty. And at the end of the year, all that money goes towards growing the sport, towards all the minor league, you know, affiliates and, and all the, uh, the, the levels of, of young players. And it grows the game, but the money comes more weighted, more heavily from the teams that lose the most games.

[00:09:50] Mark Corbett: I like that Mat. I mean, in any kind of business or sales organization, you incentivize people, you incentivize the salespeople to reach certain goals and get payouts. You, you go ahead and you same, do the same with owners. I know with when I was with the New York Times, And some of the publishers, I wasn't seeing the sales at the lower level with some of the online.

[00:10:10] Mark Corbett: So I said, you know what we got to do? We got to incentivize the guys they work for. And we came up with a plan. It's like, Oh, well, magic. Wasn't it? It's suddenly things change. Well, to penalize those people, I think that's just as effective, if not more. So I love the idea of being penalized for losing. And gosh, what would you guess?

[00:10:33] Mark Corbett: You'd have to sell the White Sox about mid season through the

[00:10:36] Mat Germain: Jerry Reinsdorf would have just been pulling out any hair he has left halfway through the season. Jeez, 

[00:10:45] Mark Corbett: it is nuts. But I love him, Mat. Yeah, there's just a lot of insanity out there.

[00:10:51] Mark Corbett: And the only thing with Rob's Manfred says stuff like this, it does deserve ridicule. So we're glad to deliver some of that back for you, Rob. 

[00:11:03] Mat Germain: To me. It's the competitive balance that it hurts the most. And like I said, the opportunity for other players. It's a team sport. There's nine hitters in that lineup for a reason and four other ones on the bench or three, depending on how they make up the roster and all of them need to be valued every, every single one.

[00:11:23] Mat Germain: You know, the, the Rays may not be able to compete with the higher end guys, but they might have the most balanced lineup and bench overall, which is how really they, , so if you're in sense of adding the incentive for the Dodgers to use show show here with Tony and give him I don't know how Mat games are there in a year.

[00:11:44] Mat Germain: So 162 he's going to get the golden at bat and how Mat of those, you know, 120. So, so you're going to give him 120 extra at bats and take those 120 at bats away from others. in the most key situations. So let's say a young player like Gavin Lux would have had 68 RBI and instead he's going to end up with 30.

[00:12:07] Mat Germain: Um, you know, he's going to get 120 fewer at bats. So really how high quality are all his at bats going to be? There you 

go. 

[00:12:15] Mat Germain: You're, you're actually destroying young players careers. Like, I don't understand where this came from. And somebody should have smacked him on the back of the head and said, listen, this is just an atrocious idea.

[00:12:28] Mat Germain: Don't speak it out loud, please. And, and there's a lot of smart baseball people who are supporting it. And I'm thinking, what are you thinking? Like, what, I don't, Yeah, I don't, I don't understand why we need to change the game. I love the game the way it is. They wanted to make the bases bigger. I swallowed my pride and took, took it and watched baseball last year, even though I hate the fact that they did it.

[00:12:53] Mat Germain: And, and, and I do realize like, I'm like, okay, they've changed the mound. They put it up inches. They put it up back. They put it, you know, things have changed in the game. So I'm not going to be that rigid. But when you're talking about robbing a player of 120 at bats and giving it to the best player in the league, like I have to put my foot down and say, this is just not something that should be even considered.

[00:13:17] Mark Corbett: Well, I know I'm looking at this and I kind of wonder, you know, what, did somebody have those special mellow mushroom pizzas going around and put the wrong mushrooms on it? Because I cannot imagine the sanity that's involved. Well, I mean, there's enough of the news every day in the rest of the world.

[00:13:35] Mark Corbett: You're like, really? That makes absolutely no damn sense. But this is baseball people. This is important stuff. Come on.

[00:13:45] Mark Corbett: Oh Lord, you know, it's, uh, I don't know, brother, I really don't, I mean, we were talking before the show and, uh, mentioned a thing about a buddy of ours, Lou Schiff, who's a judge down in Miami, also a great guy for a commentator and sharing history on, on blue sky, but he, uh, he's retiring here and with him retiring, I'm thinking, Mat, he's I'd like to find something he might enjoy more, you know, and I thought, well, we've seen the past where jurists have made their way into baseball.

[00:14:22] Mark Corbett: And I'm talking about as commissioners, you know, how Mat people who we known who've had either a law degree, been a lawyer or a judge who's been the commissioner in the past. And it's 

[00:14:36] Mat Germain: either that or car salesMat, right? That's those are the two main sources. 

[00:14:44] Mark Corbett: Oh, gosh. Well, how much longer do you think we've got Rob Manfred in there as commissioner, Mat?

[00:14:52] Mat Germain: He said that he was staying in until 2030. I believe. I think that's the timeline he gave himself. Uh, I don't know if that'll hold and things change. I think he wants to see expansion through. And from what I've heard, expansion would, , be announced probably sometime next year. It takes about two years for all the bids to come in and everybody to promise as much money as possible and work out the interest free loans that they're going to get from MLB and all this stuff.

[00:15:21] Mat Germain: So, so by the time they get the stadiums built and everything squared away, it'll probably 2030. So I think, uh, You know, I, I don't know, like , his legacy is going to be what, based on what we know today. Like what, what is his legacy other than, than watching the, the a's play in the minor league park and watching the Rays play in the minor league park and watching the Blue Jays play in the minor league.

[00:15:48] Mat Germain: Like what?

[00:15:52] Mark Corbett: I, I can't, 

[00:15:53] Mat Germain: what is the the biggest positive impact he's had on the game? 

[00:15:58] Mark Corbett: I cannot begin to come up with anything. I guess facing off against Scott Boris. No, no, seriously. There's nothing about him that says, Oh my gosh, I'm so glad he is a guy that we have here. Uh, you know, what do you say? Did he handle the whole astros trashcan thing?

[00:16:15] Mark Corbett: Okay. Uh, there's, there's a, I mean, before, long before he was commissioner, he was a lawyer and handling a lot of different things in MLB prior to that. I think that. I think it's time for him to retire. He doesn't need to stick around until we have a new Ray's stadium built. Uh, 

[00:16:33] Mat Germain: I thought he would have retired when he called it a piece of metal.

[00:16:38] Mat Germain: Like that, that just spoke to the amount of love he has for the game and it shows in how he's handling the league, to be quite honest, like there's just no love there, it's just basically, ah, it's a sport we'll play where we need to play. They'll get their piece of metal at the end of the year. And we'll move on.

[00:16:54] Mat Germain: That's the way that he's handled the league in general. There's some things that he's handled. Okay. But there's nothing that I would say, you know, has heightened the value of, of the league to substantial amount. That's all. 

[00:17:09] Mark Corbett: Well, as we look at what's going on with our meetings right now, there's still a lot of folks talking.

[00:17:13] Mark Corbett: We'll, we we'll talk a little bit about that. I know we'd mentioned that Blake, I think had just signed. Blake Snow just signed with the Dodgers and that's been cemented, I think, with the press conference yesterday, but there's, if you look across what, uh, last year, he and others kind of held out to almost February or March before they were signing, which was insane, if you ask me, uh, let's see, I was looking at, uh, the little historical note here from Wikipedia at the 88 winter meetings in Atlanta, the Texas Rangers closed three trades involving 15 players and signed free agent pitcher, Nolan Ryan. Now that's a winner meeting brother. 

[00:17:55] Mat Germain: You know, when you do a dynasty, , baseball draft and you, you get home and you look at your roster and you're like, Oh, that's how I shaped out.

[00:18:04] Mat Germain: I imagine at the end of that, they're like, well, who do we have again? Did we get that one? What about that one? Back then as well, nothing was instantaneous. It took a while for the commissioners to, you know, And the league to get back to you and get, you know, things official. So yeah, it Winter meetings can be so much fun when they're good.

[00:18:29] Mark Corbett: What was it? And Vec, you remember Vec? 

[00:18:32] Mat Germain: There 

[00:18:34] Mark Corbett: is a story I heard once where he actually just set up a table, like in a little restaurant or bar and put up a little sign said, ready to, ready to deal. So come on, all boys and girls sit down with me and we'll chat. That's funny. Yeah. Let's see one more story for you here too.

[00:18:54] Mark Corbett: Oh, might as well just, we're talking about the Dodgers. This one's from 2014. It says at the 2014 winter meeting is in San Diego, the Los Angeles Dodgers concluded six transactions with four teams involving 19 players. And a free agent. 

[00:19:14] Mat Germain: When you're looking at a, a full roster, that's, uh, that's a lot of pieces moving.

[00:19:20] Mat Germain: So what do you think? What do you think we're going to see ? It's going to be, uh, noteworthy for the future of this 2024 winter meetings. 

[00:19:28] Mat Germain: Well, I don't know if it's going to hold out until the winter meetings actually start to be honest, but I think Juan Soto is going to have signed like after, if not before, then the first day of the winter meetings.

[00:19:39] Mat Germain: I think he's going to be off the board. From what I've heard, all the bids are 600 millions and above. Uh, for the for the teams that are still in it. I've heard that the East Coast teams have a significant edge over the West Coast team so far that could change. But, uh, and I've heard that, you know, plans are being made for alternatives.

[00:20:00] Mat Germain: So, like, in in the Yankees case, as an example, is there's talk that they might go after Willie Adames. And, uh, shift, uh, Jazz Chism over to second base and have either Volpe or Adames play third base, as an example. Now, obviously, it's not the same caliber, but they've got Jason Dominguez, you know, to fill in in left field, so I don't think they're hitting the panic button in terms of the Juan Soto, uh, thing, and I think they have so Mat Uh, irons in the fire on pitching side.

[00:20:30] Mat Germain: I think you're going to see them sign Max Freed instead as well. Um, I've heard they've already had 2 meetings with him or are going to have the 2nd meeting. I think you're going to see Pete Alonso go. I think it's going to be fairly active and then who A lot of it, I think, is because some of the pitching has gone off the board with the Angels being aggressive.

[00:20:51] Mat Germain: Yusei Kikuchi was a great signing for them. It actually, establishes their pitching a little bit. And I think they're going to add one more. I don't know who it's going to be. It's hard for them to attract, the top guy like Corbin Burnes or something like that. But I think they're going to add one more and they're going to try to make themselves into, uh, Like you think of Ron Washington, he's basically an elite, trainer for infielders.

[00:21:15] Mat Germain: They're going after guys that are getting a lot of ground balls and they're getting balls in play. Like, so, so they're bringing in Kyle Hendricks as well. And, um, I don't know. So because some of the pitching and including Blake Snell have gone already, I think you're going to see just a wave.

[00:21:34] Mat Germain: pool of pitching go all at the same time. Um, so I think it's going to be a fairly active, like where you could look at the free agent class and say, okay, , half of the top 50 that are remaining are going to go at the winter meetings. Something like that. 

[00:21:52] Mark Corbett: Well, I'm really curious to see this, especially when we talk about Soto.

[00:21:55] Mark Corbett: I know. Well, I think it was last week you talked possible potential even with the Brewers, which I would absolutely love to see him on a team like that. 

[00:22:04] Mat Germain: Yeah, I and I think I posted something about the Rockies, too. I'm like, I just want him to sign somewhere. That proves once and for all that any team can get any player 

And 

[00:22:14] Mat Germain: if that happens, I'll be really really really happy And then, you know, you look at jose ramirez.

[00:22:20] Mat Germain: Is he having a terrible career with the guardians? He committed to them. He could have signed anywhere else for more money. I know that for a fact his talent He could have signed for probably double what he signed for the guardians, but he was happy there So I want to see more of that. I want to see stars, you know Commit to smaller market teams, uh, and not just because they're overpaying, but just because they're paying to stay at the right price and, and they want to, you know, play on a team that, yeah, let's say Juan Soto did sign with the Brewers, and let's say he helps them win their first World Series ever.

[00:22:55] Mat Germain: How special is that? 

[00:22:56] Mark Corbett: Oh, Mat. 

[00:22:57] Mat Germain: If you go to the Dodgers and win another World Series, they're like, eh. Thanks for coming out. But we already had a bunch of these. So this just adds to our trophy case. We have another piece of metal in there and carry on. But, but if he wins it with the brewers, I'm saying the impact for your legacy, it's sort of like what he did with the nationals, right?

[00:23:16] Mat Germain: You're always going to remember Juan Soto as a national because he won that world series there. And it was so meaningful because they had never done it before. So. Yeah. You know, not in modern history anyway, and so it's one of those things that I wish free agents, you know, took into account more often.

[00:23:34] Mat Germain: I'll give you another example. If Freddie Freeman had signed with the Rays instead of the Dodgers, where would that season have taken them? You know, would they have gone deeper into the playoffs? The Rays would be a completely different franchise as a whole with Freddie Freeman aboard.

[00:23:51] Mat Germain: But what are the Dodgers with Freeman? Yes, he won the World Series there, but it's not the same kind of impact because they just won one in 2020. They spent so much money to do it. There was Shohei Ohtani, there was Mookie Betts. He wasn't really the one star. He was part of a group of stars. So yeah, that's, I don't know, the winter meetings are going to be frustrating because you're going to see the big teams load up.

[00:24:15] Mat Germain: You're going to see the Mets, the Yankees and the Dodgers load up on a whole bunch of talent and everybody else is going to be trying to squeeze their, squeeze out of something out of what's remaining after that. 

[00:24:28] Mark Corbett: No, I like the idea of what you're saying about as far as Ramirez and staying with a team that they will be able to benefit from their talent in someplace where they've already, I mean, I guess he's really a franchise player there.

[00:24:42] Mark Corbett: I don't know how many years he's been with him, but, uh, I mean, the thing of it is you have players. And there's an excitement that comes with them, but the idea of building a team and taking them to the world series and a team that had been there, like you were saying with the Brewers or others are the Rockies to me, that's, that's the exciting part of the game.

[00:25:04] Mark Corbett: Give it some breath. Uh, I think we talked about this last week and you're saying maybe what, we've got maybe 10 teams that you can focus on as far as championship material at the end of the year. And if that's the case, you want to talk about something that weakens the game. It's not. It's when you can't build excitement about every game and every team because there's just such a large Canyon if you will between talent between some teams in the in the league 

[00:25:34] Mat Germain: Yeah.

[00:25:35] Mat Germain: Jose Ramirez has been with, uh, the Guardians for 12 years , and he has 52.4 F uh, sorry, B War so far with them over those 12 years. So you're talking about a guy who's lining up to potentially put himself into the Hall of Fame, uh, category. Yeah. By the time his career is done, assuming that it, it finishes off, 

[00:25:54] Mat Germain: with any strength whatsoever. Um, but he's a special player, but yeah, the, yeah, the, the things that scared me with that we were just talking about before with the, the golden bat is, you know, you, you think about NASCAR, right? I'm not a NASCAR fan at all, but they have so many ways to make everybody a winner now in NASCAR.

[00:26:14] Mat Germain: And they, so they split the season in half. They have this, they have that, Oh, you led this many laps. Okay. Now you get a trophy for this. Oh, you've led this. He did that. So. I'm afraid that for baseball, the way that they're going to even it out is by giving people more chances to win instead of just fixing the, the issue with baseball is that it doesn't have a ceiling and a floor.

[00:26:39] Mat Germain: It needs both, not a luxury tax. People will pay the luxury tax. It doesn't hurt them at all. They're already making Two three four hundred million dollars more that you don't even know about That the luxury tax is a joke. It is really it's not even effective in the least The penalties they'll talk about yeah Okay, some of those hurt a little bit more because you're not able to balance your roster with cheaper players but To be quite honest, they don't get that many in there anyway.

[00:27:08] Mat Germain: How many of them are the Yankees really bringing up that they're keeping, you know, instead of treating them to the Padres for the guy they really want, which was Juan Soto. At some point in time, we, we have to get our head around the. The fact of okay, what makes the league better as a whole and and step up and really Realize that that baseball needs to be Saved by somebody that loves the game and not The large market teams because they are the only ones that are bringing in all the audiences that they're looking for 

[00:27:39] Mark Corbett: Yeah, it's a self perpetuating. Try again, Mark. It's a self perpetuating prophecy when you go ahead and let the top ones just run rampant with all the spending that they want to do. Whether you put some kind of luxury tax on them or not, if they're willing to spend the money, it doesn't matter, you know, and it, it hurts the game.

[00:28:00] Mark Corbett: Well, I think that's it actually, you, you look at what's going on with these teams and you have to see that those that got the money, they're going to continue to build there. There does need to be some sort of frame. There does need to be some sort of bottom floor and ceiling, as you were saying, to make this a better game for everybody.

[00:28:19] Mark Corbett: Enjoy whoever their team is. So I'm on board with you on that, brother. 

[00:28:24] Mat Germain: And I think, you know, the league has dangled that in the past. But they always dangle it with some sort of, oh, you have to give us this in return. No, stop that nonsense. You're doing it because it's the right thing for the league, not for the players.

[00:28:38] Mat Germain: You're doing it because it's the right thing for the league and you can impose it on the players without the approval of MLBPA. MLBPA want to take that issue to courts, to whatever arbitration process they want to do. That's fine. Don't, To deal with it after the fact, but the problem with the way they've always presented it is that it's always a bargaining chip and it shouldn't be, it should be just like, it's the right thing to do.

[00:29:08] Mat Germain: All the other leagues are doing it. There's a reason they're doing it. It's so that the Green Bay Packers don't have to trade their star player. And he goes to the, , New York giants because that they're the only team that can afford it or to the Dallas Cowboys or, you know, it's just disheartening.

[00:29:26] Mat Germain: , when you see so many star players, and I hear it from Rays fans all the time, and I know they're not the only team that sees it and that experiences it, but you know, when you're forced to sit there at home before the 2025 season, and you know that your team is going to play on a minor league field, uh, your, your star player is in jail somewhere in the Dominican Republic or about to be, you know, And your two best pitchers from the last World Series that you played in are playing for the freaking Dodgers?

[00:29:58] Mat Germain: Like, really? Like, just because you couldn't afford it or your owner didn't step up to keep them? Uh, whichever way you want to see it, it just doesn't sit right. It doesn't It's not the way that it should be. Just like Roy Halladay was with the Blue Jays for as long as he possibly could. And he only jumped ship when he really wanted the ring and he wasn't able to get it in Toronto.

[00:30:21] Mat Germain: That's a different, you know, feel and different look because it's the last two, three years of his career. He got, you know, his playoff appearance and then he got to say he did it and it looked beautiful doing it. That's a different kind of take, but when you're forced to sit there after, you know, out Mateuvering a lot of other teams and getting some players on board And and you're actually just getting rid of talent now because you you've gotten so much of it That's expensive that you don't have a choice And I think the Padres are going through this now the Giants are even stepping back because of certain things um You know, there's, there's just a bad look for the league.

[00:31:02] Mat Germain: I find that I want to see a more balanced league, uh, both in terms of top end talent and in being able to retain star players so that, , the kids aren't walking around with jerseys that they can't wear anymore because their player that they cheered for is now, you know, halfway across the country or all the way across.

[00:31:22] Mark Corbett: I think we need to encourage all our listeners to write to Bob, Rob Manfred, Bob Manfred. And the MLBPA say we love baseball. Come on guys. Here's some ideas you need to deploy. Let's keep this game vital. Let's keep the fans engaged. Let's keep it something everybody can enjoy. Let's not turn it into Savannah banana ball.

[00:31:44] Mark Corbett: I think Savannah banana ball is wonderful. I just don't want to see it with a major league baseball team. And right now, That seems where a lot of that is going. So come on fans, go ahead and take the notes here from what Mat's been talking about, looking for some balance out there, looking at having strengthening across teams, all across the league and making this a much more exciting game.

[00:32:08] Mark Corbett: That's that's what has to be done to, to keep this game thriving. 

[00:32:14] Mat Germain: Another thing I would do, and I think this has legs is I would merge minor league baseball with NCAA. I think that the minor league attendances just aren't viable long term, and they don't make any sense, and they're never going to make sense.

[00:32:30] Mat Germain: People don't tune in either, even though they've amalgamated the MLB TV packages. And I think that would get a younger audience. If the reason you're considering Savannah Banana type rules is because you want to attract a younger crowd and be a little bit more hip and yadda yadda yadda, You know, I get the intent, but the way to do that is by tying into the hype machine that is college sports.

[00:32:58] Mat Germain: That's where the NFL gets it right. They tap into that college nerve and they get the guys out of college. And then the all the entire nation already knows their name. They know what school they went to. They know, you know, what they're all about because they've been hyped on the national stage by people who know how to do that Uh, whereas MLB doesn't know how to do that test at all.

[00:33:24] Mat Germain: And, and they, the, I think by tying into that NCAA in some way, shape or form, and I don't even know if it's just playing tournaments or if it's actually having a division that would be purely professional players, uh, you know, something that, that gets the eyes and the national broadcasts, uh, including, uh, minor league baseball.

[00:33:47] Mark Corbett: , and there are players out there with. When they have to go up through a system for six years, sometimes before they make it to the pros coming out of college, uh, it's, it's difficult. But then you have folks like you see in Florida came out, Jac Caglianone and he has just been fantastic.

[00:34:04] Mark Corbett: And I'm looking forward to seeing him come up through the ranks. So, I mean, there is that Mat, but you're talking about what actually incorporating the NCAA into the minor league baseball. system? 

[00:34:17] Mat Germain: Well, the other way around. I want the minor league system to be, and it wouldn't be the whole thing, obviously, but it would probably be to match the level.

[00:34:26] Mat Germain: So if you're talking about somebody out of high school, you know, they don't generally tend to start for the most part on their baseball teams, uh, in the colleges, or, they have a smaller role or they're not really seen as the, uh, the heavyweights. So you could have, let's say the A plus slash double A level B as part of the NCAA in terms of a division added.

[00:34:53] Mat Germain: And so you're looking then at just amalgamating, what is it, two leagues or three that we have? I think there's three leagues that are double A. Yeah. And you would do it regionally and it wouldn't take much. It's not a tremendous amount of games added and it would be a benefit to both sides. You know, they get to gauge where they're at and a lot of times, you know.

[00:35:13] Mat Germain: I just think it would add something and a lot more eyeballs like, you know, the little league world series, right? Everybody gets hyped about it. And then the WBC, everybody gets hyped about it. So even if you added a tournament, you know, how Mat games you would want to make it. But you have them playing each other where it would be like the college guys trying to prove that they're better or they've grown better.

[00:35:37] Mat Germain: Better than the guys who are professionals, so it would be a little bit of, uh, like, you know, back and forth. Now, maybe the a plus level would be best to be quite honest, because then you're, you're not working with as many college guys that are already amalgamated into the team. , I think it has legs and it would be something that I would support a lot more than, than the Golden Bat

[00:36:00] Mark Corbett: well, yes, gosh, no, I like it. I mean, the whole idea of finding where people are already attracted with the NCAA players and teams and incorporating that, that I like that a lot, Mat. That's that could work, but Golden Bat crap. You know, if y'all heard the intro that we had a little bit about the insanity what's going on with out in Vegas.

[00:36:31] Mark Corbett: With John Fisher and how much money he's having to pay to get that team together. I should say the stadium out there when he's going to have to pay them to get things going. It's insane, but I don't know. Maybe we should talk about. So I was thinking about looking at the Rays. And what's happening with the stadium there.

[00:36:49] Mark Corbett: It's just been insane. And I guess you may be tired of talking about this. I know I am sometimes, but they got new more news out today, Mat, uh, talking about what, uh, moving the time to vote on some of the bonds that the city of St. Pete, uh, tomorrow, Thursday, December 5th. I think they've moved up that onto the agenda, so 

[00:37:13] Mat Germain: I'm not sure what he was reporting, so I think I think the you have to take that with two different sides.

[00:37:20] Mat Germain: Is it good? Or is it bad? Is it because they already know the outcome or they want to force the issue and get it over with and lock them in now that the rays have said that it's still active, right? 

[00:37:33] Mark Corbett: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's it. I can't go anywhere. You know, I told you I went to the doctor today. One of the first things out of his mouth is so what are the are the rays moving to Tampa?

[00:37:44] Mark Corbett: It's like, geez, would y'all quit asking me this stuff? Oh, gosh. Yeah. And I think the St. Pete City Council is trying to make some moves and see what will happen. You know, Will the Rays, we all just wanted to answer here. People were fans. Yes, you own the team. And yes, the cities are talking to me what they're going to be able to give.

[00:38:04] Mark Corbett: But much like that little bit in the front, there's so much the St. Pete is in the County of Pinellas is looking at giving to the Rays organization for the stadium. And at some point the owners of the Rays had to say, well, yeah, We're going to have to eat some of the costs from the bad weather, the hurricane and all they come in here.

[00:38:25] Mark Corbett: But it's just not been an easy ride. Uh, we'll, we'll see. We'll see brother. 

[00:38:32] Mat Germain: You know, it's, what's interesting about it too, is Stu Sternberg also owns a lot of the development stake, right? In the area. So. While all this is going on, you know, the, the city has to be careful because they, they know that they still have to get things approved through him or with him to get other projects done, not just this, you know, so, so the leverage is still in Stu's favor overall, because, you know, He can sit and block any kind of development if he wants.

[00:39:05] Mat Germain: That can be the hardball and you know, you could see something like that being used as a chip. Um, I'm sure you're talking about Las Vegas before. You know, how many projects were blocked exactly for that reason? And, and the A's are feeling it right now because they're being blocked by some people that have, you know, they want their piece.

[00:39:24] Mat Germain: They want their, their piece of the pie and they. They uh, they don't feel like they've had enough of that pie yet. So I don't know they To be quite honest the mark like we shouldn't be hearing anything about this and you think back like When we were younger and then we had less white hair um, we would be sitting in the in a in a I don't know, diner somewhere reading a newspaper and you would be reading whatever that reporter had for that day and more than likely it would be about a 10th of what we're reading and hearing about right now because there just wouldn't be as much shared and it would be a lot more tighter lips.

[00:40:04] Mat Germain: And a lot less scenarios, you know, shared between people to kind of make, Oh, what about this? What about that? Yadda, Yadda, Yadda and I think sometimes we super hype things and evaluate them to, uh, you know, down to the micro detail to the point where we, we make things more sensical than they need to be. So, I think there's.

[00:40:28] Mat Germain: There's probably a lot more of this that is normal for business dealings with cities, uh, that it's just a process and they go through it and there's no hard feelings afterwards. They shake hands once it's done or they shake hands and they part ways, one or the other. And, uh, I think it'll, it'll just be nice for Ray's fans and Tampa area and St.

[00:40:50] Mat Germain: Pete area fans. and people and taxpayers to have some closure and to be able to put the Trop behind them, put whatever new project is coming up, you know, in front of them and be excited about it, instead of always being haunted by, oh, what about this? Are they leaving? Are they staying? Are they paying?

[00:41:10] Mat Germain: Are they not paying? It's just getting to be almost torture. 

[00:41:14] Mark Corbett: It is. It's the drama that's built on top of a game that we love. And the, the part of the pain of it is self inflicted. We're talking so much about it, but like you said, some of this, what is just be going on anyway. And you know, what does kid, uh, you didn't hear about all this stuff.

[00:41:34] Mark Corbett: You know, you watched your teams, you looked at the box scores, you saw the trades, you, that was, that was pretty much it, you know, there was, uh, disagreements about some players or owners now and then, but nothing of the magnitude that we've seen given to this whole thing with the Rays stadium. But part of that's because it's been drawn out, Mat, for so long, and it, it's become like that little bump on the road that just continues to, to grow after each, each time, uh, another windstorm comes through, and It's got to the point where you can't ignore it anymore, but I still feel like just really just giving it way too much coverage, just too much 24 7 new cycle type attention to this event.

[00:42:19] Mark Corbett: So let's hope they could get it done so we can quit talking about it. 

[00:42:24] Mat Germain: I heard they're going to put a desk up, , at the, , TROP site and, , and they're going to have a PTSD session, , for all the fans and taxpayers, and it's going to be open until the new stadium is built. You're going to get to go there, get your therapy in, have group meetings.

[00:42:39] Mat Germain: Hi, my name is Mark and I'm a Rays-aholic, uh, I've, I've, I've been talking about the stadium issue for, uh, 14 years, and I'm just 

[00:42:52] Mark Corbett: It's you laugh, but I think that could be real. I've been thinking about doing a remote over at Ferg's bar, you know, which is right across the street from the Trop going over there and just sit down and talk with folks and hear their pain and see if we can get through these hard moments together.

[00:43:11] Mat Germain: It has to be done in the basement of a church, and it has to have a coffee pot at the back with donuts, Mark, or else it's not real. Oh, 

[00:43:21] Mark Corbett: well, we'll have to do the show with the number of steps that you have to do to make amends and get it going. Oh, good Lord, my friend. 

[00:43:29] Mat Germain: The recovery plan. That's it. That's it.

[00:43:33] Mat Germain: Geez. We shouldn't make light of this stuff. It, you know, those meetings are very good for a lot of people. I'm not, I'm just saying it from a Raysd point of view, it would be valid. 

[00:43:42] Mark Corbett: No, I know. And the last thing in the world would, I'd make a joke about that. Cause I think it's the best thing in the world for a lot of folks.

[00:43:48] Mark Corbett: And I know a lot of people who benefited from that. And so God bless all of them. And. But geez, Matny. So Mat, let's talk about something a little bit more fun. Yeah. Well, one thing I want to go back to what you said, I do like the idea, as you know, , all about making sure women in baseball are getting their prominence.

[00:44:04] Mark Corbett: And I like your idea about having two women on each team out there. That would be pretty cool. There's, I keep going through all the, Different pieces I'm reading, whether I'm looking at Isla Borders and all that she did when she was coming up in the 90s, uh, to looking at like Meggie Meidlinger, who we've had on here a while back, Kelsey Whitmore, who's out there playing ball professionally.

[00:44:25] Mark Corbett: And there's a lot of women out there playing ball, baseball professionally, and it's just not a major league baseball yet. Uh, one, one story, I probably may have said this before when I look at, has there been a woman at the major, major league level? Well, what the integration of the Negro leagues into Major League Baseball, you probably would find the first woman and somebody contradict me on this, that's fine, uh, Toni Stone.

[00:44:53] Mark Corbett: She was brought onto the Indianapolis Clowns who are part of Major League Baseball. So, yeah, that's something I want to continue to talk about on this show. I've, uh, I've got a few people lined up here in the next couple of weeks to have on and, uh, players, coaches, and maybe even some folks who've been architects of stadiums.

[00:45:14] Mark Corbett: So, uh, a lot of different shows coming up off that with, women. So we'll see how that goes. 

[00:45:21] Mat Germain: Yeah, well, the, the lightning had Manon Rhéaume, right? She was the, the goaltender that played with them for a bit. Um, and, and so she broke the mold in, in terms of hockey now. You know, you're a goaltender, it's a little bit different, but Yeah.

[00:45:36] Mat Germain: I, I still think that, you know, there's, there are women that you see playing soccer, for instance, where you could see them playing against the men. I don't understand why they need to be separated if they're that good, 

[00:45:47] Mark Corbett: right? And the 

[00:45:47] Mat Germain: same, the same should be true with baseball is, is if they're able to play at a level that outplay somebody else and put them on the team.

[00:45:56] Mat Germain: I don't see why there's any, uh, you know, it's, it's major league baseball is not a men's league. Nowhere in the name does it say men, so, so it, you know, in theory, and, and I would say there's a, there's a hockey player, uh, called Hayley Wickenheiser that played for Canada, um, and she played in the Finnish professional league, uh, and she's a forward, so she was, you know, I think she was on the wing, but she played with them for two or three years as a professional in their hockey league, and it wasn't, you know, it wasn't a huge thing over there.

[00:46:31] Mat Germain: She just became one of the Members of the team and she played her career and then once it was done, it was done. Like baseball is one of those weird ones where there's so many roles that you could give a woman on a baseball team. , and assuming she has a skill set to play that role, then Why not? I I'm still a little bit confused as to why it hasn't happened yet, because I'll tell you, like I've seen some of the girls leagues here and in Nova Scotia of all places, and the girls are just as fierce and just as hard hitting and everything else as as the guys are this at their younger age that I'm seeing here.

[00:47:08] Mat Germain: Um, so I, I don't think it would take very much for them to, to be able to, uh, to get those opportunities. And how much impact do you think the coaching? We'll have on that where you're seeing women now involved in a lot of the coaching aspects.

[00:47:25] Mark Corbett: Oh, I think it will make a big impact. I mean, I'm thinking of Veronica Alvarez who we've had on the show with, uh, she was the Manager coach for the USA women's national team.

[00:47:34] Mark Corbett: She's also working with the A's organization as a coach. You know, You're seeing more and more of women coming up through that particular portal. If they're not actually on the field, you're finding women who've been such great, uh, powerhouses and, and training folks, some of them with power development, you're looking at, who is it?

[00:47:52] Mark Corbett: Rachel Balkovec, who had been the Manager for the Tampa Tarpons for the Yankees. And I think now she's with player development with the Marlins. So you're seeing women coming in more and more places inside the organizations, whether it be coaching. or managing our player development as far as getting Where there's going to have qualified players on the field whether they be men or women That's that I don't know when that's going to happen.

[00:48:20] Mark Corbett: I mean we look back you said or not 1952 Major league baseball commissioner Ford Frick. He officially banned women from playing baseball now. I don't know Where I would find that actually in rules and such. And that was what was done way back in the wind. 

[00:48:38] Mat Germain: I mean, it wouldn't take much for a commissioner to change that.

[00:48:40] Mat Germain: I think what it's going to take Mark, and I'll be very honest, it's going to take a freak of an athlete. Like a Shohei Ohtani style, but on the women's side, obviously, and somebody that can throw 97 miles an hour, or somebody that can have a lot, sorry, an exit velocity of 110 miles an hour, something that gets people, I say people.

[00:49:03] Mat Germain: That gets the scouting departments excited and says, you know what, we need to have this individual on the team because they are way above, you know, three quarters of the guys that we have here. I think that's probably what it's going to take. And then to be quite honest, if you. If you have, let's say, Hal Steinbrenner wanting to sign this woman to a contract, I don't think it would take much for him to make a couple of phone calls and tell the league, Yep, we're changing the rules.

[00:49:33] Mat Germain: And, and, and she's coming aboard. So, um, I don't, I think it'll be swift when it happens, assuming it does happen. And I do anticipate that it could. I'm told there's a viable women's league, which is what I think will stop it from happening in other, Sports like soccer, et cetera, until there's a viable baseball league that is professional played across the country, the opportunity is there for them to join them in and because there's no real other resource for them to go to.

[00:50:02] Mat Germain: So that's the sad part. Of that equation, I think if there was an established professional league, then they would just be the one major star in that league, more than likely, but I think if they reach that level, they, they would so clearly dominate in the 6 or 17, you know, League that you're just starting to put together that they might not want to stay there.

[00:50:25] Mat Germain: They might want to be, uh, sort of like how, you know, I see it this way. You know how players want to leave Japan and be tested against the very best? 

[00:50:34] Mark Corbett: Right. 

[00:50:35] Mat Germain: It would be the same kind of deal for women, I think. 

[00:50:39] Mark Corbett: Well, we're going to see how it plays, Mat. There's I've talked before about, there's a lot of good organizations out there, whether it be the all girls baseball and all that they did with their last three years with the classic and four teams, uh, baseball for all is saying that they're going to go ahead and have a women's league by 2026.

[00:50:58] Mark Corbett: I'm not sure how that's going to look. They're also looking at the, uh, and it's going to be a women's professional softball league, and that's going to have some major players. People who, people like Jenny Finch. There's a lot, I'll find out and give more on that a future one, but the thing of it is, there's that plus there's a women's sports network that's going to be starting up here soon.

[00:51:21] Mark Corbett: There's a whole lot of different pieces. I, I hope and pray for some synchronicity that these organizations are coming together and can strengthen it, because I could see in some cases it, maybe, it, it's weakened if you've got too many pieces going in different directions when they may have more strength together.

[00:51:41] Mark Corbett: So we'll see. 

[00:51:44] Mat Germain: I think that's how the, the NFL was started, wasn't it? 

[00:51:47] Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

[00:51:47] Mat Germain: They had the A FC and the NFC, and then eventually they merged into one league. 

[00:51:52] Mark Corbett: Yeah. Yeah. That, I mean, that's, that's true. So. Maybe it's good that they can be a little bit more competitive at the beginning and both of them can be strengthened and find themselves together later on.

[00:52:03] Mat Germain: You never know. 

[00:52:04] Mark Corbett: I wonder if 

[00:52:05] Mat Germain: they'll be in this similar cities. That's, that'll be the big question. Oh yeah. 

[00:52:10] Mark Corbett: Yeah. Well, I remember the, uh, let's see the ABA basketball and we had, what's it? The, the Louisville colonels. I can't remember. It's been so long. I remember the, you know, before they were absorbed into the NBA and we had the red, white, and blue basketballs and, 

[00:52:27] Mat Germain: uh, 

[00:52:31] Mark Corbett: let's bring some color to the game.

[00:52:32] Mark Corbett: People. 

[00:52:33] Mat Germain: Yep. 

[00:52:35] Mark Corbett: Alrighty, brother. You got anything else for the chat about today? 

[00:52:39] Mat Germain: Uh, just the excitement of the next coming week. So you, you, you know, within the next week you're going to see, , draft picks get sorted out. So you're going to know where teams are going to be drafting. , you're going to have the rule five draft.

[00:52:52] Mat Germain: So there's going to be some talent changing hands. It's not going to be revolutionary, but it also lets you know how, what your team is thinking about. So. Using the Rays as an example, they have three open spots on their roster right now. If they're not filled by, free agents between now and then, and they might pick up one or two, uh, players on a rule five.

[00:53:12] Mat Germain: So you get to see more of what they're thinking and what the roster is going to look like. And then you're going to have a lot of money thrown around. Like if you're talking about just Juan Soto 600 million, like how much money is going to be spent at these winter meetings overall, it's going to be impressive.

[00:53:30] Mark Corbett: Well, I can't wait to see the results, my friend, and looking forward to the 2025 season and I'll turn down the burner on the stadium stuff because I'm just tired of it. We will still address it, but we'll give it just a small little snippet, I think, in the future. So 

[00:53:49] Mat Germain: we're going to have the one next excitement, which should be either it's dead or.

[00:53:55] Mat Germain: It went through, that's basically it. That's all we're looking at tomorrow, right? 

[00:53:58] Mark Corbett: Yep. Yep. 

[00:53:59] Mat Germain: So that should be the next week should be the last time we talk about it. 

[00:54:05] Mark Corbett: Maybe we'll get Colleen on. I don't know. All right. Well, brother, thanks again. It's been another great week here. Talk with my good buddy, Mat Germain and enjoying all things come to baseball, whether it's women at baseball, whether it's insanity of the winter meetings, whether it's owners are still trying to figure out, of How much they can spend on a new stadium.

[00:54:25] Mark Corbett: Uh, just seeing the, the great players that are becoming up and, and trying to strengthen all teams across the league. Come on, everybody. Let's do a baseball Kumbaya.

[00:54:36] Mark Corbett: All right, Mat. Thanks again, buddy. We'll, , we'll get together next week. 

[00:54:40] Mat Germain: Sounds good, Mark. I'll see you then. 

 

Well, thank you, Matt. And for being on the show once again, and folks follow him on blue sky, uh, baseball biz on deck is there as well, but, uh, Matt's always got plenty to share and great insights. So thanks again. And we'll look forward to talking with y'all again, real soon. 

 

Special thanks to XTaKRUX for the music rocking forward.  

Just a reminder, you can find Matt at M-A-T-G-E-R-M-A-I-N dot Beast, KI social. That's at @matgermain.bsky.social Social or Mark at @baseballbizondeck.bsky.social You may also find Baseball Biz on Deck, on iHeart Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, and at baseball biz on deck.com.

 

Tags: Golden Bat, WIB,MLB,Winter Meetings,A's,White Sox,Tampa Bay Rays, St. Pete, Las Vegas,, Women in Baseball, Jerry Reinsdorf, Dodgers, Freddie Freeman, Nationals, Juan Soto, Veronica Alvarez, Oakland, Kelsie Whitmore, Meggie Meidlinger